Intervals

I've just incorporated these into my training, I'm just looking for different methods that people currently use or have used.

What works and what doesn't.

 Currently, I'm doing them on a Treadmill...

1 Min. Jog (Speed 3) -> 1 Min. Sprint  (Speed 9) for a duration of 30 mins...

 Is this correct? Can these be done using different equipment? Are the intervals too short?

Thanks is advance.

 -Dave

To me intervals on a treadmill is kinda dangerous...Feel like you might fall off. Try em out doors.

I do intervals on cross trainer. Its mostly about getting that heart rate up REAL REAL HIGH.

Try more progressive intervals more time sprinting and less rest as you progress in the 30 min

start of 1/1

move to 1/2 and 30/2 somethin like that

See what others say

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) when used for fat lose is very effective.  Moving from aerobic to anaerobic then back to aerobic helps use stored fat.  It can be used in many different ways.  If your a runner or cyclist it can help with your endurance and speed.  I'm a big fan of it's use!

IT DOESNT. If i have learned my lesson correctly CARDIO IS WHAT IT IS Cardio vascular exercise, for the heart and make you perform better in the gym. Sure it will help get you to burn more cals, but dieting is where it is at when it comes to losing weight. Dieting is what is is too...for getting rid of the love and handles and the 6000 calories you ate after your contest haha.

AM i right?

O.K. if you suddenly increase the need for energy (anaerobic) doesn't the body go to the most avalible unnessicary source....stored fat?  Where as aerobic uses more carbs for fuel.  To long in an anaerobic state will use aminos (muscle).  I have read studies by the ACSM as well as the NASC that bring mention of this.  Of course nutrition plays the largest part of B.F.% control.

Alright Doc. teach me.  What am I missing??

Seems to me like it would be the opposite. If you suddenly have an increased need for energy, is not glycogen stored in your muscles the most readily available source? Isn't this the exact reason why prolonged cardio session, for ectos like me, are bad for muscles? Once glycogen is gone muscle catabolism takes place?

I have not read to many studies, but I do know what every treadmill in the world seems to say on its panel. A lower heart rate, for me, of 140 is fat burning, while 160 is cardio vascular. I take this to indicate that at 160 I would more likely be burning glycogen fast enough that the muscle lose would offset the fat lose.

I personally don't follow an exact cardio regime. Some days I run, some days I do a mix of running/rowing/eliptical, and then sometimes I swim. I just tend to keep the cardio under 30 minutes, and try and listen to what my body is telling me. I know the difference between my body saying "I am tired and lazy, stop running" and "I am out of energy and your being counterproductive". 

here is my shot at this:

when you have an increase in demand of energy via weight training, your body is going to access blood sugar first, muscle glycogen and amino's second to replace that energy debt. that is why you can't train for 2hrs and expect to make gains, eventually you are counter productive and breaking down too much during training. This is also why joe recommends having carbs pre workout and some people during the workout to decrease the chances of muscle breakdown and provide the body with fuel for training with out going totally catabolic.

when you have an increase in demand of energy via cardio.. your body will tap into glycogen first, then stored body fat for energy but also aminos. cardio is catabolic in nature that is why it is so good at breaking down fat and muscle. you aslo can 't eat a bunch and do cardio expecting to burn BF. you have to create that demand by waiting 2hrs after a meal or having a very small carb meal for morning cardio. 

my take on the HIIT cardio is that you never get to that point where you are burning body fat because of the duration, but you get a good met boost and good aerobic conditoining for lifting and performance. this is why steady state cardio is king of fat burning, with some well timed intense sessions(1-2 per wk), mainly good CV work.

i preface this all by saying the above may be different for certain body types. endo's can get away with more cardio and ecto's need less because of catabolism. 

 ok joe, let's see my grade??? :)

Graig...

You da bomb.

Graig, even the body type qualifier - nice!! 

Eric, just to summarize/restate your question:

O.K. if you suddenly increase the need for energy (anaerobic) doesn't the body go to the most avalible unnessicary source....stored fat?  Where as aerobic uses more carbs for fuel.  To long in an anaerobic state will use aminos (muscle).  I have read studies by the ACSM as well as the NASC that bring mention of this.  Of course nutrition plays the largest part of B.F.% control.

Alright Doc. teach me.  What am I missing??

1) No, you don't go to the most "unnecessary" source, you go for the most available.  Blood sugar, local amino acids, and liver aminos - that's why I disagree vehemently with Norton on his anti-glutamine crusade.  If you supply glutamine systemically you can avoid using as much locally and you therefore delay catabolism. Glutamine is like a glucose back up in anaerobic exercise.  But this is a cascading process. You start using all of those AND body fat - first from the blood.  You have to be seriously depleted to even get to stored body fat at a cardio session in a large part.  No matter how much cardio you do and how much of a calorie deficit you're in, most fat loss happens over time - not just in that one shot.

2) BUT, as soon as you start exercise at all - aerobic or anaerobic - your body fat cells unload and your blood stream has massive triglycerides available to convert to glucose IF you run out of liver glycogen to support muscle glucose needs.  What your liver doesn't convert, you re-store as fat.  This is a 30-minute peak which is why 20-30 minute sessions of moderat to high-intensity work gives you more bang for your buck.   At the end of 30 minutes, your body is not releasing more body fat - actually almost less than at rest until your body catches back up.   The caveats to this are that if I have a lot of fat to lose and want additional cardio, more can be done just at a slower pace so you don't risk catabolism and even after a 20-30 minute tough cardio, you can cool down with 10 minutes or so of slow work just to let your body keep using the fat that was released instead of re-storing it.  

3)  Thus, you are right that too long and you risk losing muscle and you're not really at any extra fat-loss advantage.

I just didn't know what you meant by your quote:

Moving from aerobic to anaerobic then back to aerobic helps use stored fat.  It can be used in many different ways.  If your a runner or cyclist it can help with your endurance and speed.  I'm a big fan of it's use! 

I guess we still didn't cover that - what do you mean going from aerobic to anaerobic back to aerboic?

First, thank you for going over that so completely.  I use to run, I did two marathons and a ton of half marathons.  HIIT is what I use to improve my VO2 max.   I started out jogging for 30 seconds (aerobic) then move to sprinting (anaerobic) for 30 seconds.  I would continue that back and forth for 15 min. after a 5 min. warm up and follow that with a 5 min cool down.  In the process I dropped 5% body fat in 1 1/2 months.  Not to mention kicked my a#@!!!  But M.S. brought an end to all that!!!