Let's Talk (Test) About Intervals

Have you hit a weight loss plateau? Weight loss plateaus often happen when your body adjusts to the physical activity you're doing. If you've been doing the same-old same-old activities for a few months, it might be time to amp things up a bit.

If you're just beginning with physical activity, increasing duration (the length of time you're active) is often the place to start. If you're engaging in cardiorespiratory exercise for less than an hour (or if you're logging fewer than 10,000 steps on your pedometer), consider increasing your exercise time by an extra 10 or 15 minutes, until you reach an hour (or 10,000 steps).

But what if you're already doing cardio for an hour, or what if you just don't have that much time in a day to squeeze in your cardio? A great way to amp up your workouts is to experiment with interval training.

In interval training, you increase intensity, rather than duration. Intervals serve a variety of purposes. They increase the number of calories you burn during your workout. Intervals also seem to encourage your body to keep burning calories long after your workout is over, too. Intervals are a terrific way to build cardiorespiratory endurance, which improves your physical health. Intervals make it easier to create an endorphin rush while you're working out, too.

Are you ready to work in a few intervals? Let's do it! Before you begin interval training, become aware of your rate of perceived exertion (the intensity at which you're exercising), and use it to manage your intervals. If you're aiming for cardiorespiratory exercise that will burn fat, your rate of perceived exertion shouldn't get too high when you're not engaging in intervals (that is, for most of your workout). You should be able to talk reasonably comfortably -- not as you would when you're inactive, but you should be able to say a few sentences without too much trouble.

When you're ready to work in an interval, you'll want to increase your intensity a little (not a lot!), until you reach the point where you can still talk, but it's not comfortable. Each interval doesn't need to be very long -- anywhere from thirty seconds to a minute is good. After the interval, go back to your previous intensity.

One easy (and fun) way to do this is to use your favorite workout music as a timer. During the chorus of a song, use that time to build up to your interval pace. Then, when the chorus ends, go back to your previous intensity.

Whether you work out to music or not, remember that the majority of your workout should be at a pace where you can talk reasonably comfortably. That way, you're burning fat as you're working out. When you first begin experimenting with intervals, a good rule of thumb is to start with about 25% of your workout at a higher intensity. From there, you can gradually increase the amount of time of each interval, or increase the number of intervals.

If you decide to experiment with intervals, don't forget to come back and let us know what you try, and how it goes! :)