getting the most out of your workouts

interval training.  muscle confusion.  circuit training.  these are just a few of the terms we see coming up in the industry often, and more so recently as research has shown vast differences in the results for this type of training in athletes versus the alternatives.

what do they mean:

interval training.  interval training can be linked to almost any discipline from swimming to running, or anything you can imagine at the gym as well.  interval training can include changes in speed for running and walking, or even changes in elevation for hill repeats.  in the gym you can do intervals when you are lifting.  the rate at rich you push the weights can be considered interval and each variation will have a different reaction on your heart, and your muscles, which is what we want.

the benefits of interval training are muscle confusion as well as increasing and decreasing your heart rate, which plays large rolls in keeping you in your fat burning zone.  without getting too technical, muscle confusion is a great way to surprise your body.  many runners, to pick on them, go out and run the same distances at the same pace and often running the same course...and see little results except depleted muscles.  their bodies have adapted to that pattern, and have become accustomed to the routine.  no surprise to the system, no need to burn anything extra for the effort.

look at a track athlete compared to a long distance runner.  look at the difference between their muscle tone.  track athletes do nothing but interval training.  in practice, they blast out of the gate and sprint their hearts out for sometimes as little as 5 or 10 seconds.  then they walk for 2 minutes.  then they do it again, and again.

increasing and decreasing your heart rate during your workout will keep your body guessing and by doing so will tap into stores to keep you going.  those fat burning stores are where we need to make sure we stay tapped, without doing too little, or going for too long.

so the fat burning zone rule, seems to change each week.  but what hasn't changed, according to the industry media, seems to be the ideas around duration of workout.  they say doing the same activity beyond 25-30 minutes will throw you out of the fat burning zone and you will begin burning energy from your lean muscle protein.  yet, the lean muscle is what we need to keep our metabolism up.  decreasing our metabolism only makes it more difficult to burn the calories we put into our body.  the scale may be dropping when we lose muscle, but the body fat % will either rise, or plateau.

examples of good interval workouts are...

swim freestyle at best pace 1 lap, return to start with breast stroke at 50-75%
continue for 20-30 minutes

treadmill: run 30 sec. high intensity, back off to a jog for 1 min.  or high int. 1 min, jog for 2.  you can also play  with the elevation while running or even throw in a third set walking for 1 minute at your peak elevation.

running outside:  if you have your ipod, sprint the chorus....or pick up the pace during a high tempo song.  you can also add in hills or stairs.  hill repeats are also great....find a good hill and sprint all the way up, and jog back down...repeat for 10.

as for circuit training....

circuit training is what they have modeled most group fitness formats around.  circuit training is a style of training that keeps your heart rate elevated while training different muscle groups with little rest.  group fitness classes often offer classes that combine cardio and weights into a circuit format.  in this setting you are varying your heart rate and using a variety of muscle toning techniques that incorporate intervals.

a good circuit training workout to do on your own....

find the section of your gym where the circuit machines are.  they are usually arranged in a pattern to make them accessible to move from one to the other quickly.  focus on the larger muscles as they will be burning the most calories in your afterburn stage...ie...chest, back, shoulders, glutes, legs.

rotate between the stations, it is ok to hit the same muscle groups on different machines, in between each station....do 1 minute of cardio (ie...jump rope, do jump squats or jacks, hit the treadmill or the eliptical, etc). repeat the circuit 2 or 3 times for 25-30 minutes.

this model is actually what curves is based on in their clubs all around the world.

in summation....higher intensity, shorter workouts and lots of creative variation.

ps....we haven't talked about the effects of no sugar.  i for one have been exhausted.  i have blamed it on everything i can think of, but last night finally drew the conclusion that it was sugar detox.  i had no idea that my diet, which i thought was fairly low sugar, would affect my system this much.  i haven't heard from you on moods, energy, or however else this week has affected you.  feel free to post your symptoms.  if you are affected at all, btw, it will go away.  the side affects of detox can take about 7-10 days.

enjoy your weekend.

kat.