Interval Training..

Interval Training is training in a way that you do periods of high intensity work intersperced with specific rest periods. This type of training is more commonly used for building Muscular Endurance, CV Endurance and Speed. So is used for building different components of fitness to the other method of training we have looked at, which was continuous training. During, these training sessions we are aiming to be working above the anaerobic threshold and then let our heart rate drop back down in our rest periods so we have energy to keep working in the anerobic threshold each time. We need to work in this way so we can really test ourselves and push ourselves to become better.
When working above the anaerboic threshold, lactic acid builds up in the muscles. This creates a burning feeling in your limbs, which can often cause people to stop when they are training. Professional athletes, after training as often as they do, build up a tolerance to this feeling and are able to carry on working to the same high level. This is what we are working towards and also the mental determination to keep going whilst experiencing
this 'burn'.
This is a graph to show the way your heart rate will respond to this type of training.

150 Metre Runs..

As a way of seeing how effective interval training was, we did a more traditional method and did 6 x 150m runs.

Procedure;- As this is quite a strenuous exercise we had to warm up by doing a pulse raising activity, like a jog.
                   Then we we had to run 150 metres followed by a 45 second rest interval.
                   The girls had to do 6 of these runs, and the boys had to do 8.

Conclusion;- From this session we can see that the fitter you are, the faster you will be able to run and harder you will be able to push yourself. If you are not so fit, you will feel the 'burn' of lactic acid effecting your performance and not be able to keep up to the speed that you started off with, this is what working on exercises like this will help improve.

Circuit Training

As another way for us to see how effective interval training is, we did another training session which this time was in a totally different style. To test the same method but also a contrast to the other session we had done we did a circuit training session. The circuit involved;- 5 x press ups, 10 x kettle bell swings, 15 x lunges, wall bar climb.

Procedure;- As this was a hard session on our muscles we had to warm up, raising our heart rate and we also had to practise the exercises that we were about to do.
                  Then we had to complete, as fast as we could, as many rounds of the full circuit as we could in 3 minutes.
                  Then we had a minute to slow our heart rate down before we started the next circuit.
                  We had to repeat this 5 times.

Conclusion;- From doing this interval training session i have found it a much more rewarding session. In comparison to the other interval training method we did, i can see that i prefered the circuit training. It is a more interesting way of training and also builds up more of the components of fitness.