How To Get The Most From Your Interval Training, Part 2

If you've visited No Pink Dumbbells before, you know I'm a big fan of challenging strength training and cardio intervals for fat loss.

The other day, I wrote about a member whose intensity was not high enough during the hard portion of her intervals. On Sunday, I ran into kind of the opposite scenario.

One of my male clients, who I only see once every month or so for a new workout routine, mentioned that his performance really falls off by his 3rd or 4th interval. As we discussed it more, it was obvious why- he was not performing the recovery portion of the intervals correctly.

I see this often on internet forums. Someone reports that they run at 8.5 mph for 30 seconds or a minute and they "recover" at 5.5 or 6.0 mph. Wrong.

It's called recovery for a reason.

If you are running, recovery should be a walk, probably no faster than 3.5 mph. If you are walking fast during the challenging section of the interval, slow down significantly for the easy part. If you're using a stationary bike, lower your resistance. You should be ready for your next interval when it's time to go hard again.

The challenging part of the interval should feel like an 8 or 9 on a scale of 1 to 10; recovery should feel like a 3.

If you don't allow your body to recover properly, you will not be able to push yourself as much and you will not get the best results from your session.

For a more thorough description of how to perform cardio intervals correctly, go here.