Cardio is the most popular form of exercise in the world. It’s simple (although not easy) and has been associated with many health benefits such as cardiovascular health, general fitness and weight/fat loss.  But there comes a point where your cardio stops working for you.

For the sake of this article, I’m going to take running as my choice cardio exercise.  Now I’m partial to running because I think it’s the most functional and effective form of cardio exercise.  Plus, nothing fancy is needed—you only need a pair of running shoes and your good to go.  However, it’s ease and simplicity can have it’s drawbacks.

Here’s common scenario I see happening:

You start running at first since it’s the simplest form of exercise—you don’t need to belong to a gym, you can do it outside (unless it’s - 40 below, and you don’t feel like running with a hat, mitts, goggles and a parka), so you begin by jogging at a comfortable pace for 15 - 20 min at first.

But you (like many) have a goal in your head that you want to be exercising for at least 45 minutes to an hour. So you walk the rest of the way until your 45 - 60 minutes exercise session is up.  If you stick to it and run on a consistent basis, you’ll gradually increase your endurance and eventually be able to run 45 - 60 minutes without stopping!  And that’s great—you should feel a real sense of accomplishment.  But with it comes another challenge…how do you KEEP progressing?

It’s completely normal to feel a sense of slight let down after reaching a goal or milestone, but what you do afterward can be the difference between progress and frustration.

Unfortunately, I see frustration more often than not. It’s easy to fall in love with the simplicity of running. Especially after being stuck in a cubicle or dealing with annoying people all day long, not to mention the commute form home to work and back…I can see why you’d want to just put on your running shoes and go outside and run with no distraction, no planning necessary, free from the restrictions and guidelines.  Just you and and your favorite music blaring in your ears.

But here’s the problem…

With random approach comes random results—and eventual frustration.  Running for 45 - 60 minutes is hard enough, so to push yourself to go further or faster takes motivation and some planning on your part.

This is where the simplicity of running starts to get a little complicated and it becomes much easier to look the other way and continue on with what you’ve become pretty good and comfortable at doing.

We’re creatures of habit and we all like comfort. It’s also easy to fool yourself into thinking that what you’re doing is about all you can do. Your mind may fool you, but your body won’t.

Eventually, you become so efficient at running a certain distance at a certain pace that it hardly taxes your body.  In essence your body becomes fuel efficient.  Which, in itself is pretty amazing and if you’re an endurance athlete, that’s exactly what you want your body to become…efficient.  The more your body becomes efficient at conserving energy the more you can push your body to go further.

However, if your goal is to lose weight and get lean, fuel efficiency is not what you want.  In fact, you want your body to be exactly the opposite.  You want your body to be a fuel burning machine.  You also want to be burning the right type of fuel, which in your case would be fat.

So what’s the best solution? High intensity interval training.

Performing long easy to moderate paced cardio definitely has it’s benefits, but it also enables you to get into a comfort zone.  And more often than not, you end up staying in that comfort zone for way too long.

It’s so much easier to run at a comfortable pace for 45 - 60 minutes than pushing your pace for the entire run. In fact, you probably won’t be able to do that anyway.  It’s like asking you to run a 10 km in 45 minutes, even though you’ve never broken an hour before.  It just doesn’t happen that way.

This is where interval training can be helpful.  You can break your run into shorter distances with a short break between each run.  This way you can increase your pace while doing repeats of shorter runs.  You’ll still be running the same total distance—just broken up into smaller distances…at a faster pace!

All the top runners, from sprinters to long distant runners, all incorporate some type of interval training.  It’s the most proven method of training which enables you to gradually increase speed and endurance.

Interval training doesn’t have to be super short.  In fact, it can be longer if you want, and it doesn’t have to always be done at maximum efforts.  Although I would recommend keeping your effort level at above 75% maximum…doing easy interval training sort of defeats the purpose of doing them.

Keep in mind that interval training is like any other type of training, where if you keep doing the same things over and over, you’ll stop progressing.  It’s important to change up your distance, duration, intensity, and effort so you can keep progressing and avoid plateauing.  Plus you’ll be able to avoid injuries and burnout by keeping your training fresh and giving your body the necessary rest and recovery for continued progress.

So next time you go out for a run, change things up give yourself a challenge, especially If you’ve been stuck doing the same run at the same speed for the same distance.  Break it up into smaller chunks and don’t get too hung up on the total distance or time.  A little planning goes a long way!  So go out there and run like the wind! .... sorry just got carried away.