An interval training primer

Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training blog today had part 1 of an interval training primer, entitled “The Best Cardio Intervals For Fat Loss – part 1”. (Full information on Ballantyne’s program is at his main Turbulence Training website.)

This is good info for beginners like me, too. Ballantyne writes:

If you are a beginner and you can walk at 3.3mph for 20 minutes, then your intervals will start at a walk at 3.6mph for 30 seconds to a minute. That is interval training.

That’s a pretty good match for the experiment in interval training I conducted last week. I’ve been doing it this week, too.

Part 2 of the primer is promised for next week. Ballantyne says he’ll also…

… expose the most ineffective machine in the gym.

Hint – It is also the most common machine these days, yet I’ve yet to see a single person change their body by using this machine for their cardio and intervals.

My guess: the elliptical.

Update, 17 Aug 2006: Gee, I coulda sworn he said “next week,” not “tomorrow.” Yet part 2 of his primer is on his blog today: “Best Cardio Intervals for Fat Loss – Part 2”.

I seemed to have been right about my guess on the elliptical as being (in Ballantyne’s opinion) the least effective machine for training, but he doesn’t go into much detail about it. Merely his ranking (his opinion) of the best methods to use for interval training:

Sprinting outdoors (and hills might be the absolute best)

Strongman movements (Farmer’s walks, tire flips, car pushing)

Bodyweight interval circuits

Treadmill running

Stationary cycle (upright preferred)

Stairclimber

Rower

Swimming (only works for competent swimmers)

Elliptical & Crosstrainer machines