Spice Up Your Routine: Mastering Fartlek Training on a Treadmill for Dynamic and Engaging Cardio Workouts

IMPROVE AEROBIC FITNESS: FARTLEK ON THE TREADMILL

We may be able to lift one and a half times our weight in the bench press, twice as much in the deadlift, or even weigh half our weight for pull-ups, but we need to train our aerobic capacity to be complete athletes.

One of the most effective ways to start “pumping” our heart muscle will be through the treadmill. Whatever our “fitness” level, we can start using the programs proposed by the trainer or carry out a routine on our own if we already have a certain level.

Configuring the intensity applied through the well-known “speed game” or Fartlek is easily possible. This consists of planning our training, where we can adjust the different levels of speed and recovery times at our whim.

“Fartlek can be considered as a high-intensity interval exercise.”

Read Also: Fartlek Training for Beginners: Unlock Your Running Potential

WHAT BENEFITS DOES THE FARTLEK PROVIDE?

Mainly, and even though you usually “suffer”, the fun is guaranteed, unlike the conventional stationary intensity cardio exercise, such as jogging or walking at the same pace.

When we prepare to perform a Farlek, we are assuming a whole challenge and, what is more important, each session that we manage to finish successfully will be new progress in our objective: being such a varied training, the level of adaptation that it generates on our body will be of a high degree, and this will be reflected above all in boosting our cardiovascular system and of course contributing to losing fat.

This will result in doing a great job quickly since we will subject our body to high intensities, which we would never contemplate otherwise.

WHAT IS THE FARTLEK?

The premise consists of combining times where we will remain at a high pace, which we will call a “strong pace”, and recovery times, in which we will remain equally active. That is, we do not rest but instead continue to move.

What intensity should I apply? Here comes the good news, the Fartlek is moldable to the athletic capacity of the person. Thus, those with less running time should adjust to longer breaks, around a ratio of 1:3, 1:4 or even higher.

“For each sample of time of the strong rhythm, we recover 3, 4 or more times that time.”

This is where the treadmill can serve as an excellent fitness work tool: thanks to the markers where the speed at which we run appears, it will be much easier for us to establish rhythms. We must choose these according to our physical condition, be able to visualize them instantly and modify them as appropriate.

EXAMPLE OF FARTLEK TREADMILL ROUTINES

Before beginning any exercise, we must maintain some warm-up guidelines so that our body gradually adapts to the new state. Going from rest to a high heart rate can be aggressive, so we always plan a warm-up.

A possible treadmill warm-up may consist of the following:

– Walk for 3 minutes at a low speed – Perform five series of walking at low speed with a steep slope, 20″ without holding on to the armrest, 40″ holding on – 5min jogging – Perform five series of 20″ at a faster pace followed by 40″ jogging- Walking at a slow speed 3 minutes

After doing the practical work, that is, the part of the training focused on Fartlek, it is also recommended to do a cooldown. It would be the reverse of the warm-up and can consist of 5 minutes of light jogging.

The scheme would be:

1. Warm-up

2. Effective Work

3. Cool down

EXAMPLE FOR A PERSON JUST STARTING TO FARTLEK:

Practical Work (Repeat 2 or 3 times):

• Six series of 10″ strong rhythm – 40″ recovery rhythm ( 2min easy rhythm)
• Four series of 20″ strong rhythm – 50″ recovery rhythm ( 2min easy rhythm)
• Two series of 30″ strong rhythm – 60″ recovery rhythm ( 2min easy rhythm)
• One series of 45″ strong rhythm – 2 min walking

EXAMPLE OF A PERSON WITH GREATER ATHLETIC ABILITY:

Effective Work:

 a) 1:2 descending series (repeat two times):

60″ hard pace – 30″ recovery pace

40″ hard pace – 20″ recovery pace

20″ hard pace – 10″ recovery pace

b) Ascending series ratio 1:1 (repeat four times)

15″ hard pace – 15″ recovery pace

30″ hard pace – 30″ recovery pace

45″ hard pace – 45″ recovery pace

As you can see, performing Fartlek on a treadmill can be a pleasant activity within everyone’s reach, being a magnificent complement to our training routine with loads.

IMPROVES BODY COMPOSITION

To deepen and improve our body composition, we can follow a calorie cycling strategy, where we increase carbohydrates and reduce fat on the days of weight training and do the opposite operation on the days that we practice our Fartlek. In this way, we will promote fat loss on days of aerobic activity and gradually improve our aesthetic appearance.

As nutritional support, the incorporation of branched-chain amino acids and glutamine can be valued just before and after this type of cardio training.

A product that works very well is Evobcaa’s from HSN Sports, which has the highest ratio on the market, 12:1:1, and the addition of L-Glutamine.

These amino acids fulfil an important task in promoting three functions:

1. Reduce muscle breakdown: although we are doing cardio, there is a solid high-intensity component, which implies compromising muscle mass.

2. Improve the hormonal environment: When eating next meals, our response to protein synthesis is more favourable. This is due to L-leucine, whose properties make it an “activator of protein regeneration and construction”.

3. Glycogen saving: if we choose to do this type of training by waking up (fasting), it will help us give energy and performance.

To learn more about amino acids and proteins, we invite you to look at the HSN Blog, which explains everything related to these products in detail.