Health Goals: Add Intervals to Your Workouts With These 4 Apps
So you’ve been alternating running with yoga and maybe a few Zumba lessons, but you aren’t seeing the results you want? Relax, we’ve all been there. Even the most dedicated runners, yogis, dancers, and athletes hit plateaus, and according to experts, this is when intervals should come in to play.
According to experts at The Mayo Clinic, adding in quick intervals of jogging or sprinting to daily walks or runs will not only help to increase the calorie burn, but will increase overall cardiovascular health. And, by adding intervals, you skip the need to buy expensive or special workout equipment, and you’ll keep the boredom at bay.
Over time, our muscles get used to our usual exercise – putting in a quick sprint between telephone poles changes things up so that our muscles ‘wake up’. Intervals help us to increase our lung strength and capacity, and our overall endurance. You can add interval training whether your usual exercise is a walk, a jog, a swim or a bicycle.
There are several apps out there, if you like to walk, run, or bike at a local park or in your neighborhood. Here are a few:
Running For Weight Loss & Walking for Weight Loss
These are two separate apps created by RedRock Apps, and both have a free portal as well as advanced options on a pay-as-you-go formula. The apps are simple to use and literally walk you through an interval training series so that each workout increases the amount of interval activity, helping you to burn more calories and fat.
Keelo HIIT Workouts
This app was created by Throwdown Labs and can be used at home or in a gym. The app plans workouts that include weightlifting, bursts of cardio, and even stretching so that you get a whole body, interval training session in each time the app is used.
Beachbody
Beachbody has become synonymous with at-home workouts, and their on-demand sessions can be used at home, in a gym, or even during a vacation or business trip. The sessions can be accessed from your computer or tablet, and range from systems like P90X to PiYo.
If you don’t like to carry your phone during workouts, you can interval train on your own. Start with a five minute brisk walk. Then begin alternating between walking and jogging or running and jogging. The key is to keep the higher intensity intervals shorter, for example, 30 seconds of jogging/running to 1:30 minute of walking/jogging. As your endurance improves, lengthen the higher intensity segments by 15 seconds each time.
Interval training is not a quick fix – you won’t hit your goal weight within a week of starting intervals, but you will see results, and likely much quicker than by simply jogging, walking, or attending an aerobics class three times each week.
