Whether you are an athlete or a fitness enthusiast, endurance training is an integral part of most fitness programs. Endurance training develops strength of connective tissue, enhances the body’s ability to transport oxygen efficiently, and reduces the chances of injury. It also promotes lean muscle mass growth. That’s a solid perk I guess! I want to discuss a method here that I encourage everyone to incorporate into their training programs that will challenge you while also making your cardio sessions more interesting! Its a training method with a funny name… “Fartlek”.

Fartlek is actually a Swedish word meaning “speed play”. The father and founder of this style of training was Gosta Holmer. He trained Olympic athletes using this method year round to keep them in peak shape by training the body to adjust to gear-changing work loads during aerobic exercising. Basically, during periods of time of long distance running, athletes are trained to bump up the intensity for a set period of time, and then return to the steady pace set originally. Lets go into detail on how you can incorporate this.

Fartlek training is different than your average interval training because there is no true rest periods other than a slowing of pace. I personally like to use this on all cardio exercises such as biking, running, or rowing. There are a few methods to starting this training, but it is best to start in the “Base-Phase” to build up endurance before moving to the more challenging work loads the method calls for in weeks to come. You can easily DOUBLE your endurance in the first 6 weeks!

Base-Phase Fartlek

If you are new to this training method or long distance endurance training, this is the best place to start. These base-phase workouts can be as easy as a small gear change during the course of your 1 to 3 sessions per week as you build your volume. When I say “gear” changes, I mean you are speeding up. Just want to make sure that was clear. Here is a great Base-Phase workout.

• During your longest run of the week, run a 45 second to 1 minute gear up surge every 6 minutes. Be sure not to kill yourself with the surge, just speed it up a little!

• After the time is up, go back to your steady pace for another 6 minutes. If you are gassed after the surge pace, you are going too fast!

After 4-6 weeks of training like this, you can bump up the intensity!

Transition to Higher Intensity

There are many different workouts you can chose once you get to this point. I do not want to over complicate things so here is one of my most favorite workouts that you can try out!

“Downcycle Fartlek”

Progressive pieces where your intensity gets higher during the surge period. here is how it works.

• AFTER WARMING UP, Run a 2:30 surge. You will be splitting this 2:30 up in 30 second chunks. First 30 seconds the pace should only be about 10 seconds fast than your normal running speed. Then every 30 second chunk, you bump the intensity up slightly. By the final 30 second chunk, you should be running faster than your fastest distance pace!

• You will follow this 2:30 second period with a 90 second period of easy jogging

• Follow the recovery with another 2:30 second surge

You can do this as long as you would like. I recommend 3 sets which will take 24 minutes including the recovery. (each time through is 1 set)

I highly recommend adding in this style training method into your cardio workouts for optimal endurance. You can take the same method for running and apply it to your cardio sessions on the bike, stairs, rowing, or other steady aerobic exercises! There are numerous workouts you can try once you get acclimated to the style. If you have any questions, comment or shoot me a message on social media! Get out there and kill it! Remember… BE THE BETTER YOU!