Running on the treadmill going nowhere? Elliptical workouts three times a week? Workout rut? Wonder why your body is not responding to you? Why are you still holding on to those extra pounds? You may have hit a plateau in your training. Your body needs variety!! You need to tax your cardiovascular system regularly to make it stronger. I know a lot of us can run for an hour no problem. But, wouldn’t you like to improve your speed? Wouldn’t you like to reduce your body fat?
A complete workout/training program needs weekly, monthly, yearly goals, interval workouts and low intensity workouts. The majority of your weekly workouts can be low intensity as long as the duration is at least one hour. So, this leads to a discussion on how to incorporate intervals into your weekly routine.
Hill repeats, wind sprints, sprinting for light posts, are fantastic ways to GET FASTER AND FITTER.
The old standard maximum heart rate calculation can be used to give you an idea of where your heart rate should be during an interval workout. However, this formula is not completely accurate. To calculate use 220- your age= your maximum heart rate. Then if you mulitply the maximum number by 70% and 80%, you will get a heart rate range. For example, a 36 year old woman would have a max of 184 with a range of 130-150 for an aerobic zone. For an interval workout, you need to get your heart rate in the anaerobic zone. But, for a beginning exerciser, this calculation can be your guide towards better fitness.
If you want to get faster at running, you need to train your body to go faster. Your body is a combination of slow-twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers. This is purely genetics, however, you can train your body to improve it’s reaction to what you ask it to do.
So, how do you get faster? Designate two workouts per week where you will focus primarily on SPEED. These workouts do not need to be long. Try a one mile warmup, then six 400 meter repeats on a track, followed by a one mile jog home. In theroy, you should have double the time between intervals than the actual interval. But the interval needs to be hard. To build endurance, you must tax your system to make it stronger. You should not be able to talk or carry on a conversation during your interval. Go as hard as you can! In between, walk or jog it out for at least 3-4 minutes.
Get out of the workout rut! Try something new and reap the rewards.
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1 health fitness » SHAKE UP YOUR TRAINING // Oct 16, 2007 at 4:53 am
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2 www.bodybuildingandexercises.info » SHAKE UP YOUR TRAINING // Oct 17, 2007 at 12:38 am
[...] Fit mommy wrote a fantastic post today on “SHAKE UP YOUR TRAINING”Here’s ONLY a quick extractElliptical workouts three times a week? Workout rut? Wonder why your body is not responding to you? Why are you still holding on to those extra pounds? You may have hit a plateau in your training. Your body needs variety! … [...]
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