Cardio Confusion – What You Need To Know About Long Slow Distance and Interval Training

by: Sean Callahan

Walk into any gym across the country and you will see endless people slaving away for countless bouts of time on pieces of cardio equipment.  I remember I would find myself at times fitting into this same crowd doing long bouts of slow, low intensity cardio in my “fat burning zone.”  Long slow endurance training sounds like some kind of torture sentence “You have been sentenced to one year of long slow cardio training.”  It just sounds boring and truthfully it is boring!  In reality it also fails in comparison to higher intensity interval type training.   The reason long slow aerobic training is around and continues to be around and remain popular is that it was glorified by the media and it is easy to implement and use.   “I’m just going to do 40 minutes on the treadmill ” that’s a phrase that is used to often by people that are frustrated with their results and/or their state of conditioning.  Unfortunately, this phrase is also too often used by those that just simply do it because it easier.  Interval training and higher intensity training will be harder, it will be uncomfortable and it will be superior.  Let me ask you a question…..imagine the body of a sprinter, someone who routinely works in shorter more high intensity bouts.  Their bodies will are most often leaner, more muscular and more aesthetically appealing.  Now, imagine the body of a distance athlete or marathon runner, they are in nearly all cases going to be the complete opposite of that of the sprinter and in most cases will actually possess higher levels of bodyfat compared to that of the sprinter.

I am going to dare say that I am in opposition of long distance training for most everyone other than those that compete in these type of events.  I believe that it does not offer the results that most seek and in more populations than not it can lead to greater degrees of injury and burnout (usually from aches and pains and lack of results).  For those that are not buying what I’m selling let me just say that if you will not trust what I am preaching then only use conventional type of cardio training for just a long enough period (usually no more than 4 weeks of routine training) to be able to utilize interval training as your primary means of conditioning.  Does this mean that we have had the wool pulled over our eyes all this time?  In some ways….Yes, I do believe that.  I believe that it was unintentional but I do believe that is what has happened.

Interval training has actually been proven to raise an individual’s VO2 max with more productivity than traditional aerobic training.  Physiologists around the world have spoken and they are content with if an individual wants to be more aerobically fit, interval training should be the practice most often used.

The Fountain of Youth?

There is no doubt that appropriate resistance training is needed to combat the battle with Father Time.  A study by the Buck Institute in Novato California, found that resistance training/interval training does indeed have the desired effects of resisting the aging process.  Director of Genomics Simon Melov had this to say about the study, “The genetic fingerprint was reversed to that of younger people – not entirely, but enough to say their genetic profile was more like that of young people than old people.”

Just from a Time Management Stance –

When it comes to finding enough time in the week to get things done interval training vs. long cardio sessions must be considered.  Many have heard the saying  “Work smarter, not harder” well, I think in this case it is strikingly different “Work harder and smarter, not longer.”  Research out of McMaster University in Canada put out a study in the Journal of Physiology that looked at interval training compared to that of steady-state type conditioning.  The study took two groups in which group one completed interval type workouts for duration of 20 minutes.  Group 2 completed workouts that consisted of steady-state conditioning lasting between 90-120 minutes.  The interval work was performed in 30 second sprints and then was followed up by 4 minutes of slow pedaling.  If you do the math this would equate to two to two and half minutes of high-intensity work during a twenty-minute workout as compared to the 90-120 minutes in the “heart rate zone” with the other group.  What the research found is that both groups ended up obtaining the same improvement as far as oxygen utilization from both programs.  Both groups worked out 3 times a week; the interval group only exercised for a total time of one hour per week and only six to seven and a half minutes of actual high intensity work during the week.  The steady-state group exercised between four and half and six hours during a week yet the aerobic advantage was the same for both groups and the other desirable physiological advantages were slanted toward the interval group.  We’ve always been told time is money, well start saving yours with interval work.

So What is Interval Training?

Hopefully if you are still reading this then you are at least intrigued and curious about the idea of using interval training as your primary vehicle for conditioning and if so let’s get into what it is and how to use it.

