How to Use Interval Training to Achieve Your Exercise Training Goals
Are you one of those individuals who are wondering why your regular exercise is not giving you the toned body and the shapely figure you expected from your regimen? For some people who exercise regularly this can be a problem: despite the hours spent on their elliptical or on other machines at the gym or outdoors on the jogging path, some people just can’t get rid of those extra pounds. The failure to shake off that excess weight can be quite frustrating. Sometimes this frustration can lead people to give up exercise training, leading them to self doubt and danger of exposure to weight-related illness. But before you raise the white flag on your exercise training program, you might want to try interval training.
Interval training is a method of exercise that employs a mix of bursts of high intensity work followed by a low intensity period, all within a single workout. This method can be used with any cardiovascular exercise training program such as jogging and cycling. If interval training is used when jogging, it can be divided into three routines: first, warm up; second, jogging mixed with short bursts of sprints, and; third, the cool down.
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Interval training has been shown to offer remarkable results compared with the more common and familiar “steady-rate” method of sustained low intensity exercise training. The use of interval training with elliptical machines shows that a period of 30 minutes exercise can burn as much as 584 calories compared with 292 calories using the steady rate program within the same period of time. How is it possible for interval training to achieve this higher burn rate? The answer lies with the body’s energy system.
Let’s examine the two types of body systems involved. The aerobic system is utilized by the body to power low intensity activity and can be sustained for a long period of time. It uses oxygen to act as catalyst in converting nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins into adenosine triphosphate or ATP. ATP is the fuel that enables the muscle cells to contract. The anaerobic system does not require oxygen and it exclusively use carbohydrates to produce ATP. The anaerobic system is utilized by the body for high intensity activity. The ATP in anaerobic system is stored in the muscles and can only power medium to high intensity exercise for a much shorter duration.
With interval training. both systems are used — however during the low intensity period the body is producing energy as it is being consumed while the other system taps on the ATP reserves of the muscles and once used will need time to be replenished. This is where the science of interval training produces results: after the interval training the body replenishes the ATP reserves in the muscles in a way that conserves carbohydrates and uses fat to power the energy consumption of the body. The process of replenishing the lost energy and restoring the body to its normal state makes interval training effective as a weight loss program since fat burning continues even after the workout is over. This is known as the post-exercise energy expenditure. You might consider this return as a way of receiving dividends for a prior investment.
Before you quit on your exercise training program and conclude that it does not help you reduce weight, try interval training as an alternative. It might just be the key to your picture perfect body.
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