By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.turbulencetraining.com

 
If you don’t have variety in your program, you are more than likely to end up at a fat loss plateau soon rather than later. Variety is one of the keys to keeping that fat loss coming.

So not only should you have variety within your training week (i.e. alternate between two different interval training workouts, rather than just doing the same interval workout each time), but you should also change these workouts every 4 weeks.

So you need to change your training program every 4 weeks. To modify your interval training workouts, you can…

1. switch exercise methods (and even use bodyweight exercises for intervals)
2. increase or decrease the length of the interval (while decreasing or increasing the intensity, respectively)
3. increase or decrease the number of intervals per workout
4. increase or decrease the rest time between intervals

First, let’s take a look at the interval methods. Here is my list of preferred ways to do your intervals, ranked in order from best to worst, based on my experiences…

1. Sprinting outdoors (and hills might be the absolute best)
2. Strongman movements (Farmer’s walks, tire flips, car pushing)
3. Bodyweight interval circuits
4. Treadmill running
5. Stationary cycle (upright preferred)
6. Stairclimber
7. Rower
8. Swimming (only works for competent swimmers)
9. Elliptical & Crosstrainer machines

Okay, so how long should you do intervals and how the heck do you do bodyweight exercises as interval training?

First, I stand by what I said in Part 1. There does not seem to be a “best” interval training program. But that is good because it allows us to use variety in our approach. (So perhaps the best interval training method is simply the one that changes every 4 weeks.)

Interval recommendations have ranged from 15 seconds (from Muscle Media waaaay back in the late 90’s), to 5 minutes (these are known as aerobic intervals). So let’s take a look at each interval recommendation and all those in between.

15 seconds
The great thing about 15 second intervals is that you’ll be able to work at a very high rate (almost near your maximum power output), as long as you get adequate recovery between work intervals. The downside is that it is very difficult to do 15 second intervals on machines, because it takes a long time to “build up” and “bring down” the machine settings to the correct speed.

If you decide to use these short, high-intensity intervals, you should do so only if you already have an above average level of fitness. Your rest interval should be at least 15 seconds long, and can be as long as 60 seconds. The longer you rest, the harder you will be able to exercise in each interval.

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By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Is there really a best interval training system for fat loss?

Do intervals really work as well as regular cardio for fat loss?

I’m going to cover these, and many more questions in Part 1 of your lessons on interval training.

But this is not just interval training 101. Today, you’re going to
leave this email with a graduate degree in interval training for
fat loss.

I’ll answer both questions upfront before the lesson begins, and
I’ll give more details on each as we go along:

1) Conservatively, intervals are at least as effective as regular
aerobic training for fat loss. Personally, I believe intervals are
far superior. And there is no denying that intervals allow you to
get your workouts done a lot faster than slow, boring cardio
workouts.

2) I have to admit, there is no best interval training program for
fat loss. But that is a good thing, because there are so many waysv that you can change your interval training to keep your fat loss results coming week in and week out.

By changing your training program every three to four weeks, you are using one of the key principles of Turbulence Training -
variety. It is essential to change your workouts this frequently,
otherwise you might suffer from a dreaded fat loss plateau.

And if that is the case for you now, I’ll show you dozens of
alternative interval training workouts you can use to kick-start
your metabolism and fat loss.

Now what many people don’t know, or perhaps just fail to recognize, is that interval training is not just for advanced fitness superstars. No way. In fact, intervals are an effective and perhaps even the most effective method for beginners to get fit and lose fat.

First you have to understand that interval training is based on
relative performance. While my intervals would be much too hard for a beginner, my intervals would be a joke for Lance Armstrong.

So even for those men and women that are just dipping their toe
into the fitness waters for the first time in months, years, or
dare I say, decades, they too can do interval training.

If you are a beginner and you can walk at 3.3mph for 20 minutes, then your intervals will start at a walk at 3.6mph for 30 seconds to a minute. That is interval training.

It doesn’t have to be high-intensity, sprint-to-the-death activity.

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