Category Archives: Health

An Introduction to Interval Training

 

Interval Training pic
Interval Training
Image: active.com

A resident of New Canaan, CT, John Harrison serves professionals in the entertainment and media industries through his position as global leader for media and entertainment at Ernst & Young (EY). When away from his work at EY, John Harrison enjoys keeping fit through a variety of fitness techniques, including interval training.

The most popular fitness method in 2018 according to the American College of Sports Medicine, interval training offers effective use of workout time for maximum results. Essentially it consists of alternating between short high intensity periods of exertion and slower recovery periods.

Whether you prefer running or lifting weights, biking or rowing, you can gain more from interval training than by a steady cardio workout. Benefits range from increasing your metabolism to building muscle more quickly.

Begin your workout with approximately 15 minutes of warming up to prepare your body for the first interval push. Recommendations for that push range from 30 seconds to three minutes. Basically, the shorter the time, the harder you should push yourself. Then take time to recover by moving at a slow easy pace for several minutes. Repeat these intervals a few times and then give yourself about 10 minutes of recovery at the end to cool down.

How High Intensity Interval Training Affects Your Metabolism

 

High Intensity Interval Trainingpic
High Intensity Interval Training
Image: active.com

The recipient of an MBA from Georgetown University, John Harrison is a native of New Canaan, CT, who serves as a global media and entertainment leader with Ernst & Young (EY). When he isn’t leading the company’s worldwide network of more than 8,000 media and entertainment industry financial professionals, John Harrison keeps physically fit through interval training.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is known to expedite weight loss more effectively than walking on a treadmill or using an elliptical at a steady pace for 30 minutes. This is because HIIT, which involves alternating short bursts of high-energy activity with 30 to 60 seconds of slower-paced activity, produces a drastic metabolic disturbance that causes your metabolic flame to heat up rapidly and continue burning following the conclusion of a workout. Conversely, low-intensity exercises like walking on a treadmill results in a slow and gradual burn of your metabolic flame.

Following an HIIT workout, oxygen consumption and caloric expenditure remain elevated as muscle cells work to restore metabolic and physiological factors in the cells to pre-exercise measures. This is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Studies at the University of Guelph have proven that the levels of fat burning were much higher through as little as two weeks of HIIT training compared to traditional exercise routines.