Many people complain that running and fitness training is boring, therefore the likelihood of continuing the training is very low. It’s important to mix things up, with both variety of exercises and also the intensity. A great way to do this is to include hill sprints, stair running and sand running in your workout. These three activities are great for your cardio as they increase the heart rate along with strengthening glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings.

You can either incorporate all these activities into one training session or concentrate on one per session. Obviously to be able to do sand running you need to head down to the beach, but there will generally be a set of stairs and some form of hills that you can use for these activities.

Individual session: Pick an activity to focus on. Find a destination that will take about 15 minutes to get to by running, so that you have included some cardio and are also warmed you when you get there (you then also have another 15 minutes to run back home, therefore breaking up the running component). Some options you could use:

HILLS

• 2 x hill sprints @ 50%
• 2 x hill sprints @ 60%
• 2 x hill sprints @ 70%
• 2 x hill sprints @ 80%
• 2 x hill sprints @ 100%

STAIRS

• 1 x stair run followed by 20 dips
• 2 x stair runs followed by 20 squats
• 3 x stair runs followed by 20 push ups
• 4 x stair runs followed by 20 lunges
• 5 x stair funs followed by 20 crunches

SAND

• Set up 4 cones along the sand about 20 metres apart, so you have set up a shuttle run. Sprint to the first cone and back, then to the second cone and back and so forth until you have run to all the cones and back.
• Follow the same procedure as above, but between each cone complete 30 squats/lunges/push-ups/crunches (whatever you like). REPEAT BOTH SETS.

To incorporate all three activities, pick and choose from any of the above. You could create a small circuit incorporating one hill run, one set of stairs and one sand shuttle run and keep alternating between all three.

Personal trainer, Tavia Ambler
(www.taviastraining.com.au)

When carrying out a fitness or running session, it is very easy to remain in your comfort zone, therefore not really pushing or enabling yourself to improve.

To reap fitness rewards, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Your heart rate (HR) can be used as the guide to help achieve this. Mix up your cardio workouts with longer, slower sessions that keep your HR at a steady state (50–75% of workout maximum HR, calculated as 220 minus your age), and then sprints or fartlek (speed play) training using a variety of intensities and terrains. By doing this you are also mixing up your cardio training, keeping yourself motivated and interested while also achieving great results.

To do this effectively you should purchase a heart rate monitor (available at Sportsmart) – this way you can easily see your HR level and therefore determine your workout intensity.

Some fun and interesting cardio workouts include:

• Endurance session. This is a longer session but completed with a lower HR (70-75% of maximum HR). Eg. 30 minutes+ run, cycle, swim.

• Fartlek (speed play) session. This involves mixing up the intensities and terrains. Work out a route that includes a variety of terrains, then mix up the intensity and monitor your HR. You may increase the workout rate when sprinting up a hill or doing stair runs. From there you might choose to go into a fast walk and let your HR come down slightly, before once again increasing the intensity and including some fast running. Just make sure that you always keep your HR slightly more elevated than your resting rate to enable greater improvements in your fitness. Depending on the intensity of the workout, HR will vary. High intensity workouts should be performed at 80–95% of maximum HR, while during slower workouts the heart rate should be around 70–75% of maximum HR.

• Exercise at home. An at-home routine can include step-ups, skipping, stair runs, squats and lunges, interspersed with sprints/runs around the block. HR will vary between these exercises depending of the intensity that they are performed at as well as the work-to-rest ratio. To keep your HR higher, limit rest times and increase intensity.

Personal trainer, Tavia Ambler
(www.taviastraining.com.au)

Many people find everyday fitness – in particular running – tedious and boring. The best way to make fitness enjoyable and rewarding is to do a variety of activities. For overall fitness, mix it up with swimming, cycling, walking and running, as well as group activities where you can involve friends and family – try tennis, soccer in the park, rollerblading or volleyball. Basically, anything that you’ll enjoy and will keep you motivated while also helping your overall fitness.

Many people find running a real chore and therefore might choose to avoid it. To combat this, it’s important to keep your running sessions exciting and interesting. Make sure you run in an area you like; for example, use the beach path and parks. Incorporate circuits (squats, lunges, dips, push-ups and step-ups) in between bouts of running, and use ramps, hills and stairs to vary it and get your heart rate up higher. Take a different route each session and mix it up as much as possible, and you will find it easier to achieve your fitness goals.

Personal trainer, Tavia Ambler 
(0433 826 944)