Interval training on treadmill

Assets Model

How can I do interval training (for a beginner) on a treadmill if there is no exact setting? Do I just have to fiddle with the controls every minute?

lubie76

Some machines have an interval program on them where you can enter two speeds e.g. jog speed run speed and then just toggle between them. You should ask one of the instructors in the gym to show you as sometimes it can be hard to figure the more complex machines out.

delllat

much better to do it outside

find a hill 100-200m as steep as possible

jog down and explode sprint up to the top as fast as possible ,

jog down + repeat x10


if that gets too easy use hand weights + leg weights+ weighted backpack +weighted vest

Assets Model

lubie76 wrote: »

Some machines have an interval program on them where you can enter two speeds e.g. jog speed run speed and then just toggle between them. You should ask one of the instructors in the gym to show you as sometimes it can be hard to figure the more complex machines out.

Cheers I'm in crunch in UCD and it's pretty rubbish but is cheap. OUtside would be good but there aren't any decent hills where I live in Dublin.

shmaido

If you are in UCD then you'll be able to avail of a few roads with a descent grade in it, Mount Anville road or even closer up and down the Clonskeagh road, used to do it for rowing training, painful stuff but really worth it

thirtyfoot

delllat wrote: »

much better to do it outside

find a hill 100-200m as steep as possible

jog down and explode sprint up to the top as fast as possible ,

jog down + repeat x10


if that gets too easy use hand weights + leg weights+ weighted backpack +weighted vest

Do you do this session - can you 'sprint' 200m up a steep hill with a jogback recovery? What kind of times do you hit for your 200's, does run 1 vary much to run 10 timewise? What kind of gradient do you use? Thats a savage session if you are sprinting.

OP - This is pretty bad advice considering (I'm presuming) he doesn't know what you are trying to acheive, how fit you are etc etc. If he knows you and knows that you are really, really fit to the point of maybe being an elite/world class athlete at some sport and can handle this then fair enough.

10 x 100-200m hill (steep at that) sprints with jog back recovery is an animal session and probably not best for someone enquiring about doing intervals on a treadmill in the first place. I train with a 10 sec 100m man (high 10sec) and fit long sprinters with great endurance and the most these guys could handle is 5 x 150m sprints with walkback recovery before they collapse and need a recovery before the next set. If you are going to go outside and do intervals use a football pitch and lengths and breadths, diagaonals etc etc or simply get a watch with an interval and countdown timer. Also, you don't need hills for intervals.

delllat

Tingle wrote: »

Do you do this session - can you 'sprint' 200m up a steep hill with a jogback recovery? What kind of times do you hit for your 200's, does run 1 vary much to run 10 timewise? What kind of gradient do you use? Thats a savage session if you are sprinting.

OP - This is pretty bad advice considering (I'm presuming) he doesn't know what you are trying to acheive, how fit you are etc etc. If he knows you and knows that you are really, really fit to the point of maybe being an elite/world class athlete at some sport and can handle this then fair enough.

10 x 100-200m hill (steep at that) sprints with jog back recovery is an animal session and probably not best for someone enquiring about doing intervals on a treadmill in the first place. I train with a 10 sec 100m man (high 10sec) and fit long sprinters with great endurance and the most these guys could handle is 5 x 150m sprints with walkback recovery before they collapse and need a recovery before the next set. If you are going to go outside and do intervals use a football pitch and lengths and breadths, diagaonals etc etc or simply get a watch with an interval and countdown timer. Also, you don't need hills for intervals.

i complete that circuit myself , i wouldnt advise someone to try anything i wouldnt do myself

i always do the hill 10 times,
as fast as my body allows

its improved my fitness much more than other training technigue ive used

of course you dont need hills for intervals but they make normal running seem like walking

nothing worthwhile was ever achieved without a bit of suffering

aha sure fcuk the gym,why not just watch tv ?:rolleyes:

maxxie

get on a treadmill, do 3 min intervals for around 15 minutes..

