Which is Better

onenightinmay

This is somewhat related to another HIIT thread I suppose but here ya go. Generally when I head to the gym my run/cardio was a 5k which I would do anywhere between 21-22 mins. Although this has become somewhat mundane recently and from what I have been reading on these boards I felt that something more quick-slow would be more beneficial. So now what I am doing is a KM at a decent jog (13/14km) and then start a near sprint for a minute (17.5km) and head back down to jogging speed, so its a minute on and a minute off. I have found this really tough, although no pain no gain and all that. However I do cheat somewhat and incoporate a minutes walk here and there just to fully get my breath back.

So my query is which is better? Given my aims of becoming quicker and fitter I suspect that the sprint/jog routine is more beneifical, I also found it to be less boring! Well any comments would be welcome, thanks!!

Recon

I know that many runners will train like that to build up their speed for races. They'll say that if all you're doing is going out and running at 8 minute a mile pace you won't get any faster, you have to do speed training to do that.

So I suppose the jog for a minute, sprint for a minute will work for that or if you're running in a park or something jog to one tree sprint to the next.

See how you get on with it anyway and then after a couple of weeks I think you should notice a drop in the time it takes you to do your 5k run.

Transform

Again i disagree - the 5km times will NOT improve a great deal unless you also build your aerobic base through longer slower sessions - SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU I.E. THIS IS NOT A GENERALY RECOMMENDATION.

Monday - 40-60mins @ 11-12kph

Tuesday - 5mins at 11kph then 16mins min on (17-18kpm) min off (11kph) 5mins at 10kph to finish

Wed - off

Thurs - As monday

Friday - Threshold run - 14-15kpm for 25-30mins

Sat or sunday - As monday

Thats balanced!!!

Long term practice of HIT or intervals will burn you out without balanced aerobic (longer slower sessions)

StaggerLee

you're better off putting in 1 or 2 long slow sessions a week 60-90 minutes. Hit the open road, doing long sessions on a threadmill is mindnumbing

Soon enough you'll find yourself coasting through 5k runs.

Transform

Totally agree - why is it that HIT is recommend more by those that do not really want to do cardio anyway?

Also i have seen it for years that people who exclusively train using HIT end up dropping very little weight and end up wasted - thats my experience from working in the industry and from using all methods.

Dragan

Transform wrote:

Totally agree - why is it that HIT is recommend more by those that do not really want to do cardio anyway?

From own experiece one way of training is never the "only" way of training. I like to vary everything, from my cardio to my weights to my martial arts.

If i can keep them fresh and interesting it just makes things more enjoyable.

onenightinmay

Thank you all for your comments! I will be indeed keep doing a long cardio session a week. Also I am a cardio fanatic so I am just trying to improve my performance (in cardio terms) rather than taking the HIT route to an easier work out.