Getting Fit Fridays: Surge Baby, Surge!!

Do you know what a Fartlek is?  I will tell you one thing, it has nothing to do with the beans you ate last night.  Fartlek is Swedish for "speed play." 

For a runner, all it means is to surge for a short period of time.  It is as simple as choosing an object ahead on your run and speeding up until you reach it(a tree, parked car, etc).  You will then take a moment to recover by slowing back down to your comfortable pace.  Pick another landmark and surge again.  See...it's fun...playing the Fartlek game.

By adding this little activity into your workouts (you don't have to run people...you can surge with any cardio workout you choose), not only will you increase your speed and burn more calories, you will have fun doing it.  It really can break up a boring ol' run.

You can do this workout once a week by simply warming up for 10 minutes.  After your body is ready to roll, start picking your "spots."  If you want, you can even do specific amounts of time...plan on "surging" for 20 seconds, then 25, then 30, back to 25 and finish at 20.  Between each surge, remember to recover.  At the end of your session, do a 10 minute cool down to complete your workout.

Try it, I think you will like it!