14 DAY TRIAL // The hottest thing in working out right now is something called interval training, fitness experts tell us. However, unlike in the case of diets, this is not a fad that promises miracles, delivers nothing in return, and then slowly slips off the map. Interval training is not new on the fitness scene, even if its benefits have just been proven and put on paper: as it turns out, this type of training is more efficient in fighting the flab than a workout with a constant intensity, the WSJ Health Blog writes.
Recent research shows that interval training is more efficient in terms of weight loss for all age groups, as opposed to moderate-intensity training. For four months, a group of volunteers were divided in two: one group was told to alternate intensities, while the other had to maintain the same intensity. At the end of the study, those who practiced interval training had lost more weight and were in an overall better shape than the volunteers in the moderate intensity group.
“In one four-month study, people who rode an exercise bike for 20 minutes and alternated between eight-second sprints and 12-second slow periods lost more fat than those who rode for 40 minutes at a steady pace. ‘The eight-second sprint is doable by all the groups we’ve looked at – old people, overweight people, everybody so far we’ve tested has been able to do it,’ the researcher behind that study [says]. ‘And in the 20-minute bout, the actual hard exercise is only eight minutes, so it’s not actually that much exercise.’” WSJ writes of the study.
What this actually means is that we’re not to work out with the same intensity every day. For one, this helps the body become accustomed to the routine and the effort it implies, which translates into no more weight loss. If stationary bikes are not our thing, experts recommend any activity that can get the heart rhythm up for interval training. We’re to do quick sprints for a few seconds until our heart rate goes up to 85 percent, and then slow down to a jog until it stabilizes again – and then repeat.
This way, trainers and specialists explain, we get toned quicker, while we will also get to see faster results next time we get up on the scales. Moreover, given that these are just bouts of more intense workout, we don’t have to feel like we’re changing our routine altogether, or putting in that much of an effort for that matter, they assure us.