Friday Fitness: Attack the Hills!

I am a HUGE Tour de France fan and for those of you who don’t follow along, le Tour is in full swing right now!! Today is stage 19 from Modane Valfréjus to Alpe-d’Huez. This is known as “the stage everyone is afraid of”. It is the last stage before the individual time trial and then the Tour’s conclusion on the cobblestones of the Champs- Elysees in Paris on Sunday!

 

Today’s stage is a short one (by Tour de France standards) but it is steep!  These guys are incredible to watch, and to anyone who has ever clicked into a lighter gear to make it up an upcoming hill, you know how hard they are working.

For today’s Fitness Friday workout, inspired by le Tour, we are taking on hill intervals! You don’t have to be training for the Tour de France to get a huge benefit from including these intervals into your workout routine.

Stuck in a rut?

Never fear – interval training is here! 

A true fat-burning exercise, interval training involves both high intensity intervals and lower intensity recovery periods. 

Not only will you finally bust through that stubborn plateau – but will only spend half the time doing so.

Take a look at all of the benefits of interval training:

-  You’ll torch more calories.  The more intense your workout is – the more calories burned – even if it is for short periods of time.

-  You’ll become more aerobically fit.  As your cardiovascular fitness improves, you will be able to go longer and harder.

-  You’ll add variety to your routine – beating the boredom.  Not only will you spice up your routine – but switching it up also keeps your muscles guessing.

-  You don’t need any special machines.  You can do interval workouts indoors or even outdoors – alternating speed between mailboxes, driveways or other landmarks.

Now – how to get started... 

You don’t have to be a super-star athlete to reap the benefits of interval training.  Here is an example of interval training using a treadmill and varying the incline:

 

H3’s Famous Treading Routine

Warm-up for 5 minutes at a comfortable speed - increase speed by 0.2mph for minutes 3 and 4

Interval Set #1 – Each minute, increase the incline to the following:

Min        Incline

6              3

7              4

8              5

9              6

10           7

11           6

12           5

 

 Interval Set #2

 Min                       Incline

13 – 14                    3

15 – 16                    5

17 – 18                    7

19 – 20                    9

21 – 22                    7

23 – 24                    5

23 – 25                    3

 

Interval Set #3

Min        Incline

26                           2

27                           3

28                           4

29                           5

30                           6

31                           7

32                           6

33                           5

34                           4

35                           3

36                           5

37                           7

38                           5

39                           3

40                           1

Begin 5 minute cool-down, decreasing speed in increments of 0.3-0.5mph.

 

HAPPY TREADING!  Check out Friday's playlist to really get you moving!