What’s the fastest way to get into shape?
Meet Pete.
Pete is an old friend of mine, and loves to play soccer. He wanted to get back into shape, and research shows that intervals for your cardio is the most efficient way.
What was the fastest way to get him back into shape?
Try what the great Martin Rooney of trainingforwarriors.com calls a “hurricane”.
He points out that a hurricane is a short, powerful storm that interrupts everything. This is how we would like you to do your cardio- something short and powerful that gives your metabolism a big interruption in a good way.
The structure is simple:
Get your heart rate up as high as you can for 30 seconds, wait for the heart rate to return to 120, and repeat nine times.
Please check with your doctor before embarking on this or any exercise program, but those are the general guidelines.
So this is what I did with Pete the first time we met, and he chose to dribble a soccer ball for the 30 seconds. Great! The more fun the better!
He sprinted down the field, and when he hit 30 seconds I started my clock to check his recovery time. He happens to use an Apple Watch to check his heartrate, so we kept checking it. (You’ll want something to be able to check your heart rate.)
We checked it again. Not down yet.
And kept checking it.
And checking it.
And checking it.
And checking it.
Still not down.
Now mind you, I had done a hurricane workout with another client Kristin earlier that day, and her recovery time was about 30 seconds- 1 minute at most inbetween intervals. With Pete we were now pushing 15 minutes to recover from the first interval. She had recently run a half marathon, and he was at the very beginning!
I had him close his mouth and only nose breathe to attempt to get his heart rate back down.
Finally, he hit as close to 120 as I thought we were going to get- around 123. He started his second interval after 20 minutes of recovery.
This was mid-July, and he didn’t workout outside of our once-a-week workouts, but look at the improvement he has shown already! We are able to get almost the whole 9 intervals accomplished now, and we have added 30 seconds of core work at the end of the interval. Fantastic work considering he just got started 4 months ago!
Super proud of Pete, and all my clients out there busting out hurricanes!
Look at Pete after a workout, all happy and tired out. This is my recommendation: the most efficient way to get your cardio in…hurricane intervals!
Let me know if you need some help getting started or what your favorite interval program involves in the comments below.
