Any of you lot out there done any fitness/gym type stuff? Then you may have heard of interval training. The more modern of you will recognise it as a button on your cross-trainer. Those of you who, like me, prefer to breath fresh air rather than sweat and exercise outdoors will recognise it as a very quick way to make you lungs bleed.
Interval training is where you exercise at different levels of intensity for short periods of time. For example, a ten minutes session may have you jog for one minute, then sprint for one minute, then jog for one minute, then sprint for another – repeating this until either ten minutes have elapsed, or you have been sick on your shoes.
From Wikipedia:
Distance runners often practice interval training on tracks, running hard at a certain pace for a specified distance (or, less often, time) and jogging, walking, or resting for a set distance or time before the next speed burst. Distances can also vary; one example would be a “ladder” workout consisting of a 1600-meter, two 1200-meter, three 800-meter, and four 400-meter repetitions, each at an appropriate speed and with an appropriate amount of recovery.
Why would anyone care about interval training? Well, it is an effective way to get an activity done. And guess what? Yup – it works great when you want to get other things done too.
You see, that rapid switch between panic and relaxation is an ideal way to keep you interest through a sustained period, and to prevent the inevitable tail off we usually see in our concentration.
Let me give you an example from this afternoon. I managed to touch down in the office for a brief hour between meetings – a load to do including two lengthy responses to e-mails and catch-up on a couple of projects with colleagues. There are two ways this could have gone:
- I catch-up with my first colleague and we go through the project and then the usual water cooler niceties – ends up taking about 25 minutes. I then get on with one of the e-mail responses – drafting bits, flicking between stuff, re-drafting other bits. Before I know it the hour is gone and I have to leave. One out of two meetings done, and three-quarters of one of the two e-mails I had to write. Utter pants; or
- I actually decide to split the hour into ten minute slots. I’ll do ten minutes first on the e-mails. I’ll then catch-up with the first colleague, but tell them I only have ten minutes now, but may be able to cover anything we miss later – we get through 90% of what we need to. I spend 10 more minutes on the first e-mail and get it finished, and get the beginning of the second up and running. I do the ten minute trick with my second colleague and actually get through all we needed. Back for another ten minutes on the e-mail, which I finish off. I now have twenty minutes left to tie up loose ends with my first colleague, which I do and even have time to bitch about my boss.
By mixing what I do into short chunks I am able to keep my focus, and retain my intensity. You would not be able to sustain this for a whole day I think – you’d start to implode – but for medium-length cameo blasts this is absolutely ideal. Just throw in a scrabble timer and you have the keys to the world.
