CUT WORKOUT TIME BY AT LEAST 30 PERCENT

I have heard this now from many people (including Dr. Frank Wyatt): the o2trainer cuts your workout time by at least 30 percent. When I run on the treadmill, with or without an o2trainer, the difference is huge. WITH the o2trainer, I sweat like a mad man; without one, it’s way less. I do hill sprints (incline) on the treadmill because it’s the only thing I can do with my knees. I realized that when I went hiking, I had no pain in my knees going up but going down was a different story.

So I thought, “Wait a minute, I can do my favorite incline hill sprints on the treadmill again!” I say “favorite” but it’s not really my favorite thing. I’m not even three sprints in but I love it before I start. And I love it when I am done. After three or four sprints, I start disliking it very much, but there is another side of me that really likes that feeling. This is what I do: I put the incline all the way up and start a steady walk at 4 mph, 2 minutes on, 45 seconds stretching, some more minutes on, and stretching again, especially my hamstrings. Then I go to 7.9 miles per hour. I know it’s a weird number, but I started at 7.5, and every week I add 0.1. Now the incline is all the way up (in the beginning 10 percent, then 11, then 12, now 15 percent). I let the treadmill run in between my legs; I jump on for 30 seconds and off for 30 seconds. The first three rounds you will laugh, “Ha ha, Bas is a sissy; this is easy!” but then slowly but surely they become harder and harder. I do 15 of those, and then I go to (still) “full incline” but 4 mph for 5 more minutes, 1 minute 30 seconds before the end I jump off, I rest for 30 seconds and then do a minute on 6 mph (full incline.) Please notice this is WITH the o2trainer, not all the rounds though, but I am getting there. I don’t even go higher then cap “number 3”. This makes the workout right away a real WORKOUT.

When I was competing, I was running 10 minutes on 11 mph as warm up, some stretching, then incline all the way up, 9 mph, 45 seconds on, 30 seconds off, 10rounds. Sometimes I couldn’t do the last 2 rounds (this is insane, trust me) but sometimes I could. When I couldn’t, I would flip the last two rounds around, 30 seconds on, 45 seconds off. Make sure that when you do this you are away from the “general population” since they will think you are crazy! You will have moments you scream from agony because it’s really gnarly. You will get mentally strong from this since the treadmill will keep going at 9 mph, so there is no way you can cheat like when you would run a hill.

Bas