Today's Workout: Treadmill Incline Intervals

    As I've previously mentioned, the key to staying motivated and making continuous progress is variety.  Variety in your workouts keeps your body and your heart rate guessing, works different muscles, and prevents boredom.  Today I hit the treadmill for incline intervals.  After just 30 minutes, I was dripping sweat, my blood was pumping, and I was more out of breath than if I had just run for 45 minutes straight -- It was an effective workout, to say the least.  To perform this workout, begin with a 5-minute warm-up, walking at a moderate pace on a 3% incline.  Starting your intervals, raise the incline to about a 5% and your speed anywhere from level 8-9 (or wherever you are working at a hard but sustainable effort).  Maintain this effort for 30-45 seconds.  Follow with a two-minute resting period (walking at a moderate-fast pace until your heart rate returns to almost normal), and then begin another interval.  Repeat this cycle 4-6 times.  Conclude with a 5- to 10-minute cool-down of jogging at a steady pace, or walking at a moderate pace, bringing your incline down to 2%.

• Average time: 30 minutes
• Average distance: 2.5 miles
• Average calories burned: 350