September 27, 2011

6,7,8 Treadmill Intervals

Vacations are GREAT, but there’s always one drawback about them…getting back to reality when you walk through your front door.

After being gone (and away from any kind of exercise) for almost an entire week, I knew it was time to fit in a quick & effective workout ASAP!  Cardio is always a great way to get out of that lazy, vacation frame of mind and jump-start your way into a healthy, active & motivated lifestyle again.

I posted my first Cardio Intervals: minute on, minute off workout last week.  Originally, I wanted to include this workout on it, but I didn’t want to overwhelm anyone with too many choices, numbers to crunch or ways to run on a treadmill all at once.  So, here is my PART 2 to my first interval training post, and it’s called the 6,7,8 workout.

I got this one from a dancer friend of mine, Danielle and we always turned to it whenever we needed to sweat a lot and kick our booties into shape!

*TIP: Always do a quick stretch before a running workout targeting your legs, calves, back and arms.  I encourage setting yourself up with music, or watching television if you’re inside of a gym equipped with one.  There’s nothing worse than being bored during a workout.  Distracting yourself with some kind of entertainment will help you to stare at the clock as a time reference, not to count down time remaining in your workout.

*Unlike my first interval training post, this particular workout requires a treadmill.

I started 6mph at 2:00, but it was tricky to get that picture!

or 4 straight interval sets 1 x only: 20 minutes

If you plan to do a weight training workout during that trip to the gym, I usually opt for the 3 interval sets 2 x through.  If I’m just there to do a quick, intense cardio workout I go for the 4 straight sets 1 x only.  The first time you try this workout, it’s probably going to be a challenge to get through 3 consecutive sets and that’s completely fine.  Everyone reading this has different workout regimes, are on different health & fitness levels and like different difficulties of workouts. *Do what’s best for YOU!

• Do the first 3 6,7,8′s after your warm-up and take at least 2 minutes to cool-down out of your 3rd 8mph minute run.
• Use the next 30 minutes, or however long you need to complete your workout outside of cardio for that day.
• When you’re done with the majority of everything else, start to close your workout with your second 3 sets of 6,7,8′s.
• Between the 2 reps of doing 3 interval sets, you will be on the treadmill for around 35 minutes.

• Start your first 6,7,8 interval after your warm-up and repeat pattern of 6,7,8 and rest minutes 3 more times.
• Your final 6,7,8 interval set will begin at the 15 minute mark with 6mph at 15:00, 7mph at 16:00, and 8mph at 17:00.
• Use the next 5 minutes, or however long you need to gradually make your way back down to walking warm-up speed of 3.5mph.
• With this version, you will hit the 2 mile mark just around 20 minutes.  Cool down by walking at 3.5 mph until you’re ready to get off of the treadmill.

Interval workouts have been a key to keeping my cardio routine challenging.  Research shows that interval training burns more fat and calories than steady paced runs or jogs.  I’m excited I got to finish sharing my cardio interval training workouts with you! (for now anyways).

Counting your calories?

I can’t tell you how many calories you will burn since numbers change depending on your treadmill and weight, but I can share a great running calories burned calculator:

Have a great workout!