Without getting nerdy and scientific, interval training is just conditioning that uses a pattern of alternating periods of work and rest.  Where the true complication begins is trying to actually determine how much work and how much rest.   You might very well have been looking at interval training all around you for quite some time now and not even realized it. Turn on any late-night infomercial, or visit any local gym offering group classes, or google search interval training and you are bound to come across the term (HIIT), which stands simply for High Intensity Interval Training.  This “new idea” (sarcasm implied) is the new darling of the internet and is what is being heavily pushed and marketed by the fitness industry to sale products and at-home DVD’s.  So what can you expect with interval training?  As we said before you can expect the same if not better aerobic strength, more hours in the day, less likely to be injured, and superior results in weight-loss and fat-loss.  If you keep the heart rate above the 60% threshold for the duration of the intervals then we can acquire development of both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

The most common types of interval training are those that are developed from rest:work ratio’s and those that are derived from using one’s heart rate as a guide.

Rest:Work Interval Training –  The biggest issue that I have with using this approach is that time is arbitrary.  There is no real measure of the actual things that are taking place in the body, we are simply guessing.

Using rest:work ratios for intervals should follow a few guidelines: The longer the work portion of the interval, the shorter the rest must be as a percentage of the interval.  What that means is that short intervals that require a great deal of muscular demand will require longer rests when viewed as a percentage of the interval.  For example, if you have a work interval of 15 seconds of high intensity you will need at minimum a two to one (2:1) rest-to-work ratio.  So in this case you would work intensely for 15 seconds followed by 30 seconds of a lower intensity.  For those that are deconditioned or for beginners in general a (3:1) rest-to-work might be a better choice, so 15 seconds of intense work followed by 45 seconds of lower intensity.

As I said before the rest does not always stay in a linear fashion with the work interval.  For example if you were performing 60 second intervals you might only need a (1:1) ratio which would equate to 60 second on and 60 seconds off or a (2:1) ratio, 60 seconds on 2 minutes off for beginners.

Heart Rate – Using heart rate as the indicator of intensity for intervals is the better option when given a choice.  Heart rate monitors are fairly cheap these days and most commercial pieces of cardio equipment will actually have a built in heart rate monitor on board.  Now, obviously there is some variability within these pieces of equipment but for the most part they will provide us with the data that we need to appropriately work our intervals the way that they should be.  To accurately use heart rate as the indicator for your intervals you need to have a preset recovery heart rate in mind.  From everything that I have read and have used 60% of the theoretical max heart rate using the Karvonen method will usually lend itself to creating an appropriate workout.  If you are using the 220 minus your age to find your max heart rate you are going to be in some cases flirting with overtraining and in others under training yourself depending on who you are.  If you are an older individual reading this you are less inclined to fit the 220 minus your age criteria.  Even the guy who proposed the 220 minus your age formula now even says that his ideas were completely taken out of context.  The Karvonen formula or also known as the Heart Rate Reserve Method is the better way to go for establishing heart rate designations.

To find your heart rate zones using this method:

Maximum heart rate minus resting heart rate (find it in the morning when you first wake up), times the percent that you want (in this case it is 60), plus resting heart rate will equal theoretical heart rate.

Example – (200-60) X .60 +60 = 144

Example – (200-60) x .80 + 60 = 172

So what this would mean is that for someone with a resting heart rate of 60 they would exercise between 144 beats a minute and a 172 beats a minute.  Their work interval would proceed until the point in which they reach the high number of 172 and then upon reaching it would regress work intensity until the heart falls back to 144 and this would continue in alternating patterns until the designated time was complete.

For a great majority of the population looking to use interval training a stationary bike will be the preferred method.  Although running is the best option most adults are just not fit enough to run and 60% of those who begin a running program will become injured.  If you are a coach or trainer reading this, statistics such as that should strike fear into you and be deemed unacceptable by your standards.  If you are a women contemplating running take notice that because of wider hips and narrower knees that you might actually even hover above the 60% of those that become injured.  Physical therapist Diane Lee is quoted as saying “You can’t run to get fit.  You need to be fit to run.”

Interval training can be performed on any piece of cardio equipment.  The treadmill and running is the best, the stationary bike is the safest and the Elliptical is the worst.

*All information outlined should be taken in conjunction with any recommendations from a medical professional.  The information outlined should be used only after medical clearance has been given by a medical professional and your deemed in a condition healthy enough to warrant exercise*

The Skinny on Getting Skinny, Part 1- Planning and Approaching

I am attempting something here that I have tried to stay away from when possible over the last couple of years, weight loss.  This one particular topic is the most popular of New Year’s resolutions; one of the most searched terms on the internet according to Google and too many a Unicorn that can never be caught.  I really believe that because the health and wellness industry is such an ever-growing and saturated market that it really adds to the confusion that many experience while on their quest to shed the pounds.  We live in a world that really drives us into information overload not just on weight loss but, with information on everything in life.  In fact, in the last thirty years there has been more information put forth than the previous 5,000 years combined.  One copy of The New York Times will contain more information within its pages than someone living in England during the 17^th century would have come across in their entire lifetime.  The amount of information that is available in the world has actually doubled in the last five years, and it will continue to keep doubling.

