Training Tip Thursday 7/7/16: Monitor Work to Rest Ratios

People are getting more and more interested in High Intensity Training or High Intensity Interval Training as a form of cardio training.

Unfortunately most people when doing this form of cardio do what Strength Coach Martin Rooney calls the "Illogical 4" in his book Warrior Cardio.  As a result they fall short of achieving their performance goals.

The "Illogical 4" are:

1. Novelty
2. Coolness
3. Ability to produce soreness
4. Ability to produce fatigue

To avoid these in higher intensity cardio training like High Intensity Interval Training make sure to monitor the Work-To-Rest Ratio.  Rooney describes two ways to monitor this in his book:

1. Work/Rest:  An example would be 1:3.  In this example you would exercise hard for 1-minute and rest for 3-minutes before you start over again.
2. Recovery Heart Rate:  In this example you would use a Heart Rate Monitor.  During the work period your heart rate would increase quite a bit.  One you are done with the work period you would rest until your heart rate gets to a certain number.  Once you get to that number you would start the interval again.

To make cardio more effective in the future when doing aggressive intervals make sure you use a Heart Rate Monitor to track heart rate and start with longer rest periods (i.e. 1:4 Ratio).  Over time try to gradually decrease the rest periods by 15-seconds every other workout until it gets to a 1:2 Ratio.  Once you get to that point you can raise the work times by 15-seconds every other workout. 

Give this a try and see what happens.