Here’s the thing about toning up: we all have muscles, it’s the layer of fat that covers them that’s the problem for most of us.

Strength training is important.  The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn while resting and working out.  But, strength training alone does not make those rock hard abs.  If you’re going to see real results, you need cardio and the type of cardio most effective for fat busting… is interval training.

I’m a huge fan of just setting my treadmill to one speed and running happily along on my imaginary course and watching The Real Housewives of NYC, but at least once a week it’s important to shake things up in your cardio routine.  Interval training, which means varying speed and resistance, is not only an awesome heart exercise, but the effects of interval workouts can help increase your metabolic rate for hours after your workout.

The good news about intervals is that you can do them in almost any cardio routine, so if the elliptical is your happy place there’s no need for you to leave that comfort zone.  You can easily create your own interval training, but a good place to start is 30 second intervals:

Start with a five-minute warm up

After your warm up, increase your resistance to high and/or speed to a sprint for 30 seconds, then recover for 30 seconds. Next, increase your intervals by 30 seconds, 60 seconds sprint or high resistance, then recover for 60 seconds. Again, increase your intervals by 30 seconds, 90 second sprint or high resistance, then recover for 90 seconds. One last time, increase another 30 seconds so you’re sprinting or at a high resistance for two-minutes, then recover for two minutes.

You’re not done yet, but it gets easier, now it’s time to pyramid down…

90 seconds on, 90 seconds recover
60 seconds on, 60 seconds recover
30 seconds on, 30 seconds recover

End it all with a 5-minute cool down.

This is a short interval routine, only 26-minutes and and ten of those are warming up and cooling down, so if you’re new to exercise but want to jump start your metabolism this is a good routine to start with.