Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Interval Training

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Who doesn’t want to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time?  An article in The Wall Street Journal called “To Heal a Hearth, Train Harder” written by Katherine Hobson cites that “a growing body of research suggests that a workout routine athletes use to get in shape may do the same for some patients.”


The workout is known as interval training.  The patients the research is referring to are recovering from bypass surgery or other heart related deficiencies or failures.  Conventional wisdom and practice recommended a patient to exercise at 70% of their maximum heart rate to avoid risking chest pain or another cardiac event.  Even though the topic is still controversial and more research is needed, studies do indicate that interval training improves the body’s ability to effectively move and utilize oxygen in the bloodstream.


The observation and correlation to draw from this study and story is that interval training has shown its positive effect on both athletes and patients with heart conditions.  This means that for the routine gym –goer and exercise buff, this is a great way to get your body into shape.  “Alternating the hard work with periods of more moderate exercise enables individuals to accumulate the benefits of an intense workout.” writes Hobson.


The specific instructions would be to start off with moderate cardiovascular exercise to warm up, work your way up to 70% of your maximum heart rate, and then alternate spurts of intense exercise at 85% to 95% of your maximum heart rate.  The goal is to shorten the amount of time it takes to burn the same amount of calories you would burn if you exercised at a steady state of 70% of your heart rate maximum for an extended period.


Start incorporating intervals into your cardio routine to vary your pace and your workouts.  Decrease the time it takes to work out and increase your productivity. 

 

References: Hobson, Katherine.  “To Heal a Hearth, Train Harder.”  The Wall Street Journal [New York] 28 June 2011, 1+

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