Interval training is a type of training that includes intervals of high-intensity exercise followed by rest or low-intensity exercise periods. Most interval training routines include a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercises where you alternate between different exercises or sprints and jogging or walking. Interval training is a form of high-intensity training (HIT) in which you alternate between short bursts of high-intensity exercise and low-intensity exercises of various times and durations.
If you’re looking for a way to spice up your fitness routine, interval training may be for you. Interval training is a form of high-intensity training (HIT) in which you alternate between short bursts of high-intensity exercise and low-intensity exercises of various times and durations. For example, you could do 30 seconds of sprinting followed by 90 seconds of brisk walking and repeat the cycle for 30 minutes.
We’ve come a long way since the 90s in fitness training. For example, Rick always shows us how to face nagging injuries and pain instead of running away from it. Thanks to people like Rick, you can perform your workouts with less risk of injury.
If you think about it, that’s HUGE. It’s something we really shouldn’t take for granted.
Then, we were introduced to High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to replace long, boring cardio. We went from 60 minutes of cardio, which can lead to overuse injuries, to doing “cardio” for 15 – 20 minutes.
But I’ll quote what my friend and mentor Craig Ballantyne said at the TT Summit in 2012… “Intervals are so 2010.”
The truth is that interval training is OK, but by replacing intervals with workout finishers, you’ll burn even more calories and lose more fat while at the same time reducing the stress on your joints.
For example, let’s take intervals on a treadmill. Depending on your fitness level, you’ll be cranking 1,500 to 4,000 “reps” (strides). Now every one of those reps impacts your lower body, especially the knees. It’s just the biomechanical truth.
So how do we solve this problem? Enter a finisher.
A workout finisher, a short “mini-workout” designed to replace long cardio and even intervals, is a period of very intense exercise using big, compound movements with very short rest periods. They take 10 minutes or less due to the density of work involved.
Imagine taking that energy you spent on your lower body during an interval workout and distributing it more “evenly” on your entire body. And because you work more muscle, you burn more calories.
Now that part is great and all, but what you’ll like the most about it?… you’ll enjoy it so much more than traditional interval training. It’s like a workout adrenaline rush. My clients fell in love with this concept when I introduced it to them years ago.
If you think about it, it certainly makes sense. Traditional interval training – some time at a high intensity, some time at a low intensity. Yawn.
You can only do that so much before you get bored or, worse, Injured.
But with finishers, you can manipulate so many variables, including:
- Density (set and rep schemes)
- Rest periods
- Volume
It comes down to this. Do you look forward to a crazy set and rep scheme with your “finisher of the day”? Are you excited about working out or heading to the gym? If you are, you stay more consistent.
And you already know the KING of success is consistency.
That’s how workout finishers work – it’s a plug-and-play system. You can use them with ANY workout. Just plug them in at the end, or you can do them on an off day.
So, is interval training dead? No, not yet. But I’m sure people said the same thing about MySpace before Facebook came along.
Mike Whitfield, CTT, has lost 105 pounds propelling his passion into the fitness industry. He is known across the fitness industry for his effective “workout finishers” and humor. His unique approach of using workout finishers has helped thousands of people lose fat with his online and offline programs. His workouts have been seen in Men’s Health, Turbulence Training, AJC, and more.
