Intervals Workout

How I found about it and why I love it

The "trafic light system" is well know in fitness.

But this approach has a tweak. I stummbled upon this workout a long time ago (notice the year of publishing is 2012!). The premise of the whole workout is maximizing of the output (i.e., active calories and heart rate) by not allowing your brain/body to optimize for it. For example, my friend was going to hot yoga for a year and noticed that he is now burning less calories than he was in the beginning. In my case, I was going for a run on the same trail over and over again, and exactly know where the steep part is, when the end is, etc. And I noticed the same thing as my friend.

That's when I had my light bulb moment and rememberd my workout from 2012. Then I noticed there really isn't anything available to use online! But I only need random time generator, right? How hard can it be to make one by myself???

Fast forward, it wasn't hard, and ie was endlessly fun. I still plan to create a "Pause" button, please be patient with me.

Another thing - when I started implementing cardio, I would always start with speed that was too ambitious or had expectation my workout will last way longer. I neither ran fast nor the workout lasted long. And I was not motivated to do it, which is probably the worst thing. This way, someone else (computer) decides for me how long I will run fast, and it's way easier to do multiple small chunks than a single loooong one. I only decide how long each of the intervals is (in the end, this has to be enjoyable, which is why I made these user inputs) and what is my net workout time and voila!

Below is the table that has my numbers for a single recorded session. I usually go for 25, 30 minutes treadmill workout, and 5/3 minutes for my max fast/slow time. But I will emphasize that I am not an expert, only an enthusiast. If you have any concerns, you should consult with your doctor.

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