Sample Interval Workout
Are you wondering whether interval workouts are for you? Says Breakthrough Health & Fitness founder and CEO, “If you’re not incorporating interval workouts into your exercise schedule, you are not getting your workout’s worth.
Doing intervals offers several advantages over steady-state training. You will find that doing intervals will help you strengthen your heart and lungs, increase your overall energy and gain endurance.
Remember, the beauty of intervals is that you can do them with a variety of different exercises and sports. Do you like hitting the treadmill or elliptical machines at the gym? This works. Do you like running the trail outside your house? This works. How about road or mountain biking? This works. So, just pick your sport, and follow the guidelines below to get a taste of how intervals work.
Sample 25-Minute Interval Workout with
3-Minute Intervals
Warm Up
Be sure to warm up for 5 minutes. You can walk, jog in place, jump rope, or run around the block. In fact, you can do anything that gets your heart rate elevated, as long as you don’t overdo it. This means that your perceived exertion (P.E.) during the warm up should be a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 (“1” is the exertion required to sit on the sofa and at “10,” you’ve just passed out). Never go above a perceived 8.5 exertion while doing this or any workout.
Intervals
All of your intervals will be for 3-minutes, with a one-minute rest period in between them. During the first interval, you will exercise to a P.E. of 7. (It’s going to take you some time to get up to that exertion level, but once you do, maintain it as long as possible.) When you hit 3 minutes (8 minutes total) you can slow down.
Now, you’re going to rest and give your heart a chance to recover for 1 minute. If you can keep moving, that’s great! Do your best to keep your P.E. between 4 and 5.
At 9 total minutes, you’ll start your next interval, which is just the same as the first, but you’re going to work a little harder to a P.E. of 7.5. Keep it up! After three minutes, drop your heart rate to recovery mode once again.
At 13 total minutes, your next interval will take you to a big 8! Recover for one minute. At 17 total minutes, you’re off for your last interval, going to a P.E. of 8.5. You’ll know when you get here – your breathing is labored and you can barely talk!
Congratulations – you’re there! After 20 minutes of total workout, you now have a five minute cool down. Great job! The chart below will help you put this all together. Good luck!
As always, please consult your doctor before starting this or any exercise program. |
