Abs Diet- Interval Training Tips at MensHealth.co

To improve endurance, you have to understand how your body produces energy. During aerobic exercise--a light jog or bike ride, for example--your body burns oxygen. But when you kick it into overdrive--by increasing speed or pumping up a hill--there isn't enough oxygen to go around, so your body switches over to anaerobic metabolism, which produces energy in the absence of oxygen.

 

The byproduct is lactic acid, and the more it accumulates in your muscles, the more they'll ache and the less efficiently they'll work. To improve endurance, therefore, you'll have to increase your lactic threshold--the point at which lactic acid begins to build up in your muscles--and the best way to do that is with interval training. "Interval training is to endurance what weightlifting is to strength," says Paul Robbins, the metabolic specialist at Athletes Performance. "You overload the body to bring it to a higher level."

 

Plan your interval workout as part of a 3-day-a-week routine. On the first day, you'll perform low-intensity exercise that raises your heart rate to 65 percent of its maximum; this can be done by going for a light jog or bike ride. On the second day you'll kick it up a notch by operating at 80 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. You can perform the same exercises you did on day one as long as you raise your heart rate into the next zone. The third day is for intervals, where you'll elevate your heart rate to 90 percent of its maximum. Robbins recommends doing three 5-minute intervals, progressing as follows:

First Progression

Spend the first minute at 80 to 85 percent of your max heart rate (let's call it Zone A), kick it up to 90 percent for a minute (Zone B), then spend the remaining 3 minutes back at 80 to 85 percent. A general rule of thumb is to spend as much time recovering as you do exerting yourself, so follow your interval with 5 minutes of light exercise. Then move to the second progression.

Second Progression

Here, you'll alternate between Zones A and B in 1-minute intervals. Go all out for the first minute, taper back the second, go all out for the third, taper back on the fourth, and finish strong in Zone B. Exercise lightly for 5 minutes.

Third Progression

Finally, spend two minutes going as hard as you can in Zone B, taper back for a minute in Zone A, and then jump back into the top zone for the final two minutes.

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