Is Interval Training Dead?

The blog below was sent to me by Rick Kaselj, who wrote several population book on Exercise For Injuries

 

by Mike Whitfield

We’ve come a long way since the 90’s in fitness training. For example, Rick is always showing us how to face nagging injuries and pain instead of running away from it. Thanks to people like Rick, you’re able to perform your workouts with less risk for injury.
If you think about it, that’s really HUGE. It’s something we really shouldn’t take for granted.
Then, we were introduced to High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to replace long, boring cardio. We went from 60 minutes of cardio, which can lead to overuse injuries, to doing “cardio” for 15 – 20 minutes.
But I’ll just quote you what my friend and mentor Craig Ballantyne said at the Turbulence Training Summit in 2012… “Intervals are so 2010.”
The truth is that interval training is OK, but by replacing intervals with workout finishers, you’ll burn even more calories and lose more fat, while at the same time reducing the stress on your joints.
For example, let’s take intervals on a treadmill. Depending on your fitness level, you’ll be cranking anywhere between 1,500 to 4,000 “reps” (strides). Now each and every one of those reps put an impact on your lower body, especially the knees. It’s just the biomechanical truth.
So how do we solve this problem?…
… enter a finisher.
A workout finisher, a short “mini-workout” designed to replace long cardio and even intervals, is a period of very intense exercise using big, compound movements with very short rest periods. They take 10 minutes or less due to the density of work involved.
Imagine taking that energy you spent on your lower body during an interval workout and distributing it more “evenly” on your entire body. And because you work more muscle, you burn more calories.
Now that part is great and all, but what you’ll like the most about it?… you’ll enjoy it so much more than traditional interval training. My clients fell in love with this concept when I introduced it to them years ago. It’s like a workout adrenaline rush.
If you think about it, it certainly makes sense. Traditional interval training – some time at a high intensity, some time at a low intensity. Yawn.
You can only do that so much before you get bored… or worse…. Injured.
But with finishers, you can manipulate so many variables including:

• Density (set and rep schemes)
• Rest periods
• Volume

This allows your body to never adapt so it’s constantly stimulated, which means better results. But at the end of the day, what is really overlooked in the fitness world is not so much the “perfect diet” (there is no such thing) or the “perfect workout” (again, no such thing).
It really comes down to this. Ask yourself – do you look forward to a crazy set and rep scheme with your “finisher of the day”? Are you excited about working out or heading to the gym? If you are, you stay more consistent.
And you already know the KING of success is consistency.
That’s how workout finishers work – it’s a plug and play system. You can use them with ANY workout. Just plug them at the end or you can do them on an off day.
So, is interval training dead? No, not yet. But I’m sure people said the same thing about MySpace before Facebook came along.
Don’t get left behind and have some fun.
Get 51 brand NEW Workout Finishers here


Mike Whitfield, CTT, has lost 105 pounds propelling his passion into the fitness industry. His unique approach of using workout finishers has helped thousands of people lose fat with his online and offline programs. He is known across the fitness industry for his effective “workout finishers” and humor. His workouts have been seen in Men’s Health, Turbulence Training, AJC and more.