I love a good intense workout, one where I am focused and strict in my form while working extra hard to complete all reps and sets. Today I had one of those workouts and everything just fell into place. My motivation was up which certainly helps and I got a buzz from each exercise feeding my drive to outwork and perform well. In the end I was dripping sweat, a sign for me that I was concentrating and working extremely hard.
Instead of doing the ropejumps today I went outside and did some interval runs. I went for a hard run for approximately 400 metres and then jogged for 30 seconds. I did this 10 times and was exhausted by the end. I found this more strenuous than the ropejumps and wonder how they would compare in calorie burn. I’ll try to do this once or twice a week. I’ve seen some research on interval training that has stated that training in short bursts with a short recovery period has some advantages over continuous training, namely it takes less time and you can see bigger cardio gains. During the heavy fast run, lactic acid is produced and a state of oxygen debt is reached. During the interval recovery, the heart and lungs are still stimulated as they try to pay back the debt by supplying oxygen to help break down the lactates. The stresses put on the body cause an adaptation including capillarisation, strengthening of the heart muscles, improved oxygen uptake and improved buffers to lactates. All this leads to improved performance, in particular within the cardiovascular system.
I have run longer and shorter distances for most of my life and have found that I am experiencing improvements by way of interval training from the plateaus I have been at for the past few years. I enjoy the experimentation to find the right balance of workouts for running and exercising to get the most out of it.
I hope I have another great workout tomorrow.
See you then.
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2 comments:
Your interval training will improve cardio but won't put much of a dent in your fat percentage. Don't do it too often during your project.
My workout on the stepping machine at the gym for an hour made me sweat harder and I was exhausted. After it I thought I'm just going to stick to jumps ;-)
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