Monday, October 20, 2008

Interval BS?

Interval training is promoted as THE way to lose fat. Unfortunately interval training isn't as easy as it is promoted. Firstly, the work session of the interval must be intense, no, not sorta hard but at or near maximal effort. This is the main reason work intervals usually can't go longer than 60 seconds at very well trained individuals. Starting out most work intervals can be as short as 15 seconds because of the intense nature of this sort of training. Imagine trying to sprint a marathon, not going to happen!

Typically sprinting or cycling is promoted as they are forms of training that can be done at a high intensity with no rest during the work cycle. Unfortunately, this is very repetitive and joint stressful exercises. Many often end up with knee, back, and hip problems. This quickly discourages intense training. However, utilizing full body drills that can help flexibility and movement skills in an interval training circuit can actually ehnance these qualites.


The key with choosing the right exercises is not only that they are full body, but they are performed at high speeds too. This means you are not going to use heavy loads, but keep the focus on moving fluidly and quickly!

Below is one of my favorite interval cycles and you can find more of these on my new DVD: Click Here to find out more



2 comments:

Deanmc said...

Awsome, I'm gonna try that one!

Josh Henkin said...

Yeah, definitely one of the more challenging routines I've posted!