Changing your speed and pace are effective ways to maximise your workout. Here’s how to do it.

Hands up anyone who wants to get fitter and burn more fat without any extra trips to the gym. We thought that would get your attention.

The way to kick-start your metabolism and burn more calories is through interval training. This kind of workout consists of alternating short, high-intensity spurts of exercise with periods of recovery or lower intensity exercise. It has been a successful training trick of professional and amateur athletes for years and, no matter how fit you are, it’s a great way to improve cardiovascular fitness and lose body fat.

There are two levels of interval training: anaerobic and aerobic. Anaerobic interval training (which means without oxygen) is for people who are extremely fit. It involves working a muscle to complete failure or fatigue, as in sprinting or aggressive weight training. Aerobic interval training involves working the muscles but not to fatigue. For now, we’ll just concentrate on the aerobic type of training.

Who is it for?

Aerobic interval training is great for fitness beginners because it enables you to develop your fitness level steadily. More advanced exercisers can use it to step up their workouts.

How do I do it?

Beginners: Start with a five-minute warm-up and pre-stretch, then do two- or three-minute intervals on a stationary bike with enough resistance to make you work out at 50 to 60 per cent of your aerobic capacity. Follow this with two minutes of cycling at the same speed with no resistance. Repeat each interval four to ten times.Regular exercisers: Crank up the resistance for two minutes, then lower it slightly during the recovery periods. Aim to work out at between 60 to 75 per cent of your maximum heart rate.

How do I work out my heart rate?

Your aerobic capacity, more commonly known as your maximum heart rate, is 220 minus your age. Multiply this figure by 0.5 to find out your 50 per cent target, by 0.6 to get 60 per cent and so on. To find out your heart rate while you’re exercising, take your pulse over 15 seconds and multiply it by four.

All that counting sounds complicated. Is there another way?

Yes. An exercise system called Fartlek is similar to interval training, but this system doesn’t accurately measure work rate intervals. Instead of doing calculations, you gauge your own progress by your perceived exertion rate or how tired you feel, and push harder at intervals on instinct.

What’s so great about Fartlek and interval training?

Both help break up workout boredom and push cardiovascular conditioning. Combined with a healthy diet, all forms of interval training can help use up excess body fat. The other great thing about interval training and Fartlek is that you can incorporate them into whichever cardiovascular exercise you do. Try them when you’re walking, running, cycling, rowing, skipping, stepping and even swimming.

If you’re just beginning a fitness regime or are going back to exercise after a break, remember to build up slowly and, for example, walk for a few minutes before you run. If you take off sprinting when your muscles are cold, you could over train, making your muscles sore and leaving you susceptible to injury.

Always warm up and stretch your muscles before training, and cool down with a good stretch afterwards. As with all exercise, don’t repeat the same kind of workout for 48 hours, so you have time to recover adequately. Remember that fitness progression happens during recovery – not during training – because this is when the muscles repair themselves.

For the majority of us non-professional athletes, looking for healthy results from a fitness programme, the Fartlek method is probably the best way to go. Unless you’re training for a specific distance, like a half marathon, 30-minute interval sessions three times a week, working as hard as you can on alternate days, is all you need to maximise aerobic conditioning.

To really improve your overall fitness, you should compliment your cardiovascular workouts with strength training. So, combine 30-minute interval aerobic sessions with 40 to 45 minutes of whole body strength training workouts a maximum of five times a week. Soon you will see amazing results.