Interval training has its strengths and weaknesses:
Many studies have shown that even a few minutes of these intervals can substantially improve health and cardiovascular fitness.
But high-intensity interval workouts have a drawback that is seldom acknowledged. Many people don’t like them and soon abandon the program.
Jens Bangsbo, a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and his team came up with a candidate routine and named it 10-20-30 training:
Run, ride or perhaps row on a rowing machine gently for 30 seconds, accelerate to a moderate pace for 20 seconds, then sprint as hard as you can for 10 seconds. (It should be called 30-20-10 training, obviously, but that is not as catchy.)
It worked:
After eight weeks, almost all of the runners in the 10-20-30 group were still following the program. And when they repeated their 5K runs, they had shaved an average of 38 seconds from their times. Most also had lower blood pressure and other markers of improved health.
There were no changes among the runners in the control group.
(Hat tip to Mangan.)