Today I'm going to talk about the benefits of interval programs and ways to create your own that fit into your schedule. I'm sure you've heard people talk about how amazing P90X, Insanity, and Crossfit is and how it changed their lives. The best news is it is amazing and the programs aren't super expensive but can leave a dent in the wallet. The reason these programs and other ones like it are amazing for you and show awesome progress, is because it changes the way you work out. These programs deliver exceptional results. The secret is pretty simple and I'm going to explain why.
The first reason is it doesn't take a lot of time to do so more people "with proper motivation" stick with it. Thus showing the results of all your hard work. The second reason is it creates whats known as muscle confusion. Muscle confusion just means your body doesn't hit a "plateau" as quickly because of how often the routine changes. Thirdly these programs are high intensity making your heart hit prime fat burning levels quicker and keeps your bodies metabolism going through out the day so you burn more calories through out the day. Those are the 3 big key points as to why interval programs are so successful.
So the good news for those who don't have the extra money to pay for these programs is that you can easily make your own, given they aren't going to be exactly the same but that can be a plus for some people. The basis of interval programs is taking multiple exercises that get accelerate your heart rate and making them last 20-40 minutes in a cycle. With these programs you generally need very little equipment such as dumbbells, jump rope, elastic bands, medicine ball, kettle ball, platform, and a stability ball. Here is a list of examples of different exercises you can use: russian twists, burpees, star jumps, high knees, butt kicks, power skips, stair steps, dips, knee tucks, jump rope, jumping, inch worm, heismans, mountain climbers, flutter kicks, push ups, planks, dumbbell curls, jumping jacks, crunches speed skaters, shrugs, shoulder press, bicycle sit ups, chest flys, supermans, wall sits, squats, jogging in place, up downs, cleans, lunges, calf raises, punches kicks, side crunches, side lunges, incline push ups, decline push ups, leg lifts, over head flys, balancing and many others.
Now the trick is to combine those exercises into a workout plan that you do high intensity exercises for a little while and then resting exercises for a while to last those 20-40 minutes.
Creating your own program is really that easy and you customize to your fitness level but you still want to push yourself. I use an app from Androids Play Store called HIT Interval Timer to time my exercise routines. You simply put in the exercises to do, how long to do it for, and how many reps you want to complete. It's a very handy app to have and is super simple to use. So this is it for this post but the next post will be on Friday and it will have 3 samples of interval programs I made with these exercises.
