Today I did this “mountain” treadmill interval workout that Junior taught me, that she learned at Fitness Ridge. I swear, I have not had any workout produce THIS MUCH SWEAT ever. It’s incredible!! And I thought I’d share it because it’s just crazy awesome and also unexpectedly both hard and not hard.
Get on treadmill. Warmup at level incline (0) for five minutes. Whatever pace you like.
Then crank up the incline to whatever feels like “medium-hard” to you. Last week, I started at level 6. Today I started at 8. Go at a good walking pace. For me, I had it at 3.0. Which doesn’t feel like much when you’re on level incline, but when you start cranking the mountain, believe me it’s SOMEthing.
Go for 30 seconds. When your timer hits the :30 mark, hit the + incline. It will go up .5 to the next level. (ie, 8.5). Now you’re going up the mountain! EVERY 30 seconds, hit it again. Until you’ve gotten to the “top.” (for me, 15) Stay at the “top” (aaaghhhhhhhhhhh!) for one full minute. Then hit the (-) button so it just goes down 5. (ie, to 14.5). Keep going down every 30 seconds until you reach your starting incline level (ie, 8). Now you’re going down the mountain!
Then do it all over again!
If you climb two mountains in 30 minutes, that is a KILLER CRAZY SWEAT-PRODUCING workout. It’s awesome. AWESOME, I tell you.
Just thought I’d share that. Because it’s one of my new favorite workouts. Now to shower! Man, I need it.
July 2, 2011 at 3:48 pm
I love this!
July 2, 2011 at 4:51 pm
dude this workout is crazy! i love it. but guess what? I totally misunderstood Junior’s comment on your FB wall, and thought it was not only an increase inresistance/elevation…but a simultaneous increase in SPEED! So I made it an interval thing (I’d go up in resistance lower speed…then increase speed…then increase resistance lower speed…then increase speed). Works that way, too. Totally bonked me out but it’s a great shakeup for the body–especially since I’d recently hit a plateau. This got me OUT of that plateau and I lost 3 pounds!
July 3, 2011 at 12:08 am
OMG you are such a beast! No wonder it bonked you out! That’s amaaaaaaazing! Yeah the interval thing is incredible right?
July 3, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Dude. If you ever want to shake things up and challenge yourself–try it. Start at a rrrrreallly low level, though, otherwise you’ll end up at like an impossible (for me anyway) 8.5 mph 5.0 incline. (I made it so I ended up at 7.0 mph and 4.0 incline–by only going up .3 mph each time)
July 3, 2011 at 1:53 pm
I have done something similar on the elliptical crosstrainer. It definitely builds up a sweat! 🙂
July 6, 2011 at 7:43 pm
I Freakin LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!! I am doing TOMORROW!! (On the road home now) Tell Junior I said THANKS!!!! 😉