When to Do Interval Training

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN
myTreadmillTrainer.com

Hi this is Yuri Elkaim with another ask the expert question. Today I want to talk to you about interval training. I’ve had a lot of questions recently about how often they should interval train.

For instance, if you are using the Treadmill Trainer running programs which are based on interval training, I normally tell people to do the program twice a week. However, a lot of people want to know if they can do it 3, 4, or even 5 times a week.

To give you more clarification, interval training, for those who don’t know, is really just a combination of higher intensity and lower intensity bouts of exercise that are specifically cardiovascular related.

So, if you are on the treadmill or running outdoors, it’s pretty much a faster running pace followed by a jogging pace, and those two actions are repeated one after the other.

Studies consistently show that interval training is the best way to improve your cardiovascular endurance, burn calories, and save time on your workouts.

So the question was, how often should I interval train every week? I am going to make it very simple for you. The majority of the scientific research shows that 2-3 times a week is more than enough. Ideally, you will want to give yourself 24-48 hours of rest in-between sessions.

For example, if you go for an interval run on Monday, you’ll want to go for your next interval training session on Wednesday or Thursday, and then perform your next session on Saturday or Sunday. On your days of rest, you can do more long duration exercises that are a little bit less intense. Or, you can do other cross-conditioning exercises at the gym – it’s entirely up to you!

So there we have it, our answer to the question of the month, “how often should you run and do interval training?” It’s very simple: 2-3 times a week is all you need.

=> CLICK HERE to get started with the Treadmill Trainer interval training workouts!