Interval Training: A small investment for a big return

You might know this already, but I have a really lazy dog. It’s funny that I have a lazy dog. This is what he does when you try to take him for a walk.

The man and I joke that our dog is pacing himself.

You have probably heard the myth that you only have so many heartbeats so it’s better to pace yourself through life.

Someone must have told our dog, Brio.

But, it is not true. Not for dogs or for people. In fact, although ANY exercise is better than no exercise, vigorous exercise is best. Especially when it comes to reversing the loss of muscle that comes from being sedentary.

Interval training gives you the best return on investment at the cellular level, especially for older adults. Sorry, there is no good excuse not to do some.

I have said in many other posts that you only need to make the intervals hard for you. Only more intense than you would normally go, it could be walking. You don’t need fancy equipment or be a super athlete or even young and healthy. The intervals can simply be short bursts of 30 seconds to 2 minutes of faster walking. It all depends on your current level of health and fitness.

The really interesting thing about interval training is that for people with type 2 diabetes who do interval walking the results include improved fitness, increased aerobic capacity and greater insulin sensitivity. This is important. The more sensitive your muscles are to insulin the better you can absorb glucose in your bloodstream and use it as fuel.

Interval walking reduces your blood glucose levels as long as you make the interval hard enough to get out of your comfort zone.

I wish that someone would explain this to Brio. Twice a week we go on a “dog jog” A 5 km route of jogging for 30 seconds and walking for 30 seconds. Brio doesn’t know it, but I am improving his insulin sensitivity, or at least testing the theory on dogs. 30 seconds is all Brio has the tolerance for, he is more of a sprinter than an endurance athlete. This makes a great warm up for our intervals. We end up at the top of a set of stairs that are, well, challenging is one way to put it.

Dr Martin Gibala, professor and researcher at McGill University says that even as little as 3 sets of 20 second intervals is all the effort you need to see a difference. In his book, The One Minute Workout,he explores how you can get the most fitness benefits in the least amount of time, one minute to be exact.

If you walk or run regularly you can add something like our stair interval challenge to your routine.

With my watch set at 30-second interval repeats we start down the stairs, when the timer beeps after 30 seconds, I turn around and run up for 30 seconds and then down at the next interval. The game is to get to the bottom of the stairs in as few intervals as possible.

Brio doesn’t play by the rules.

High-intensity interval training is good for people and it is likely that it works for dogs too.

Now if only someone would explain that to Brio because he has his own ideas.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla