Both Forms of Cardio – Intervals and Steady State

December 13th, 2009 by

The take home message here is not that there is no place for steady state cardio, or that you should only be doing interval training. The best course of action is to use both forms of cardio. An overemphasis on either will result in less than optimal results. If you’re just starting out, I’d caution you from jumping right into an intense interval training workout. Rather, you should spend some time building up a baseline of cardiovascular fitness with steady state cardio. From that point you can start to do some lower intensity intervals. For example, you might walk on the treadmill at 3.0mph for your active recovery and power walk at 4.0mph for your sprints. With time and as your conditioning improves you can gradually up the intensity of your sprints.

As for intermediate and advanced trainees, the only real difference is in their level of cardiovascular conditioning. Intervals are all about perceived effort and as such what is intense to one may not be intense to another. Start out with 30-60″ on time at an RPE of about 7-8; not full out but much higher intensity than steady state.

Beginners
Traditional steady state cardio gradually moving into low intensity interval training

Intermediate
20s on / 60s off x 8-10 repeats
30s on / 90s off x 6-8 repeats
60s on / 180s off x 3-4 repeats

Advanced
30s on / 60s off x 8-10 repeats
60s on / 120s off x 5-6 repeats
60s on / 60s off x 6-8 repeats
90s on / 90s off x 4-5 repeats

Return to previous page: Intervals Increase Overall Calorie Usage.