By Phillip Tomlinson
Personal Trainer & Martial Arts Instructor

Was like clockwork.

Whenever I was there, she was too. Or so it seemed.

Slow and steady. An Eveready bunny on a treadmill. In search of that thinner waistline. Just going and going and…

Well, you get the idea.

But if more could turn out to be less, this was it. And the proof was right there in the pudding.

But this is not about her; it’s about you.

And if you’re among the legions who’ve committed to getting in better shape this year, your head is definitely in the right place. But…

NEWSFLASH:

If the Eveready bunny treadmill thing is part of that New Year’s resolution, you could be making a big mistake.

That’s because treading rubber like this for long periods could do more harm than good.

Yeah, I know, distance runners do this all the time, and just look at how much asphalt they eat up.

Two cheers for endurance!

Now that’s out of the way, let’s defer to science to highlight the problem:

This kind of training is a sure-fire way to wipe out your heart and lung reserve capacity.

And if this sounds bad, it is.

Here’s the skinny: When you hop on the treadmill or elliptical trainer consistently for long periods, you’ll eventually cause your heart and lungs to shrink.

And, yes — you know where I’m going — this could leave you susceptible to a heart attack.

Why?

Because reserve capacity is what allows your heart and lungs to deal with sudden stress like when you dart for the train before it leaves the station.

Simply put, the fast lane of interval training is where you need to be. In other words, only short bursts of intense activity will improve your reserve capacity thereby priming your heart and expanding your lungs and, in the process, turn you into a fat-burning, high-performance machine.

You’ll be doing yourself a few other big favors too — like saving a ton of time, adding years to your life, reducing your risk of joint problems, escaping the ravages of the army of free radicals generated by conventional cardio, strengthening your immune system and, of course, doing better than you ever imagined with that New Year’s resolution.

So go on: Run or walk up a staircase as fast as you can, then descend slowly back down, doing these back-and-forth intervals for, say, about 10 minutes and you would have done more for yourself than if you did a steady endurance run for 40 minutes.

Chances are you’ll agree that the proof is in the pudding.