With statistics such as this I wanted to put together a complete work that attempts to cover everything as best as possible when it comes to weight-loss.  What you are going to read is a culmination of years spent listening to the things individuals are routinely curious, frustrated and seek information about.  I know that if you will keep up with this series of articles it will help to guide you to the place that you seek with your weight-loss “wants.”  I am going to address all the many components that I feel carry the most weight (no pun intended) toward your weight-loss “wants” these will include:

1. Planning and Approaching
2. Nutrition
3. Strength Training
4. Cardio
5. Mobility/Flexibility
6. Supplementation

Getting Started:  Let me first address who this article is for, this article and the time invested in this article are devoted to the moms and dads out there that are trying to juggle their 8-5, soccer practices, dinners to be cooked, laundry to be folded, the big game on Sunday night and The Bachelor on Monday night.  This article is for the currently injured or previously injured that are, or have seen their bodies change negatively due to circumstances that may be out of their control.  This article is for the individuals among us that have the desire to pursue their fitness “wants” however; their frustration with the process beats that desire into submission.  This article is for the uninformed and ill-advised, children today are growing up in homes that are just not forcing the issue of health as strongly as the generations before.  I heard an interesting statistic over the holidays that obesity is now a larger issue than starvation. Given the direction we are headed complications linked to obesity could be atop the list of annual mortalities very soon.  Lastly, this article is for the many individuals out there that view themselves in the wrong light.  We all know the 113lb teenager and early adult girl that believe they “NEED to lose 14lb’s, because weighing over 100lb’s is just EWW.”  I guess these folks could be seen as uninformed as well but, I think that the bigger issue to address here is that they need to view themselves and their weight-loss/fitness “wants” as unrealistic and truly undesirable in most cases.

The Plan and The Approach – Up until this point I have strayed away from using the term goals.  It was my hope that I could entice you to keep reading and that by now you would have enough interest in what I am saying to overlook it and not throw your hands up while muttering “oh boy, another set goals” spill from a health guy.  It’s important to me that you didn’t do that because what you are reading is so much more than that.  However, I do value the importance of having a target and with that said I feel it necessary to speak on goal-setting briefly.  Besides as the late great Zig Ziglar said “if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”    If it really bothers you though, none of us will mind if when you get to the word goal that you take a deep breath and replace it with “wants.”

As much as it appears that those terms are synonymous, I really have to disagree though.  In my mind and why I believe the idea of goals has been so highly diluted in its power toward health, wellness and fitness is that when we view goals simply just as wants we are lacklusterly hoping to push ourselves toward something, when in reality we need to be consistently pulled toward something. Wants are never enough, you must have whys.  The whys get results, the why’s help you withstand the tough times.  If you tell me that you want to lose 40lb’s and I ask why and you can’t vividly tell me then I can almost assure you that it’s probably not going to happen.  Now, if someone tells you that they want to lose 40lb’s and when asked why they can tell you “because I can’t get up and down from the floor to play with kids or grandkids, two-thirds of my family has died of heart disease or has diabetes and the thought of leaving my spouse and kids alone is hard to think about” these are usually the types of whys that help people make it.  I really don’t think it’s a simple matter of semantics, I know there is a true power to painting the picture of why?  By doing so we have now linked our “wants” with emotion and when coupled together we have a solidified goal that can actually pull us in a desired direction.  We now have something that is truly inspiring and something that has the power to get us up and out of bed 2 hours before everyone else in the house to workout or prepare food for the day.  Find the why and I promise you that your chances of success dramatically increase.

