New perk! Get after it with local recommendations just for you. Discover nearby events, routes out your door, and hidden gems when you sign up for the Local Running Drop.
Workouts with short rest periods, higher intensities, and ones that use compound movements will give you the best results—provided your nutrition plan is on track. That’s because high intensity interval training increases the body’s ability to oxidize fatty acids—aka burn fat—better than steady-state exercise.
Regardless of whether you’re working out for general fitness or to compete, the sessions printed here will help you obtain your goals. Include them in your weekly program at least once per week.
Keep in mind: Losing more than two pounds per week can sap power and energy, so have an outlook of at least three months to start reaching long-term weight loss goals. And don’t skimp on the strength exercises. When you lose weight, there’s no way to ensure 100 percent of that weight is coming from fat, so you must work to maintain your muscle mass.
Swimming
Warm-up:
200 easy swim
100 kick
100 pull
Drill:
2×50 1-Arm
2×50 Slide Glide
Main Set:
5×100, each one gets faster 6×50, first 25 steady, last 25 tempo
8×25 race pace
Cool-down: 200 easy swim
Biking
Warm-up:
10 minutes easy
Main Set:
7×6 minutes at 8/10 effort (unable to speak),
1 minute rest
Cool-down:
10 minutes easy
Running
Warm-up:
10 minute jog 2x25m butt kicks 2x50m high-knee skips
Main set:
1 miles easy
5×1 mile tempo
1 minute recovery
Cool-down:
1 mile easy
Michael Gallagher is the head coach at Rogue Tri Performance in southern Oregon. Gallagher is an Ironman competitor and is certified by USAT, USMS (Level 2), ASCA (Level 2) and ACE (personal trainer and sports conditioning). Find him at Roguetriperformance.com.