From an article in August Prevention
If it's an indoor treadmill, warm up walk at 3 to 3.5mph pace at a 2 degree incline. (My treadmill has an incline, but it doesn't show how much!) After a 2 minute warm-up, look at your watch and change the incline by the second hand. Every time it hits :00, raise incline 4 to 7 degrees. Every time your watch hits :20, lower to 2 degrees. After 18 minutes, cool down, easy pace at 1 degree incline. Finish at 20 minutes.
For outdoor walks, warm up at easy pace for 2 minutes. Then every time your watch hits :00, power walk with arms bent. Every time your watch hits :20, walk at a moderate pace. At 18 minutes, cool down with an easy pace for 2 minutes.
The Workout at a glance
Weeks 1+2 Three or four times a week, do either the indoor or outdoor interval for a total of 20 minutes. Each routine burns about 150 calories
Weeks 3+4 Walk 7 days a week. Continue your interval workouts; on alternate days, do a 30- to 45-minute walk at a moderate speed.
Keep it up: To continue losing weight, challenge yourself: Speed up the pace of your fast intervals, raise your treadmill incline higher, or add another 10 minutes to your workout.
I guess a study found that people who exercised for 20 minutes alternating between a high intensity for 8 seconds and a low intensity for 12 seconds LOST 3 TIMES MORE FAT than those who worked out at a constant pace for 40 minutes. I'm going to try this out.
Currently loosely using the Flat Belly Diet plan. A healthy way of eating for LIFE!
3 comments:
The way I use my treadmill is different. I start out at a tenth of a mph or so below what I want to maintain through my workout. I make sure that there are no creaks or pains and then I pop it up as I feel ready. I am at 3.4-3.5 as a top speed right now.
I keep my incline at 4.5% throughout the whole workout, I have a severe back injury so I must take it slow. My back injury and my weight have spawned knee and hip problems.
I do 55 minutes and then I cool down by adjusting my speed down one tenth of a mph per minute.
I am so worried about re-injuring my back, knees or hip that I have to be very careful.
I have a super fat buster trail I walk on. It has some very intense hills, followed by nice flat areas. When I huff and puff up the hills I remind myself that this is exactly like interval training, and that surely I am reaping many benefits by adding occasional intensity to my walks.
Jennifer, yeah, the hills make nice natural high-intensity intervals on a walk! ;-)
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