1 jog - 1 run - 1 sprint

j@utis

I think speed intervals on the treadmill make no sense, because treadmill takes forever to reach the set speed, and setting speed itself takes a bit of time (you have to hold finger on the speed button for like a 10secs), it's just anoying and afterall not effective.
the closest to interval training I get from treadmill is setting constant speed and then changing incline, because it takes only a moment to increase incline by +-3%. and also in my gym Cybex treadmills have this '9-holes' program where you set the speed and the incline is changing all the time. I find it quite fun to run on inclines from -2% to +10%

thirtyfoot

delllat wrote: »

i
nothing worthwhile was ever achieved without a bit of suffering

aha sure fcuk the gym,why not just watch tv ?:rolleyes:

Banging your head off a brickwall is also suffering. Just because something is 'hard' doesn't mean its the smart way to train.

But if it works for you and got you fit for whatever you wanted to do, then fairplay.

Think for a newcomer (as the OP confesses to being) its not suitable.

delllat

Tingle wrote: »

Banging your head off a brickwall is also suffering. Just because something is 'hard' doesn't mean its the smart way to train.

But if it works for you and got you fit for whatever you wanted to do, then fairplay.

Think for a newcomer (as the OP confesses to being) its not suitable.

he didnt say he was a newcomer in his original post

id hardly compare hill sprints to his banging head on brick wall in terms of effective ways to get fit

Tristram

interval on the treadmill is ****ing awkward for me, but maybe im just an awkward fecker anyway always afraid im gonna take a tumble when adjusting. feels much better doing it outside!

thirtyfoot

delllat wrote: »

he didnt say he was a newcomer in his original post

id hardly compare hill sprints to his banging head on brick wall in terms of effective ways to get fit

Did s/he not say interval training for a beginner, but doesn't matter that would be just arguing for the sake of arguing.

Regarding heads, brickwalls etc, I think you are missing my point:) Just because something is 'hard' doesn't mean its good or effective or efficient. Banging your head off a brick wall is suffering and probably good if you want to enter head wall banging competitions and 10 x 200 sprints up a hill is probably good if you want to enter a hill sprinting competition but there are more sensible, progressive and ultimately more efficient intervals programs for a beginner/newcomer. I'm just being argumentative here now but you said nothing worthwhile was achievable without suffering, how about if someone presented a program that involved less suffering and more results, would you dismiss it. Thats my point really, sometimes a training program can look all Rocky and hard and macho when there may be alternative and relevant ways to do something. Its not all about the raw eggs in the morning.

As I said it works for you so grand but if you get a beginner/newcomer to sprint 200m up a steep hill, jog back and do it 10 times they will likely be wrecked after 3, try again in a few days, be still wrecked after 3, feel useless and maybe never do it again. Just my opinion, may not work for the OP, suppose its up to them to judge themselves.

delllat

Tingle wrote: »

Did s/he not say interval training for a beginner, but doesn't matter that would be just arguing for the sake of arguing.

Regarding heads, brickwalls etc, I think you are missing my point:) Just because something is 'hard' doesn't mean its good or effective or efficient. Banging your head off a brick wall is suffering and probably good if you want to enter head wall banging competitions and 10 x 200 sprints up a hill is probably good if you want to enter a hill sprinting competition but there are more sensible, progressive and ultimately more efficient intervals programs for a beginner/newcomer. I'm just being argumentative here now but you said nothing worthwhile was achievable without suffering, how about if someone presented a program that involved less suffering and more results, would you dismiss it. Thats my point really, sometimes a training program can look all Rocky and hard and macho when there may be alternative and relevant ways to do something. Its not all about the raw eggs in the morning.

