Evolve: Certified!

Well, an update, I took my test and passed! I am officially an NSCA certified personal trainer!

Got A Track? Use It!

Interval Training

One mode of cardiovascular training is running. Running is a very convenient form of aerobic training because you need little equipment and can do it almost anywhere. However, I will admit running in place on a treadmill for 30+ minutes can be awfully boring. To contrast the monotonous boredom of running in place, a few times a week I like to take my cardio outdoors, to my local track. On the track, I like to perform workouts that include continuous movement with intermittent burst of high intensity action. Ironically, this form of exercise closely mimics patterns of our ancestors. If you think about it, most of their days were spent relaxing, walking, hunting, and gathering, which would have included sprinting after prey or sprinting away from potential threats.

Our physiology is perfectly adapted to be able to run at high speeds and high intensities for short amounts of time. This type of workout is called interval training. Interval training is very challenging and gets the heart rate up to maximal levels, which provides for a fun and hard workout.

This type of training consists the Sprint and the Recovery phases.

Beginners: If you have not started an aerobic training program you may want to start with walking around the track and implementing short bursts of jogging (10-20 seconds at a time) for about 4 laps (1 mile). This will take roughly 15-20 minutes. The goal is to increase the jogging to a run for again (10-30 seconds at a time) for a mile. After a 2-4 weeks of this type of training progress to intermediate.

Intermediate: Now that you are able to walk/run a mile you are ready to start a true interval training program with the Sprint and Recovery phases. The routine I like to perform is the 100 Yard Dash Interval Program. Basically it is running the straights of the track and walking the curves. You should aim for a 1:3 Sprint:Recovery ratio. Run the straight away as fast as you can (e.g. 15 seconds) and then recover by walking the curve 3x the sprint time (45 seconds). This should provide ample recovery time to continue again. Work up to a mile to 1.5 miles of this interval training (4-6 laps).

Advanced: If the program above becomes too easy (doubt it) you can make it more challenging by increasing your sprint speed or jogging the curves and sprinting the straights. This will decrease the work to recovery ratio to 1:2 making it harder! Again aim for (4-6 laps). Another alternative is running 200 meters or half a lap and either walking the second half or walking across the field for a smaller work to recovery ratio.

Check out the video for an illustration! and Remember when starting any sprint interval program stretch in the beginning and run/walk a 2 lap warm-up laps.

Have a Great Time and Workout!

Oh Cardio! How long? How Can I Make it Fun?

Aerobic training is very important for any individual to maintain good health. However, sometimes for a beginner it can be overwhelming when looking at the variety of modes (running, biking, swimming) and types of equipment available in the gym (elliptical, treadmill, bike). This series of posts is going to layout the basics for starting any aerobic training program and describe the utility of different types of cardiovascular training.