High Intensity Interval Training Part One

I’ve run on and off for years now. I think I started in my early teens. Maybe younger. I joined an athletics club at around 11 and the girls there were quite fast! While I knew I would never be a sprinter because of my build, (and sheer impossibility of getting my legs to move faster!) I started quite liking long distance running. At 11, the 1500m race seemed to take forever. And I’m sure it did!

 

But now, running 1.5km (almost 1 mile) seems like a sprint around the block. I’m older and I guess more fit and able to take longer distances. I used to run about 3kms (1.8 mi) in my early teens. So it’s not really that far, but in terms of keeping up fitness it’s not too bad.

 

The only trouble is – running long distance takes up a lot of time. When you’re studying or working full time, time is of the essence. A lot of us can’t afford to go out and pound the pavement for an hour or two everyday. Say you travel an hour to work every day. That’s two hours gone. You’re at work for 8.5 ish hours. That’s 10.5 nearly 11 hours gone. You sleep for 6/7 ish hours. That’s 17/18 hours gone. That leaves 6 hours to do your own thing. And not even – because some of that is spent in the morning getting ready for work, and some is spent preparing and eating dinner. So you really only have 4 hours to do as you please. Who would waste half of it on running?

 

I know I wouldn’t as there are more things to life than running and eating. There are hobbies and other commitments. I wouldn’t spend half my free time running but I might spend a quarter or an eighth of it. In fact, I could possibly spend an eighth of my free time running – as effectively as using half of it. This is not about maths here – not completely – but in a quarter of the time, I can get the same intensity workout in 30 mins as I can in 2 hours.

 

It may sound like a rich claim – but I’ve done it. I learned a technique – and improved it – that allowed me to have more free time, yet still be able to workout and maintain fitness.

 

Come back next week for part two!

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Do you run? Check out the advantages (and disadvantages) of this fitness activity

Running is a very popular fitness activity.  It is one of the first things people think about when they think of losing weight.  It is not the only way, and a lot of people would argue it is nowhere near the best way.  I personally feel it is a good method that can be included in one’s routine.  Of course we are all made up slightly differently, so take a look at the following pros and cons to decide whether buying some running shoes might be a good investment for you.

Advantages

It’s easy!

Put on some appropriate clothes, lace up your running shoes and you’re off – that’s all there is to it.  It’s much easier than getting to a local gym, and even easier than most home workouts.

It’s rejuvenating

Breathing in some fresh air early in the morning or after a spending the day at work in an air-conditioned building can be as great for you mentally as it is physically.

It’s able to be done anywhere

It doesn’t matter where you happen to be, at home, on a work trip or on holiday you will always be able to run.  You can’t take your bench press with you for your weekend away, nor can you take your gym membership!  In fact running, along with other body weight exercises is the only type of fitness training that you can do absolutely anywhere.  As portable as equipment (like dumbbells, chinning bars, kettlebells etc) can be, there will always be some circumstances were you won’t have access to it.

It’s easy to track your progress

How do you know if your improving?  Just make sure you beat your previous day’s time.  Once you get the time down you can increase your distance.

It’s effective
Have you ever seen an overweight runner in the Olympic games?  If you continually do a lot of running while eating even just a moderately healthy diet, your body will eventually start stripping the fat.

Disadvantages

It’s bad on your joints
Knees, ankles, feet, back.  Continuous running is going to eventually take it’s toll.

It’s weather dependent
This may not apply for all runners but many will rarely have the motivation to start running when the weather is bad (too windy, too hot, too wet, too dark… the excuses can go on and on).

It’s Monotonous
Running the same way in the same location can get pretty boring.  A good way to counter this is by switching it up and changing the way you run (HIIT training for instance) and the places you run (beach, road, park etc).

Running tip: Getting past a plateau through variety!

One thing to watch with running (maybe more than other fitness methods) is hitting that plateau.  You may run 5 days a week for a month and manage to really get your body fat percentage down, then as you continue running for after that first month you hardly make any progress – or worse, you gain weight!  Our bodies are extremely good at adapting to new routines, in order to continue to make good progress with running (or anything for that matter) you need to mix things up.

As mentioned earlier, HIIT training is one way of getting through a plateau.  With HIIT training you change the intensity of your training at set intervals.  For instance you can go to a local park and run the length at jogging pace, run again at running speed, then sprint it.  After this go back to jogging and complete for however many intervals.  To add even more variety you can start and do push ups or crunches in between intervals.  Once you have done HIIT running for a period you can go back to your previous run and see what kind of difference it has made.  And of course, don’t forget to check the mirror!

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