THE BENEFITS OF INCORPORATING INTERVAL TRAINING INTO P.E. CURRICULUM

written by Barbara Lockhart, Brigham Young University (homepage)

Have you discovered the tremendous benefits of interval training for your own wellness and the wellness of your students? Consider the advantages, and also how easy it is to incorporate into your existing curriculum. Any activity that elevates the pulse rate can be used for this interval approach to cardiovascular fitness. So you are not necessarily adding a new activity but a new way of doing your physical activity.

Training for the Olympics in speed skating I did the all out interval training for superior athletic performance. After those intense training years, I modified the interval training so it can be done for better health and wellness by adding a rest interval in which you bring your pulse as low as you can. The whole program is described in my recently published book which is designed to be used as an inexpensive text for activity classes or for your own reference (Lockhart, 2011). I have taught this at the university level with great success for the past 25 years.

If you are using heart monitors in your classes, you will find that interval training is a natural, giving students an uncanny awareness of their own physiology by way of the biofeedback. This is a fantastic way to help each student feel the connectedness of his or her mind and body. You can help students vastly improve their attitudes toward their bodies and see that their value as a human being comes from within rather than depending on the opinions of others.

This mind/body wellness can readily be taking place while students are enhancing their cardiovascular and muscular fitness. Multiple benefits come because interval activity is both aerobic and anaerobic in nature. A heart monitor is not required, but the interval work is done based on individual pulse rates. You could establish the pattern of exercising and relaxing with the younger children and then when able, teach individuals to take their pulse rate manually.

Line up your class for relays. Have them start out fairly easily doing a short burst of activity that lasts no more than 15 seconds. Then have them stop the activity, take very deep breaths and do what they can to bring their pulse rate as low as possible. Some may want to sit down or even lie down to bring their pulse rate low, all the while taking deep breaths and clearing their minds of any concerns. Then repeat the exercise interval adding a bit more intensity.

After each exercise interval, be sure to do the rest interval. As you add more intensity, have the students walk to bring their pulse rates around 100 before sitting or lying down. I advocate doing two or three warm-up intervals and two or three warm-down intervals each session. Be sure to do a rest interval following each exercise interval, as this is where major benefits come. Even though you are taking time for the students to rest, research shows that the cardiovascular benefits are comparable to doing steady state for the same total time.

While doing the deep breathing and bringing the pulse rate down, you are engaging the parasympathetic nervous system. Motor skills are being developed during the rest interval that enable students to reduce anxiety, physically experience calmness, and lessen the negative effects of stress. This also helps to strengthen the immune system and establish a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The interval activity also utilizes all 3 muscle fibers and energy systems of the body.

Once you have experienced how easily you can do the modified interval training and how much your students enjoy doing the wave-like pattern of exercising and relaxing, together you will discover many ways to incorporate this pattern into many of your activities. Classroom teachers can incorporate these same principles in their teaching methods and witness increased learning, better behavior, and more positive attitudes on the part of their students.

Every student is able to succeed doing the interval training, as everyone is able to bring the pulse rate up and then bring the pulse rate down. It is inspiring for students who are not as capable physically to experience immediate success. Rather than compare themselves to what others are doing, they can be intrigued by their own pulse rate and how it goes up and down. They realize that they are the ones bringing about their success and are doing very well at this activity. You can help them feel confidence in their bodies and see and feel the oneness or wholeness of their minds and bodies.

Some students will be able to discover a mature awareness that healthy living depends on their own choices and is in their hands. An even more mature awareness will be that their own personal value does not come from their competence or appearance or other people, but is an inherent aspect of each human being. I have seen young adults make major behavior changes such as quitting smoking, getting more sleep, and stop drinking caffeine because they put greater value on a healthy pulse rate than doing these other behaviors.

Attached is a worksheet I use for my students in the first week or so of doing the interval training. It helps you to see if they are doing the interval pattern correctly, and helps them see their starting data and then the great improvements they can make after only a few weeks. I have had students that were even in good shape when they started the intervals lower their pulse rates 10 or 15 beats in 7 weeks of doing the intervals 3 times a week. This is also an excellent method of weight loss so some will be interested in measuring inches to be able to see positive changes in that regard.

The worksheet calls for you to take your beginning sitting resting pulse rate. On average that is around 70 beats a minute. Then establish the recovery range by adding 20 beats to that beginning value so the range will be 70 – 90 or 85 – 105 depending on their sitting pulse rate. The recovery range is used to determine how hard to work during the exercise intervals. If you work too hard, your pulse rate will not come down within this range during the rest interval. If you don't work very hard, your resting pulse will consistently be at the lower end of the range indicating you can add more intensity to your exercise interval.

Paying attention to the recovery range will keep you from overdoing your cardiovascular activity. This is pertinent to health and also to performers who want to avoid experiencing burnout. You know when your pulse rate is at its low point when using a monitor; the pulse rate will plateau or go to a low point and then bounce back up. Taking the pulse manually, try to find when the pulse plateaus. After doing a few intervals, you will get a feel for how low you can take your pulse, and it won't take long to discern that low point.

The left-hand column is the place to put the workout you have planned for that day. It may look something like this: 110, 115, 120 (warm-ups) 130, 140, 150, 150, 140, 130 and then 3 warm-downs in reverse of the warm-ups, 120, 115, 110. This would be twelve exercise intervals and twelve rest intervals. Use the 220 minus your age to determine the maximum exercise pulse rate.

These are easy warm-ups and warm-downs but pretty intense activity for the additional 6 intervals. A person may not feel very tired after doing this, but it is enough activity that it may be difficult to do every day. The rest of the worksheet allows you to record the actual pulse rate you achieve for each exercise interval, each rest interval, and the time that it took you each interval. I use 15-second estimates rather than actual clock time, as this is enough to manage the intervals well.

So your exercise interval could be 15, 30, 45 seconds or more and the rest interval 15, 30, 45 seconds or more. You should never need more than 3 minutes for the rest interval. If you do, you have worked too hard and your pulse rate is not going to come down.

There are so many wonderful advantages to doing the modified interval training that my hope is that each student will be given the opportunity to experience the wave-like pattern of exercise and relaxation. Some will take to it right away and decide this is how they are going to exercise on a regular basis. Others may not like the rest interval, and others may just want to do the steady state continuous exercise because that is what they are used to doing and don’t want to change. Whatever the response, you are the one giving the students the opportunities to choose wellness of mind and body. Hopefully this will be enjoyable for you and your students!

Lockhart, Barbara Day (2011). CardioWaves: Interval Training for MindBody Wellness. New York: Digital Legend Press.

DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET

BIO:
Born and raised in Chicago. Olympian: competed for the United States in long track speed-skating in two Winter Olympic Games, Squaw Valley, CA., 1960 and Innsbruk, Austria, 1964. Education: B.S., M.S. Michigan State University; Ed.D. Brigham Young University. Work Experience: taught high school physical education; professor at Temple University, University of Iowa, Brigham Young University. Research and writing: (link). Wellness: philosophy and physiology. Professional Service: member President's Council on Physical Fitness; President, National Association for Physical Education and Sport (NASPE); President, American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD); chair, ethics committee, Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOC). Author of numerous articles and books.

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