How Much Interval Training By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS Turbulence Training
How Was Turbulence Training Created? Like most folks in the fitness industry, I played a lot of sports when I was younger. That led to weight training. From there, I realized I wanted to be a strength coach in professional sports. I went to school for Kinesiology, which then led to a Master's Degree in Exercise Physiology. Along the way I studied what made a good NHL Strength Coach (they had Master's Degrees and were Certified Strength And Conditioning Specialists - CSCS). I also started training athletes, along with men and women for fat loss. In 1998-99, I was but a lowly grad student, studying the effects of androstenedione (the supplement taken by the mighty baseball player, Mark McGwire during his record-breaking home run quest in '98). In my study (which was published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology for any science nerds like myself out there), we had guys use the supplement and go through a couple of weight training sessions. By February of '99 I was stuck in the lab, analyzing the blood samples using some fancy radio-active isotopes. And when I say stuck in the lab, I mean STUCK. I'd get there at 7am, and record my last data point at 11pm. Sixteen hours of mad science. And if I wasn't there, I was downstairs in the medical library, studying papers on testosterone and training. Now coming from a very athletic background, this sedentary lifestyle didn't sit well with me. But there I was, studing for a degree in Exercise Physiology and left with no time for exercise. Or so I thought. Fortunately, I actually had a 50 minute window once per day of "down-time" while the lab's gamma-counter analyzed blood samples. That left me 50 minutes to get to the gym (5 minutes across campus) and get a workout in the remaining 40 or so minutes. I knew that if I applied my
studies to the workout, I could get maximum results in minimum time. As a former athlete, I knew that I had to find a way to stay fit and to avoid the fat gain that comes with working long hours in a sedentary environment. And I also had to stay true to the high-school bodybuilder I once was, so there was no way I was willing to sacrifice my muscle to one of those long-cardio, low protein fat-loss plans that were popular at the time. Instead, I had to draw on my academic studies and my experiences working with athletes as the school's Strength & Conditioning Coach. I knew that sprint intervals were associated with more fat loss than slow cardio, and I knew that you could also increase aerobic fitness by doing sprints (but you can't increase sprint performance by doing aerobic training). So clearly, intervals were (and ARE!) superior to long slow cardio. I had seen first hand the incredible results of sprint intervals in the summer and fall, as the athletes made huge fitness improvements and shed winter fat in a short time using my interval programs. I knew that intervals had to be the next step in the evolution of cardio. The biggest benefit of intervals? A lot of results in a short amount of time. I knew that I only had 40 minutes to train, and therefore I could only spend 15-20 minutes doing intervals. Now onto the strength training portion of the workouts. I knew that a highvolume bodybuilding program wasn't going to cut it - I just didn't have time. But in the past year I had read so many lifting studies, that I knew exactly what exercises I needed to do to maximize my lifting time in the gym. Those exercises were standing, multi-muscle, movements such as squats, presses, rows, and plenty of other standing single-leg exercises. I knew that those exercises would bring me far more results than those people sitting on machines would ever achieve. And I also knew that I had to lift heavier than the average Joe or Jane Gym-goer lifts. I just knew that doing lighter weights and high-reps wasn't going to cut it. And a research study from 2001 later showed that I was right - when women did 8 reps per set, they had a significantly greater increase in postworkout metabolism than if they did 15 reps per set.
So I had my plan. Bust my tail over to the gym, through the cold, dreary Canadian winter afternoon, and do a quick but thorough warmup (specific to my lifts - none of that 5 minutes on the treadmill waste of time). Once I got through the warm-up, I did as many sets as I could in the remainder of the 20 minutes for strength training. At that point, I knew that supersets were the only way to go if I wanted to maximize the number of sets I could do...so the non-competing superset of Turbulence Training was put in place. By non-competing, I mean that the 2 exercises in the superset don't interfere with one another. So you can use upper and lower body exercises together, or pushing and pulling exercises. Just be careful not to use two grip-intensive exercises together in a superset - otherwise, one exercise will suffer, if not both. And then I followed up the strength training with intervals, as I knew these had to follow the lifting, otherwise it would not be the correct exercise order. Remember, intervals first leads to premature fatigue. Lift first, cardio later. Forget that old wives tale about doing cardio first to burn more fat. That's junk. You know, I remember the exact day and exact workout that this all came together into the Turbulence Training program. It hit me as I was finishing my intervals. I knew I had found something that was like fat loss magic. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to put it in a pill. But I've been able to put it down on paper in all of the TT manuals. How often can you do interval training each week? Can people do it six times per week? Or every day? Well, you shouldn't be able to do it every day. If you can do interval training six times a week then you’re not busting your butt hard enough in the interval training in the first place. As I always like to say, look at the playoffs here in any sport. They’re not playing six days a week. They’re taking a day off. So if pro athletes take a day off, why can’t you take a day off? Really I think a lot of people still aren’t getting the hang of the interval intensity. Now this is maybe a little bit beyond a beginner intermediate answer when I say this, but I mean people are telling me they’re doing intervals for 45
minutes. Well, what type of interval are you doing 45 minutes? You can do aerobic intervals for 45 minutes. That’s fine. I understand that. But fat loss intervals don’t need to be done for 45 minutes. If you’re doing the short interval type training I have no idea how you could possibly do an interval training for 45 minutes. You’re probably really doing cardio for the last 15 of it and you may as well shut it down and go do something else and recover. By doing intervals a lot you end up with the exactly problem that we’re trying to get away from with the cardio stuff, which is the over use injury risk. Do intervals no more than three or four times per week if you’re going to use them. I’m moving to try and promote to my readers to anyone that comes in contact with me to get away from even machines for interval training and try and get outside as much as possible, even if you have to brave some elements. So get out there. Body weight circuits. Barbell complexes. Get outside to do your interval training. Run with your dog. Don’t think that you can’t build a perfect body outside of the gym. You can do it and I think you’ll have a lot more fun that way. Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS Author, Turbulence Training
About the Author Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training
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