Running a Ladder Workout

Hi Everyone,

I will be posting a new workout today, but I also wanted to share my workout from yesterday with you. I did a Ladder Workout. The breakdown of my workout will be posted in a chart below.

A Ladder Workout is an interval workout that varies running at a hard pace, and an easy pace. There are many physical and psychological benefits to this type of workout. Your body learns how to maintain a hard pace for extended periods of time. This workout will also help increase your speed and agility. Plus, you are burn more fat in interval workouts. If you race, you want to do the hard sections of the workout at race pace. 

I did my ladder workout outside. I like the additional challenge of going up and down hills, and not having to worry about changing paces on the treadmill. However, you can easily do this on a treadmill as well. You will need a watch to keep track of the intervals. If you have a running watch that can record splits now is the time to use it. 

There are two ways to do this type of workout. You can perform timed intervals (this is what I did), or distance intervals. 

The basic idea is to work your way up the ladder, and then go back down. So if you are going to time you would start with 1 minute working hard, followed by 1 minute at an easy pace. Then you build up the ladder to 2 minutes hard, followed by 2 minutes easy. You rest is always equal to your work. 

The same concept applies if you are going for distance. You can go hard for 100 meters, followed by 100 meters easy. Increase to 200 meters hard, followed by 200 meters easy. 

You start by going up the ladder, but don't forget to come back down! Half way through the workout you should start decreasing the length of each interval, until you are back to where you started. If you're not sure what I mean check out the chart below. 

Ladder Workout. You can Click on it to make it larger. 

Remember, you should build up to this type of workout. Your body should be used to running, and you should have a good cardiovascular base before trying this workout. To build up to it, you should do easy runs to increase your endurance, and blood volume. You can also adjust the length and time of the workout to suit your own level of fitness. My workout took 50 minutes total. 

Switching your workouts often is one of the most effective ways to keep getting results. Good luck!
Melissa

PS I am in Fitness Magazine's "Face of Fitness" contest. I'm currently in 2nd place! If you haven't voted for me yet, please take a minute to vote! Vote Here Thank you! Being in Fitness Magazine would be a dream come true. :)