Yes, we’re talking about treadmills and walking again today. As boring as walking in place may seem to be when you are looking at your fitness options, the treadmill is only as boring as you make it. It’s my opinion that the treadmill offers you a wealth of options, you just have to take advantage of them.
So let’s talk about interval training on your treadmill today. Interval training is becoming a real hot trend in modern fitness because it increases the number of calories you burn and can actually substantially increase your fitness regimen overall.
This is how it works, you can do a series in 7-7-7s, in other words, an interval that changes every minute, increasing the pace for 7 minutes, then dropping back to your original pace and climbing again. For example:
- Minute 1 – 2.5 speed
- Minute 2 – 2.7 speed
- Minute 3 – 2.9 speed
- Minute 4 – 3.1 speed
- Minute 5 – 3.3 speed
- Minute 6 – 3.5 speed
- Minute 7 – 3.7 speed
- Minute 8 – Start again at Minute 1
- Etc. Etc. Etc.
This type of constant speed changes provides you with a heart pounding challenge that doesn’t allow your body to get too comfortable at any one speed. By the time you finish with Minute 7, you are really ready for the slow down that you get by dropping back to 2.5. You do this routine through 3 sets and it’s a 21-minute workout that can burn well over 200 calories and will continue to burn an additional 100 to 150 calories over the rest of your day. Don’t forget that studies suggest if you exercise an hour after you eat, you may burn even more calories.
You can perform alternative forms of interval training by adjusting your time spent. For example, instead of shifting every minute, you might change your speed up every 2 or 3 minutes. You may also walk at a 2.7 pace for 5 minutes, jump to a 3.5 for 1 minute, then return to 2.7 for another 5 minutes. Ideally, the more you vary your walking pace, the more you excite your muscles and burn excess calories because they don’t get into a rhythm.
Changing up your routine can also produce a better fitness result and more interest in your treadmill workout. Are you interested in some interval training on your treadmill today?
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