Three Ways To Make Transitioning To Intervals Easier

If you’ve been at your cardio workout for quite some time now and are looking to get set to advance your fitness levels and do a bit more with your workout routine, one thing that you absolutely must be considering is interval training.

By far, interval training stands out as one of the most effective exercises you could be doing in a workout routine and as such, it’s an important one to start integrating into your plan over time.

This said, many people dive right into interval training and before they know it, they find themselves injured and frustrated that now they can’t even do their moderate paced workouts.

Or, they are just too tired, too sore, or too overwhelmed with the process of interval training and do it once, never to go at it again.

It’s important that this doesn’t happen to you and if you get a few key strategies in place, it won’t.

Let’s look at three ways that you can make transitioning to intervals easier.

Go By Feel At First

The very first thing that you should be doing is going by feel at first. Rather than saying that you must do 60 full seconds of the interval, start with 10 or 20 and see how it feels. Only go as long as your body feels comfortable and then back down again.

If you go by feel – do the interval for as long as you can and then rest for as long as needed until you feel ready again, you’ll be dictating the process rather than a stop watch.

This can make the entire process far less intimidating.

Add Them In Randomly

Next, consider adding the intervals in randomly (most treadmills $1,500 and over will have this option as a program). Rather than doing interval/rest/interval/rest, just add a few brief intervals into your typical cardio workout schedule.

This way, you get a feel for them while doing your moderate paced sessions.

Then when you are ready to up the ante and go harder, you can do so. Adding them in randomly gives you complete control as to how many you complete and how you’ll feel as you do them.

For beginners, this will definitely help make the process easier.

Lower The Intensity

Finally, the last thing that you should consider as you go about your interval training is lowering the overall intensity.

Don’t think that you have to go full tilt ahead right from the very start.  Begin at a lower intensity level and then increase it from there.

Longer, lower paced intervals can still be very beneficial so while they aren’t sprints, they are still definitely considered interval training.

So there you have some of the smartest methods to ease into interval training. Use these and you will make the transition far easier on yourself and get hooked on this form of cardio for good.