Once you have been working out for a while, you start to look for something that will help you to keep progressing. One of the best ways to improve the effectiveness of your workouts is to add some interval training. Interval training came to public attention in the 1950's as a way for Olympic athletes to increase their speed over long distances. However, it was soon picked up by athletes all over the world, and has recently moved out of the competitive arena and into the health club. So what can interval training do for you? In a nutshell, it can get you fitter in a shorter period of time. As it also helps to burn fat, it's easy to see why it is becoming more popular.
Interval training also goes by the delightful name 'fartlek', which derives from the Swedish term for 'speed play', and quite simply means alternating periods of faster and slower exercise.
The beauty of it is that you can apply it to any cardiovascular activity, indoors or out. Outdoors it is common practice in both running and cycling, while indoors you can apply it to running, swimming, biking, rowing, step – you name it.
Finally, a few words of caution:
this is not an everyday workout – start with one session per week, and never do more than two per week.
Always warm up and cool down, and never do sessions on consecutive days.
