It is possible to do effective interval training outdoors, but you have to take a slightly different approach compared to doing them on a treadmill.
With a typical cardio machine you can adjust the intensity level by simply pressing a button. When you perform intervals outdoors, you are simply guessing at how hard you need to run for the intense portion of the interval. I plan on outlining a solution and better way to perform HIIT when you aren’t near a cardio machine.
[The idea of this post is to give you a workout you can do outside on any surface. Don’t be put off by how simple it is…this type of progressive training works extremely well.]
“It’s Kind of Hard to Gauge When You Are Not On a Treadmill”
One of the readers on the Fitness Black Book Facebook Page, put up a great question today…
“Rusty, another question about HIIT. Weather was great today, so I ran outside. I tried to increase the speed with each sprint, but it’s kind of hard to gauge when you’re not on a treadmill. About half way through I just ran about as hard as I could during the sprints. Is that OK? I’ve done HIIT off and on the last few years that way and had decent success.”
It is Hard to Gauge Intensity Levels When Not on a Machine!
What happens with any type of HIIT, is that you need to make it progressively harder over time to continue to get results. If you simply stick to the same intensity level forever, you will reach a fat loss sticking point.
So the problem when training outdoors is that it is difficult to really tell if you are pushing harder than the previous workout.
We Need to Use a Slightly Different Approach Outside.
Here is an interval training workout that measures improvement in a real, tangible way. It is setup to where intensity will increase over time naturally.
I will outline the workout first and then explain the reasons behind the way it is setup. The only thing you will need is some sort of timer…and possibly a little notebook to record your results.
Outdoor Progressive Interval Training
- Go to the Field of Your Choice: It can be a grass field, the beach, your backyard, a street in front of your house, etc. I wanted to set this up to where this can be performed anywhere outside. Really the only people who will have problems with this are agoraphobics.
- Mark off a Starting Point and an Ending Point: Put some sort of marker down on the ground, walk 50 yards and place another marker on the ground. It doesn’t have to be exactly 50 yards. The point is to count out how many steps it takes you to get to roughly 50 yards. Write down how many paces between the markers. The important point is that you are going to want to run this same distance each and every workout.
- Set a Timer for 20 Minutes: Even a cheap $5 mechanical kitchen timer will do the trick.
- Run 50 Yards Then Rest: You are NOT going to want to do an all-out sprint. Take it easy this first time. Sprint to the end marker and rest approximately 30 seconds.
- Run Back to the Start Point Then Rest: Run back to the start marker and rest approximately 30 seconds. This time put down a dash on your little notebook. After 30 seconds it is time to run to the marker on the opposite side of the field again.
- Repeat This Until the 20 Minutes Are Up: Once you are done make a note of how many times you made it back to the starting marker in 20 minutes. Write this number down. The goal is to beat this number each and every time you do this interval workout outside.
[I’m a big fan of “Field Notes” memo books. I carry one around in my back pocket these days to jot down ideas. I have a smart phone that I could use instead, but trying to “get off the grid” when possible. I love and hate technology!]
Intensity Levels Will Increase as Performance Improves.
In order to do more sprints in less time you will have to either decrease your rest periods or increase the speed of your sprints. This will contribute to greater HGH release, a greater after-burn effect, more calories burned, etc. The idea is that you are using progression in your interval training…in a way that you can accurately measure.
I Recommend You Use Periodization in this Workout As Well.
What I mean by that, is to purposely start off easy and then gradually work your way to where you are pushing the limit. Maybe just aim for improving by one more sprint in 20 minutes from workout to workout. Perhaps the first 5-6 workouts are purposely easy for you.
This type of setup is used in lifting…and helps lifters make positive improvements much longer than if they go as hard as possible from day one.
What Happens When You Can’t Beat Your Personal Best?
I have the ideal solution. Simply increase or decrease the distance of your sprint. So if you were sprinting roughly 50 yards before…maybe you extend out to 70 yards.
Just like in lifting, you would want to back off at first and then slowly increase the intensity to where you were pushing hard.
So you are using both progression and periodization in your outdoor intervals workouts…but bystanders will simply think you are just mindlessly running in a field.
The best part about these games is the fact that you don’t have to leave yor home
oor ass much as your couch to play them with your child.
