The problem is, I'm not really that excited about exercising. More bluntly - I hate to really work out hard, unlike some of my friends, who love it, and get the famous "runner's high". Not me. I like walking, and I exercise (almost) every day, but it's generally just a brisk walk on the treadmill, about half an hour, while I watch some of my favorite shows on HGTV (currently House Hunter International). And very occasionally, I motivate myself enough do a few push-ups and sit-ups. Yep, I need to kick it up a notch!
So I decided to try interval training. In a nutshell, interval training is working out very hard, but just for a short time, and then going back to a regular pace. Rinse, then repeat. Here's how I did this, training on the treadmill:
- 5 minutes walking at a regular pace
- 5 minutes at a regular pace, but a 11 degree incline - very steep! And tiring.
- Repeat, for about 30 minutes total
The magic to interval training is how very speedily it increases your aerobic capacity! I could really tell the difference yesterday, on a local hilly walk in the neighborhood. Previously, I got a bit winded on it. And now it's not a problem at all, I was powering up the hilly section. And this is all with only 4 sessions of interval training over the course of a week.
The key to making this work is that the strenuous part of the workout is very tolerable, because you only have 5 minutes to do!