Another vital part of the plan and approach phase is anticipating obstacles.  Will there be obstacles that come out of nowhere in an attempt to completely throw you off of your path? Of course there will be!  Sadly, what you will find is that you will make some people uncomfortable and they will try to divert you from your course.  I have literally seen a person’s spouse go out of their way to fill the house with great tasting, horrible for you type foods to halt this person’s fitness goals.  In addition to anticipating obstacles we have to be smart with our planning, set your workouts up so that they can be done in a time in which it suits your schedule.  Now, I know what you are thinking “well you just don’t know how my schedule is and sometimes I just don’t know what is going to come up.”  You’re right, I don’t know your schedule but, I know that you like everyone else has 24 hours in their day.  Having an adequate backup plan is always a good idea for when life throws the curve and you were expecting the fastball.  If your goals are in place, when life happens the goal will settle you in and you will find a way to get it done.   If your plan is to go and workout after work at 5:30 but, something happens and you have to pickup a sick kiddo and now your workout has to be at 6:30 the goal will get you back to they gym.  Let me just tell you the norm in this situation, people with impotent goals will pick the kid up, take them home and then that’s where they’ll stay.  It usually happens something like this: You get home and then you immediately start to think about the traffic to get back over to the gym and how if you get there at 5:30 like you are supposed to you beat the crowds to your favorite exercises, and now the crowd is going to be so bad that you are going to have to wait around.  So to avoid that you’re just not going to go today because, of course there’s some work that you can get done too if you stay at home. This one act of procrastination and lapse in goal minded judgment in most cases has the power to throw the whole ship off course, ESPECIALLY if there are not well established goals and whys to get you back on track.

The next section on The Planning and Approaching phase has to do with getting informed.  If you are subscribed and reading these blog posts than you are taking the right steps on becoming better informed.  I am not here to try and get you to buy any product or any service from anyone but, I will quickly tell you that one of the best investments that you can make is working with a qualified trainer.  You will not ever work harder than you will with a trainer.  Having the fortune of working in this field for several years now I can tell you that I myself enjoy having someone else run my personal workouts from time to time.  Not only is there an encouraging voice to help push through the pain but, many times I learn things in the process as well.  As I said in the opener there is so much information available to us that having a knowledgeable person to help us decipher through it is a good idea.  Are personal trainers expensive?  Yes, anyway you look at it; to most people hiring a trainer will be tough to fit into the monthly budget.  Your average training session is going to cost you between $35-$65/hour.  Depending on certain circumstances I have actually charged $90/hour for training sessions in the past.  If you worked with a trainer twice a week you are looking at approximately $280-$520/month.   Again, I know how steep this can be as a monthly expense to most families, so a very effective trick for you to consider coming from a guy that used to make a living off such arrangements is finding discounted rates for group training.  For me in most instances training 1 person was no different than training a group of 4 and training a group of 5 wasn’t much different than training a group of 10.  So if we look at it in the first scenario of 4 people for $280/month then each person would be paying approximately $70/month or $8.75/training session.  There are countless opportunities out there to have access to a trainer if you truly desire, the key is putting in the effort to find them.   There’s an old saying that relates to this very thing that states “pay now, or pay later but, either way you are going to pay.” What that means is spend your money proactively investing in your health now, or spend your money on medical expenses later the choice is yours.  But, let’s say that right now a trainer is just not an option, anyway you try to swing it it’s just not going to financially happen right now, to you I say spend your time educating yourself with credible sources.  Find factual sites such as this that can provide you with information and no ulterior motives.  You will still be paying with something though.

Lastly speaking about The Planning and Approaching phase, it’s almost a cliche’ to say at this point but obtaining health/wellness/fitness goals is more about a lifestyle change then it is anything else.  There are no shortcuts to anywhere worthwhile, sorry.  All of the things that have been discussed and are going to be discussed are about you taking ownership of the things that you desire.  This path might lead you toward or away from certain people, through this ordeal you might find that you have some truly negative and miserable people around you that are bringing you down.  Keep good company that will lift you up when it gets tough, because IT WILL GET TOUGH AND YOU WILL GET DOWN.  Try becoming a part of community groups that share similar intentions as yourself, become a subscriber to sites such as this while commenting on content and asking questions, share your story and the journey you are on with others.  All of these things are critical to not just your immediate success but, to the success that you hope to sustain over time.

Make sure you are subscribed to receive the next portion of this article in which we are going to discuss the most important element when considering health, fitness and performance…..Nutrition.  All attempts at where you want to be physically will come up short if you do not have this one component properly aligned.  We will go into depth on why nutrition is important and also the what, why and how of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.  I am going to give you a great trick towards nutrition that will help to keep you on your path while simultaneously allowing you to keep your sanity.  We will also talk about the natural foods vs. processed foods debate and how important it really is.

Be sure to stay tuned because there is a lot of great information still to come!

See ya next week,

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