The phone’s video recording capability is via QVGA and aat 15 frames per second (fps).
It will also give you the freedom of sending flowers, gifts or other things as a gift at somee friend’s house,
that also at a finger touch, without calling anyone or giving lengthy details.
Rusty –
I bought your Visual Impact for Women and have been using it for a couple of months. I have seen some good results. I am a former Cross Fitter who didn’t like the results and bulk I got from that program, among other issues with it. Anyway, I do your HIIT program outside with an interval timer app on my iphone and it works well. I do make sure I push myself during the sprints as I run through my neighborhood vs running on a field. I just wanted to present an alternative method.
Thanks for much for all of your expertise!
I do not write a ton of remarks, however i did
a few searching and wound up here Outdoor Progressive Interval Training.
Fat Burning HIIT, In the Great Outdoors.. And I actually do have
a couple of questions for you if you don’t mind. Is it simply me or does it look as if like some of these remarks look as if they are coming from brain dead people? 😛 And, if you are writing at additional sites, I would like to keep up with anything new you have to post. Would you make a list of every one of all your shared pages like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?
Can someone help me with defining the difference between “HIIT” training and “LT” training? I subscribe to all of Rusty’s programs (with good results!) and as I drill down to get the most out of my cardio, I see these formats used almost interchangeably. Thanks.
Patrick
Hi Rusty, bought your course and been doing it for a few weeks now. All going well so far. Love the site and the advice.
I love doing sprints for this. Our house backs on to a country park over here in Wales, UK. There is a gravel path going down the hill to a stream at the bottom. Half way up there is a tree.
I have no idea how far it is exactly but I know that it takes me about 15/ 20 seconds to sprint up the hill to this tree and about 60 secs to walk back down. I do this 10 times and I am wrecked.
This is my outdoor interval training. I love it, especially at this time of year when the sun is shining.
Im secfo and my flight chief had us do circuit training for workouts and ive tried crossfit along with a lot of other different methodologies .The workout one of the sgts put us through during the crossfit session was beast .And it is scalable just gotta make sure you scale it, if you let someone else push you to do something to hurt yourself your doing just that hurting yourself.
The really cool thing about being on HCG weight loss drops is that users have reported being in especially good moods and full of energy. Baring in mind the VLCD (very low calorie diet) I know how grumpy I get when Im starving. lol
This is a really cool workout, I’m gonna try it on the beach this summer. I’ll sprint from one lifeguard stand to another I usually do 400 meter sprints and I use a Garmin watch to gauge my pace.
I hate the hamster wheel. If there’s ever a choice, I prefer to workout outdoors. I even built my gym on my outdoor patio. HIIT training outside has many benefits. You have all kinds of natural training variations. You can run hills, stairs, sprints, bleachers, or trails. They each have their benefits and can add something different to your HIIT routine.
Rusty, I got to admit.. You have a very special articles!
Nice post!
Great info, Moore!
HIIT is the key to a lean body without the gym membership cost associated with it because you can pretty much doing it anywhere! One of the HIIT exercises I do is on the treadmill. I set the incline to the max level (Level 15); then alternate between 30 seconds runs and 30 second walks (5 mile/Hr for the runs and 1 mile/Hr for the walks). I do this for 30min and then immediately combine with jump jacks or jump ropes. The feeling is amazing!
Here is another HIIT routine I videotaped this summer:
kodjoworkout.com…fat-shredding/
Best
Kodjo
Yes yes yes. Amazing article. I was so out of motivation before this. Now ive read through this article at least 5 times and going to the gym later today! I really feel up it again, and it is great.
Thanks for this.
PP – Breville BES860XL | DeLonghi ESAM3300
I used to train HIIT all the time. It’s very effective in burning fat. However many people have a tough time maintaining rigorous workouts, that’s why I’m all about the mental approach to fitness. Because there is tons of good info out there on “the best ways to burn fat” but I don’t think that’s the problem with most people.
95% of people fail if they only focus on diet and exercise.
Pretty revealing statistic. What gets someone to go from working in Dairy Queen in his mid-forties to running over a hundred miles? It’s pretty easy to keep the weight off if you can shift your paradigm.