Interval Fitness Training

Interval fitness training is using the concept of intervals to increase fitness. I teach this to my clients as a basic and fundamental concept to remember when exercising for the rest of their lives.

Interval Fitness Training Myth 1

There are a few myths regarding using intervals for interval fitness training but there are also myths regarding fitness.

To gain clarity on the concept of “intervals” you can visit the page, “Interval Training.” Because of the popularity of “High Intensity Interval Training,” people who know about interval training only tend to think of it involving only high intensity.

But that is not the case. Interval training is simply using two levels of intensity. For weight loss I have isolated the two levels of intensity to use and how long you should stay in those intensities. I detail them in my book Metabolism Makeover.

Interval Fitness Training Myth 2

The next myth that exists is about interval fitness training is the concept of fitness.

The Encarta Dictionary defines “fitness” as:

being physically fit: the state of being physically fit

“fit” is defined as:

strong and healthy: physically strong and healthy, especially because of taking regular exercise

This is the typical view of most people when they think of the idea of fitness and being fit.

A New Way of Looking At Fitness

I have a certain way I look at fitness that is different. Based on the definitions, all people look at is what a person can exert. I look at that but I also look at how fast they can recover. You can get two people and they can both run a 4 minute mile. This is a respectable speed. But based on the above definition, they are both equally fit.

When I was developing my methods for discovering why people cannot lose weight, I found there is more to it.

If you measure the heart rate of both individuals right after the 4 minute mile, you can find that one person will recover to their resting heart rate very fast and the other person can take a long time. Let’s say after the race one person takes 2 minutes for his heart rate to recover to his resting heart rate. The other person can take 3 hours to three days.

The second person will have a harder time losing weight than the first person.

The behavior of the heart rate is a good indicator of the fitness level of the person. You can read more about this on my page, "Heart Rate Recovery." I look at not only how much work can a person do with their exercise, but how fast can they recover. When both of these are looked at together, then you can get very workable and remarkable results.

Barrier to Fitness

When an athlete comes to me and finds that they are plateauing on their performance I check their ability to recover and will find that their ability to recover has decreased markedly. Though using heart rate as a training method is relatively new, most trainers look for other more subjective symptoms of over-training. The heart rate and its ability to recover is a much more objective measure.

So even though you are not necessarily an athlete, the same thing applies.

I found people in everyday life get the exact same symptoms and manifestations as an athlete who is over-training. Except the everyday person is not even training!

What are These Symptoms?

• Fatigue
• Out of Breath
• dehydration despite drinking a lot of water
• Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
• Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
• Pain in muscles and joints
• Sudden drop in performance
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
• Decrease in training capacity / intensity
• Moodiness and irritability
• Depression
• Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
• Decreased appetite
• Increased incidence of injuries.
• A compulsive need to exercise! or in the case of a non-athlete a compulsive need to work or worry.

So even these individuals who are not athletes are essentially “over-training” even though they are not in a sport. The common denominator is the lack of recuperation and/or too much prolonged stress.

In fact these are also symptoms of excess cortisol and adrenal fatigue!

So in this way you have lost your fitness in the sense that you cannot recover easily from the same stressor.

Interval fitness training for fitness is one way to quickly increase your fitness in both ways: to increase performance and also to increase recovery speed.

Doing continuous exercise is not as effective as interval fitness training.

I hope this helps you understand fitness and interval fitness training a bit more.

My method focuses on true internal fitness. By doing this, your body can use oxygen more, and start to turn from a fat and sugar storing body to a fat burning body that is much more resilient.

Metabolism Makeover

Interval Fitness Training is very helpful in getting long-lasting results and saving you time and money. However, it should be used as part of a comprehensive weight loss program that focuses of restoring health first to lose weight. Know how to use it will save you time, money and hassle because you don't have anymore guess work. I lay it out for you. It is all in this book. If you are interested check out Metabolism Makeover.

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