new to interval training

ro'connell

Cathlete
I'm a newbie at interval training and have just started using the HiiT DVD. Is it better to ease up on the intensity of the exercises or to go all out and not be able to complete the workout?
 
I'm far from being an expert -- and I am getting back into excercizing after too long of a break -- but I am getting back by going easy, and going for a session of 30-40 min each day. After a month or so I will be lengthening the workouts.

To go all out, and then quitting early, could get discouraging.
-- David
 
High intensity is very hard on the body when you're just getting started again - it is easy to overdo and get hurt. For myself, when coming back after a break in training, I find it better/safer to either reduce the intensity (so that it's more of an intense interval workout), or else increase the length of the breaks and decrease the length of the intervals, so that I'm going flat out for less time, starting fresher, if that makes sense. Sometimes that includes reducing the number of intervals so that the session is still intense but fits inside 20-30 minutes.

I'm looking forward to what Cathe nd others say here, as I'll confess the above is from trial and error for *my* own body, not science-based!
 
Work hard enough to break a good sweat, and if you start to feel achy towards the end of the workout, modify the moves to become not as ballistic, or simply slow down. If you keep striving to improve each workout, eventually you'll have no problem finishing the workouts, or even adding on a second. The key is to keep coming back with *attitude*.
 

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