Quality versus Quantity

I often here the question of, "Am I better off exercising for only 1 hour or should I workout for 3 hours to get the best results".

Go for Quality of the workout. Are you moping around the gym for a good 3 hours- Doing an hour on the elliptical while watching "TeenMom" and then walking on the treadmill for an hour at a speed of 3.5.  Get the best results in a shorter amount of time and have fun while doing it.

I believe in high intensity workouts with speed interval training. Instead of running a grueling boring six miles on tread mills, run 3 miles and kill it! Or instead of running 3 miles.. run 3 miles with sprints and walking.  According to the American College of Sports Medicine, more calories are burned in short, high intensity exercise. Research also confirms that interval training target abdominal body fat. If you are counting calories burned, high intensity exercise such as intervals are better than long. 

Here is my favorite workout that is only 1 hour long! Change your speed according to how fast you can run. Push yourself to limits you wouldn't usually run at. These are average running speeds for the average treadmill runner. It's only 20mins on the tread mill. You'll survive! I keep my ipod blasting with the most upbeat music to keep my adrenaline going.

I have learned these methods through going to my favorite workout class, " Barry's Bootcamp" . But to save me the dollar I have made my own:

Workout Length: 1 hour long
Get your heart pumping :) 

Treadmill speed interval training
Durations: 20 mins
Warm Up: Incline : 4.5  Speed: 5.5 - 2 mins

Pace Yourself: Incline: 6.5  Speed: 6.0 - 1 min
Sprint: Incline: 4.0  Speed: 8.5 1 min
Recover: Incline 4.0 Speed 5.0 1 min
Sprint: Incline: 0 Speed: 9.5 - 30 sec
Repeat: 5 times!

Move to floor 
Duration: 30 mins:
Plank Hold- 1 min
Ab Bicycle- 1 min
Burpees with weights- 15 reps (5 pound weights)
Squats with 5 pound weights- 20 reps
Jump Rope- 1 min
Recover: Relax for 1 min
Repeat 3 times

Back to Treadmill
Duration: 10 min
Extreme Sprints!

Warm up: Incline 4.0 , Speed: 6.0 - 1 mins

Power Sprint: Incline 0.0 Speed: 9.5 30 sec
Walk it out: Incline 10.5 Speed: 4.0 30 sec
Jog: Incline: 4.0 Speed: 5.5 1 min
Repeat 3 times

ALL DONE :) 

Why am I stressing incline in the treadmill workouts?  
Walking or running on a level surface doesn’t use as much energy as walking or running on an incline.  By increasing the incline level on the treadmill, you will increase the number of calories burned during your workouts. Incline training works the leg muscles differently and more efficiently than training on a level surface. It creates long lean muscles. And your bootay will be a lot firmer ;)

Have you ever tried a speed interval workout?