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I used to bark this all the time. “I’d exercise if I had the time”. “Who has the time to do cardio for 30-45 minutes”.

The list is endless.

The bottom line is most of us have a finite amount of time to ‘exercise’, so how are we to attain a healthy state of fitness if we just don’t have the time to do it.

Interval Training : Interval training can cut exercise hours sharply – Fitness- msnbc.com

I’ve been preaching this concept for over a year now. I’ve known about it for decades, but can’t say I used it personally until last year. I tell you it’s heaven sent. Not only do you get what you need done, you get it done in a fraction of the time.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or Tabata intervals. Both are training concepts that originate with the high-caliber professional athletic world (Olympic athletes).

You go ‘all out’ for a set amount of time. Then you ‘rest’ or move at a tolerable level. Then back to ‘all out’. You do this cycle for a set amount of time.

Your training will consist of a rollercoaster. Going fast and hard then backing off.

You find yourself working harder and getting your cardiovascular benefit in just minutes a day as opposed to hours.

I won’t go into the juicy details, but interval training works. I do it as my only cardiovascular exercise. I do not waste my time doing 30-45 minute runs, walks, biking or hiking. I do interval sprints.

This alone would be enough, but there is also a theory out there (EPOC – Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) that suggests you actually burn more calories (and possibly fat) well after your interval session is over. 

If the ‘no time’ excuse is high on your list of reasons why you’re not exercising I highly suggest you give this a try. Do the research (quick internet search will do) and give it a go. Don’t worry about the exact minutes needed or required. Just try the interval of maximum intensity coupled with bouts of low intensity for a sustained 5-10 minute period. Don’t worry about not being able to go maximum effort. Don’t worry if you only could last 3 minutes. Just get started. You’ll be surprised of the results if you stick with it.

Aren’t you getting tired and bored with long steady state cardio. Don’t you watch the clock a lil too much? Or worse, are you not exercising at all?!

Give it a try.

Image Source: Freewebs

So I really am bored with cardio. In fact I have almost eliminated it from my workout routine. I’m lucky if I run once during the week.

Aside from all my orthopedic problems, I really do get bored with just ‘going for a run’. Thankfully the ARC trainer’s at the gym have TV sets. So I can at least keep myself occupied for the 20 or 30 minutes I force myself to endure.

My rationale for eliminating cutting back on my ‘cardio’ was that I was burning enough calories doing my interval weight training. I don’t follow any ‘formal’ program like HIIT, or HIT, or Circuit Training. I do maximum effort, minimal rest, total body – large muscle movement workouts. A pseudo-HIT-HIIT-Circuit training program, toss in some CrossFit and Yoga movements aannnd that’s how I roll.

So I can’t believe it didn’t dawn on me to apply my max effort – min rest theory to my running/ cardio exercise (or the lack-there-of).

Thanks to Israel over at Fat Man Unleashed and Mark over at Mark’s Daily Apple for spawning this idea in my training.

I can’t say I followed the Tabata spring method to a T. I once again did my own thang.

Keeping in mind I have to use the ARC trainer, or something similar to an elliptical trainer due to my damaged joints. I ran a pseudo-HIT-Fartlek-Tabata routine for 30 minutes. I did 2 min max sprint effort followed by 30 second rest periods for a total of 9 sets(including a quick warm-up and cool down)

I must say I think my body will be slapping me silly for this tomorrow. I was ‘spaghetti-legged’ afterwards. And doing my CORE exercises turned out to be quite the challenge.

I liked the change, and in theory this type of training should give me more bang-for-my-buck, so I’m interested to see how this plays out over the coming months.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there is a Dairy Queen Strawberry Shortcake Blizzard waiting for me in the other room (courtesy of my wife – THANKS! )

Carpe Diem