Originally Posted by lil brown bat

I've got quite a bit, thanks.

Okay, I'm sensing there was a perceived slight. None was intended. But if you are going to throw out a statement like "intervals are dangerous" then you need to qualify or otherwise show where such information was obtained. In the best interests of the readers of this thread, providing a source of information for them to chew on and make a decision about will be the best way to help them.



The source of these articles is "Testosterone Nation", a bodybuilding website. I didn't mention this, but in recent years bodybuilders have swallowed the interval training kool-ade, for reasons that make a certain kind of sense...for a bodybuilder. Put simply, bodybuilders have a different goal from people who are simply trying to lose weight and get in shape -- and they have a very different diet. They need to ingest a lot of calories to get the protein they need...so they also need to burn a lot of calories. Because lifting is an inefficient way to burn calories (in terms of calories burned per hour), and because they're already spending a lot of time in the gym, bodybuilders aren't interested in aerobic methods of burning calories. Sooo...they've turned to interval training as a way of burning more calories in a shorter period of time. It "works" for them (when it does) because they've already got a good general level of fitness.

Actually, I am eating more calories now than I did as a bodybuilder, and I am still losing weight while maintaining muscle. And I do so through a varied version of interval training. I suppose you could say that cyclists (as a general population interested in endurance and stamina) have also swallowed the "base mileage, long slow cardio" kool-aid. While it has its place, it is not the only or the best method for weight loss.



Ah, but what "results" are you looking for? What "results" am I looking for? What "results" is OP looking for? Not everybody is trying to solve the same problem, and a given tool doesn't solve every problem -- certainly not interval training, which is on the more specialized end of the spectrum.

We can't know until the OP tells us, of course, but I think many people are looking for the same basic results - better body composition. And as I said before, intervals are just one tool to do that - kind of like cycling is just one tool to get healthier.

That's true, but not really relevant here. If your goal is not to improve your peak effort, then don't use a tool whose purpose is to do so.