As I said it works for you so grand but if you get a beginner/newcomer to sprint 200m up a steep hill, jog back and do it 10 times they will likely be wrecked after 3, try again in a few days, be still wrecked after 3, feel useless and maybe never do it again. Just my opinion, may not work for the OP, suppose its up to them to judge themselves.

i agree completely ,theres a big differnce in suffering for the sake of suffering and suffering through a smart and well designed program

maybe i used the word suffering when a word like "stimulating" or "intensity" would be a better fit

it just seems to me that people are expecting results without putting in the effort

maybe its just the the people i observe on a daily basis taking shortcut after shortcut has warped my opinion

but when you see people choosing the easiet most useless exercises and then they come over ask me for tips on how to get arms like mine or whatever it just seems like theyre pi$$ing into the wind for lack of a better description

i could list all examples but wed be here all day

but a few that come to mind are adult men + teenage men lifting tiny weights
with no intensity whatso ever
no comppound exercises
leg press instead of squats
benchpress on smith machine
pull downs-no pullups
machines instead of free weights
resting 10 minutes between sets
chatting 10 minutes between rests
playing with ipod or [phone non stop
checking out self in mirrors(doing bicep curls obviously)
not breaking a sweat etc

maybe its just my gym b ut it seems like chronic laziness has took over and the same people guilty of all of the above come over to me and ask me what supplements i take as if theres some magic creatine that nobodys told them about yet......

its fcuking crazy:rolleyes:

jojobrad

interval training is not recommended for beginners. You should work on your fitness level first

thirtyfoot

jojobrad wrote: »

interval training is not recommended for beginners. You should work on your fitness level first

Many unfit beginners will start doing interval training as its the only form they can handle. If running, they may not be able to run for 20 min non-stop so do 1min run/1min walk etc which eventually builds up to non-stop as they get fitter. There are many forms of interval training.

tlev

HIIT on a treadmill is a big no no. The whole idea of interval training is the sudden change in speed between slow and fast so your heart works harder on the change. A treadmill doesn't operate in that fashion, there is a gradual increase or decrease in speed as opposed to a start/stop fashion that HIIT is based on.

Racing Flat

tlev wrote: »

HIIT on a treadmill is a big no no. The whole idea of interval training is the sudden change in speed between slow and fast so your heart works harder on the change.

Such rules seem a bit ridiculous. That's the problem with copyright registered trademark forms of exercise! In any case, if you go from a standing start into a high intensity effort, it takes a while for the HR to get up where you want it.

Assets Model wrote: »

How can I do interval training (for a beginner) on a treadmill if there is no exact setting? Do I just have to fiddle with the controls every minute?

OP fiddling with the controls is a fine way to do your interval training. jog away at your comfortable pace, then put your finger on the increase speed button, hold it there until it reaches your interval training speed and when you've done the required time, put your finger back on and hold until it gets back to your easy speed (if you find this difficult when going very fast, no problem with jumping on to the sides for a few seconds and then back on again).

It'll probably take 10seconds or so to go from your easy speed to your fast speed - this will be a nice gradual introduction to the new speed, as if you're easing your way into it which will be safer for your muslces anyhow.

This will be a fantastic session for you and while it might be hard initially it will get much easier and you'll get much fitter.

Sample session...(I'm thinking speeds that might be appropriate for a beginner female, but adjust as appropriate)

1. speed 9 - 5-10mins (warm up)
2. speed 12 - 20 secs
3. speed 9 - 40 secs
Repeat 2 and 3 for 10 mins
5-10min warm down at speed 8-9

Once this seems fairly easy, you could go to 30/30 rather than 20/40, or you could go to speed 13 for the 20...basically increasing the effort one way or the other every so often. Enjoy!

Assets Model

Would that be better than alternating 2 minutes at 8kmph and then 1 min at 12kmph thats the advice I Read somewhere else and tried at the gym last week.

cowzerp

intervals can be done loads of ways, 1 min walk followed by 1 min run.
2 mins run 1 min walk, shorten the walk time, lenghten the work time, add inclines for work part-the list goes on! if your training for say 3 min boxing rounds and 1 min rest do that! or if its just for general fitness try all of the above..interval training is excellent if done proper, the easy bit easy and the hard bit hard!!

