Spice up your walking/ running – Intervals and Hills – Don’t let them intimidate you!

As promised – here is the continuation of ways make your everyday walking and running sessions more entertaining and enriching:

Run or walk on the trails – Trails are maintained throughout the spring and summer time. You should take advantage of being outdoors and enjoy walking and running outside regularly.

Interval Training:

One variation of your normal walking/ running routine is an interval workout. Interval training will add a little spice to your workout by adding portions of a quicker speed to the workout. During your normal jogging routine, speed up for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then, follow this speed interval with a period of recovery at walking or slow jogging pace.

I strongly recommend that you either walk or slowly jog as a recovery method, don’t stop altogether! The interval of rest varies dependent on your fitness level. Walk to rest if you are a beginner or average runner and jog to recover if you are more advanced. Your recovery should be until you have your breathing under control again – so you can talk comfortably.

You can make these intervals as difficult as you want. You will burn a lot more calories because of the increased intensity level, plus it will increase your metabolism during the rest of the day more than if you stayed at an easy jogging speed.

For example – one interval training workout could be:

* Warm up slow jog for about 10 minutes
* 1 minute faster pace followed by 30 seconds walk or slow jog recovery (complete 5 intervals)
* Cooldown for about 10 minutes and stretch well

Hill Workouts:

Hill training will increase muscle and cardiovascular strength. Be careful and limit the number of repeats you do when starting, hill training is very demanding because you will be working muscles that aren’t often used when running on flat ground.

The more you hill run, the easier it will become. It is extreamly effective at building aerobic power and strength. It is a great form of resistance training for runners/ walkers because as you go up a hill, you are fighting the resistance of the incline. There are many other benefits of hill training including strengthening of hamstrings, calves, glutes, hip flexors and Achilles tendons. Further, hill running uses more upper-body muscles than flat running, and so is a more total body workout.

Next post will include information about Circuit Training- how to do it and why you must have it in your workout routine! If you want to know more before next week you can have a look at the Turbulence Training website – the program is a great source of information about circuit (body weight) style training.

Enjoy daylight savings and make the most of it to get outside.

Check out this video on one of the many ultra marathon races going on around the world – this ones a 50 miler called the Mountain Masochist. (Personally am training for a 100 miler to be run in 2009)

Get out of the Gym – Take it Outside

Are you bored with the cardio machines at the gym? Have you had enough of walking or pedaling nowhere and for what seems like hours?

Taking your cardio workout outdoors may be the solution re-motivate and challenge yourself to the next level of conditioning. There are limitless possibilities for cardio workoutsoutdoors. It makes each workout an adventure, a chance to check out nature, and an opportunity to rejuvenate your spirit.

Exercising outside will provide you a stimulating escape from loud music, artificial lighting, and flashing televisions.

Over the next week I’m going to provide some ideas to rejuvenate your workout by taking it outside and taking advantage of the weather. Make sure you warm-up and stretch before you begin your workout, and remember to cool-down and stretch when you are finished!

Walking & Running:

The most pure form of outdoor exercise is simple – walk…

There are many trails and side walks and I bet your dog is in need of a walk and would enjoy a workout with his owner! You can walk at the pace you are comfortable at. If you have kids you can take them with you instead of paying for childcare while you are at the gym. Walking outside instead of on the treadmill is the first and easiest way to change up your cardio training routines.

Create 4 or 5 walking routes that you use and time yourself over them. If you want to work harder carry a small backpack with a little weight in it. Use you imagination to make it interesting. Maybe some of the routes are hilly, some are on the beach or on a mountain trail. It’s all up to you.

Another option to enjoy the weather is to run outside! Not everyone can run for a long distances but try to slowly incorporate a little running into your walk. One day run between two points, a couple days later increase the distance slightly. Running regularly can help weightloss, fight aging, and promote better health. In fact, running burns more calories per minute than any other form of exercise!

The next post I’m going to provide more detailed ideas about the types of running sessions you can do as you get fitter and in better shape. These include hill running and interval training, the types of training that really amp up your metabolism and b=get you into shape. These are training sessions that are similar in scope to the interval training done by Craig Ballantyne – Men’s Health Magazine contributor and Turbulence Training founder.

welcome to the blog for likedavid

…so what’s the story about ‘likedavid’s’ blog?

What’s with the name?

Well as some of you know there is a statue in Florence, Italy – sculpted by Michaelangelo. This statue, which I saw in 1997, amazed and inspired me. It is well known as one of the leading scuptures of the male body, and is the perfect inspiration for anyone wanting to get in shape and fit – regardless or age, sex, nationality, class…you get the idea.

Over the coming months I’m going to provide you lots of information about how to go about keeping in shape.

A little about me. I’m a nationally accredited Personal Trainer and ultra-marathon trail runner. I’ve been an amateur athlete for the past 15 years. I love helping people get in shape and advance their fitness levels way on up there.

To start off with – this week you can find a great resource to assist you learn what you need to do to get in shape from a beginner’s perspective.

Work hard out there.

likedavid

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