Work-Rest Interval

   Of the three energy pathways our bodies use to fuel us, the first two function “without oxygen” or anaerobically. While training, it’s easy to tell what pathway you are utilizing by taking note of your breath rate. If you stop your workout and breathe heavier, you are in an anaerobic pathway. You are aerobic if your breath rate decreases at the end of training. Pretty simple, right?
     Well, it is easier said than done. Some sessions prescribe daunting workloads that wear on the mind and encourage a steady, one-after-the-other pace to get through it. That is NOT what I want from you. I want you to work harder and rest more. By that, I mean break up the task into “chunks”…visualizing the chunks before you get to ‘em (like a plan) and performing at an intensity that keeps you anaerobic. In-between these work “chunks”, take a couple DEEP breaths to replenish your oxygen deficit, then get back to it. Keeping yourself anaerobic will promote radical systemic adaptation that will transfer to all components of fitness. That’s what we’re doin’ all this work for– to be fit!