Racing Flat

Assets Model wrote: »

Would that be better than alternating 2 minutes at 8kmph and then 1 min at 12kmph thats the advice I Read somewhere else and tried at the gym last week.

Ya, that's fine, as long as you are working hard, then easy, that should be fine. 2mins recovery may be needed initially but as you get fitter you could work towards cutting the recovery time. Obviously the less recovery time you need, the fitter you are. The recovery should be as long as you need to be able to complete all hard efforts without slowing on the last few. So if you were going flat out you might need lots of recovery, if you were going hard but not flat out you would not need as much recovery.

As an example, Seb Coe (training for 800m) said his hardest session was 3 x 200m. This consisted of a 22sec effort followed by 10mins recovery, repeated 3 times. But someone like Gebresailasse (training for 10k) might do 25 x 400m, i.e. 60sec efforts with very little recovery, maybe only 30secs or so.

We typically do 2.30 to 3.30 hard efforts (speed 18kph) with a 90sec recovery (10kph), for 8 reps. This is suited to our 10k running training. In the summer when we are training for shorter distances e.g. 1500m, we might do 12 x 75secs (20kph) with 50secs recovery (8kph).....so as cowzerp said, try a few different ways. As long as it's fairly difficult you should get results.

Assets Model

I can only do about four of those so far should I build up to do more before I try to decrease my recovery time?

Racing Flat

Might be no harm to wait till you can do 6 x 1min reps at 12, with 2 min recovery and then gradually cut the recovery - maybe 1.50 recoveries, then 1.40, then 1.30 until you get to 1 min recoveries. At that stage you could try to get up to 8 reps and maybe then work on increasing speed.

But you could also do different types on different days. You could do the above day 1, then on day 2 do 20secs really really fast, maybe 14/15? with a 40sec recovery 6 times, day 3 back to the 1min at 12, 2 mins at 8, day 4 back to the shorter ones, for a bit of variety.

Big Wave

Assets Model wrote: »

I can only do about four of those so far should I build up to do more before I try to decrease my recovery time?

Don't worry about the actual "time" - use your heart rate as a guide for effort v. recovery - it's the best indicator of what you're able to handle.
This is what I do for cardio on a treadmill or bike or X-trainer: note that 155bpm is my cardio zone, and 175bpm is my ideal cardio rate, so adjust these for your age. I do this for 30mins:

Warm-up by raising heart rate gradually to 155bpm. Then 1min @ 175bpm and 1 - 2 mins recovery back to 155bpm X 8. Extend effort and reduce recovery as fitness improves but reduce the total amount of reps.

misty floyd

Oops just realised there was a second page on this thread. I do a session on the threadmill every so often that I call interval training but I might be corrected on my definition of 'interval'. Anyway, I don't have the speeds but the two types I've used have settings from 1 to 20. Around 7.5 is a fast walk and 12 is about 8minute miles.

12 for 1 minute
13 "
14 "
15 "
16 "

Back down to 12 and repeat 4 times.

What I aim for is to try to do 5km within 20mins. I'm not that fit at the moment so I do the above and complete 5km in about 21 - 22 mins. If I was fit, I'd increase each setting by 0.5 and that gets me to 5km in 20mins or there abouts. You could start with lower speeds depending on your fitness perhaps.

Sorry I don't have speeds but I posted that so you get an idea of what I do on the threadmill.

What do people think of this plan....is it interval training? Feels like it, I can feel wrecked but great after it.

cowzerp

misty floyd wrote: »

miles.

12 for 1 minute
13 "
14 "
15 "
16 "

Back down to 12 and repeat 4 times.

In my opinion its not a great way to do intervals, the fact you can do 16 means when your doing 12 , 13 and 14 your not really taxing yourself too much or getting a great recovery either-maybe try 16 for longer followed by proper recoverys such as a fast walk!

or start at 16 and drop down as you tire!