Interval training while jogging: Gas is worthwhile

Actually, no sport is as easy as running: lace up sneakers and off you go. And yet it is often so difficult - especially in the cool months: slippery roads and constant colds, because you can quickly whiz away a workout. Or is it boring you always the same endurance running on the same same home stretch?

Good that something is happening in training science. A rethink, yes, almost a revolution: away from long runs with low intensity to shorter, faster, more intense units. Quality instead of quantity - that no longer applies only to professional athletes, but also to recreational athletes. It does not matter how long we run, but how well. For running training that means: It does not have to last as long as possible, but may be short and crisp, but with changes in tempo. "Interim sprints pull us out of the comfort zone, which is very helpful, because the body needs new stimuli if it is to change," says dr. Matthias Marquardt, sports physician and author of the bestseller "Die Laufbibel". The advantages of this training method are read like the wish list of every hobby jogger: faster fit, faster lean and faster finished - great!

Those who reach their limits challenge their bodies and force their heart, circulation and respiratory organs to perform better. They adapt and therefore can do more. This was proven by Prof. Jens Bangsbo from the University of Copenhagen in a study. Runners who did intermediate sprints were an average of one minute faster over five kilometers after seven weeks than those who continued to train normally.

Short, intense runs burn more calories and save time

And it gets even better: the faster we run, the more calories we consume. That's what counts when we want to lose weight. Steve Boutcher of the University of New South Wales, Australia, found in a study that three times 20 minutes of training a week with alternating 8-second sprints and relaxed phases after twelve weeks, two kilograms of fat disappeared - significantly more than several hours conventional training.

So, those who have believed that loose running with a fat burning heart rate of 110 to 130 consume the most calories are wrong: the body uses more fats to provide energy (about 70 percent). At a higher heart rate, however, it burns significantly more calories, and therefore more calories, even if it uses relatively more carbohydrates (50 percent). The high intensity also boosts the metabolism and provides a Nachbrenneffekt - the running training is therefore a great calorie killer. For comparison: 30 minutes of easy endurance burn around 300 calories, with interval training while jogging we come to 400 in the same time.

Sure, interval training sounds exhausting - it is, at least for a short time. And we need a certain basic fitness: At least 20 minutes at a time you should be able to run loose. But we save valuable time, because training with peak loads passes much faster than a long endurance run. It brings variety into training, challenges us and makes us proud when we reach our limits and notice what our bodies can do.

The 4-week turbo running plan

The sports doctor Matthias Marquardt from Hanover is an expert in running, fitness and work-life balance. He developed our roadmap.

That's how it's done: It's best to work out three times a week. Stay with it once the well-tried endurance, because it strengthens the basic stamina, which is also important. Run twice a week, with tempo changes and intermediate sprints. Thereafter, you put at least one day rest, because a sufficient recovery is important after intensive units.

Loose running means: at 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate or so fast that you exhale in four steps and take four steps. Swift means: 70 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, or so fast that you take one step in three and exhale three.

How to determine the heart rate: You can best determine your maximum heart rate with a sports physician, but you can also orientate yourself to the formula 226 minus age. During the sprint phases, you can take a break for yourself - always assuming that you are healthy and have been practicing sports regularly for some time.

For (re) beginners: You have never run or not anymore? Then put our best before our program our beginner training.