By Dave Chesser
Face it, jogging is boring. I see people at the track do it all the time. Same pace, same speed, same distance…..zzzzzz. I’m asleep already. If jogging excites you then go for it. But jogging is not how I would choose to spend my time. Most of the people I have trained don’t have lots of time to exercise so they need the most calories they can burn and the most movement they can get in a short amount of time. So I came up with ways to get them that.
I suggest running instead of jogging. How is running different from jogging? Go jog for about :30. Does that feel nice and comfortable? It does, doesn’t it? Well don’t do that!! Running gets you out of your comfort zone. Running is about making an effort and getting somewhere. Running is for predators, jogging is for prey.
For this program, you need to be able to tell the difference between running and jogging so if jogging leaves you out of breath, then this isn’t for you. You should be able to kick up the pace a bit and be able to hold that for :10-:20 in order to do this program.
Here’s how it works: you will exercise for 20-30:00 but we will pick 20:00 to show you how it’s done. You will run for an interval of :10-:20 and then walk for the rest of the minute (:40-:50) and repeat that without stopping until you reach 20:00. So walk to the track or wherever you plan to run and do this:
interval 1 – jog
interval 2 – jog
interval 3 – jog
interval 4 – 6 run faster
interval 7 – 20 run fast
The first three intervals are a warmup so jog them and stretch you legs. Intervals 4-6 are where you start ramping up the effort. On interval 7 – 20, you want to run these. You should be uncomfortable by the end of the interval. If I choose to do :20 intervals, my effort should be enough that I want to quit by the time I reach :17 but I keep running for another :03. If you reach the end of :20 and think it was easy, then it was and on the next interval, you should run faster. Remember, the clock continuously runs on this workout. At the top of the minute, start running!
Using this interval method, you can do a lot of real running instead of jogging and burn crazy calories in the process. Interval training like this is a much better way to train your conditioning if you’re lifting weights since intervals rarely interfere with strength training. They are similar so you could think of intervals almost like doing sets of weight in the gym.
So add this to your training program if you’re looking for a little more fat loss or conditioning on top of what you’re already doing.