Overview of Surge Training
What state does your exercise routine leave your body in? After you stop exercising is your body burning fat and building muscle? Or is it storing fat and breaking down muscle?
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American College of Sports Medicine concluded in 1995 that intermittent, short surges of accumulated exercise increases the body's anaerobic capacity by 28 percent and increases oxygen intake.
Research shows that high intensity, short duration exercise reduces body fat more substantially than low intensity, long duration, endurance-type exercise.
Surge Training (also referred to as Burst training) is when you perform a series of "surges" in your workout followed by the same period of rest. During each surge you are pushing your body to its maximum potential and then resting for the same duration you performed the exercise.
Take 3 minutes to try it out!
Tip: When you are first starting your surge workouts, try running in place or jumping rope. Other surge workouts should include biking, elliptical machines, swimming, treadmills, or stair stepping.
Once you are ready, choose an exercise. Some ideas are running, biking, using an elliptical machine or a treadmill, swimming, running in place, or even jumping rope. You can be as creative as you would like the idea is to move and use maximum effort for every second of the surge.
Now, you want to perform each "Surge" by following the routine below and repeat it 3 times.
1. 10-30 seconds of high intensity SURGE movement
2. 10-30 seconds of recovery/rest or low intensity movement
3. 10-30 seconds of high intensity SURGE movement
4. 10-30 seconds of recovery or low intensity movement
5. 10-30 seconds of high intensity SURGE movement
6. 2 minutes of recovery or low intensity movement
Each SURGE must be your maximum effort for the entire time. If you can only SURGE for 10 seconds, then SURGE for 10 seconds. Each recovery or low intensity phase should be the same length as the SURGE phase.
Do the cycle described in step 3 three times, three times per week. Twelve minutes of SURGE exercise per week gets better results than three hours a week of regular exercise. The entire SURGE routine takes less than 16 minutes.
Note: Interval times (up to 60 seconds) and the number of surges can be increased for more advanced athletes.
How Surge Training Makes a Difference
Helpful Links
- Center for Disease Control: Healthy Living
- Link to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Healthy Living website.
- ACSM: American College for Sports Medicine
- Find out more studies done by the ACSM.
- Interval Training
- More information about interval training
- Measuring Heart Rate
- Information on how to measure your heart rate.
- 12 Minute Makeover
- Shows you techniques and videos on how to do surge training.
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