Last week we discussed some of the factors around incorporating anaerobic training in your conditioning routine. As promised, here are some real-life examples of anaerobic workouts: this week all the sample workouts have more recovery time than exertion time (don’t worry, you’ll need it). Finally I should mention that you want to be fully warmed up before you try any of these routines.

1 – Find a 400-meter track. Warm up. Now sprint once around it as fast as you can (100% effort). Rest for 4 minutes. Repeat the sprint-rest cycle a total of 4 times, remembering to go all-out each time. The whole workout should last about 20 to 22 minutes.

2 – Find a long set of stairs, warm up, then sprint up them as fast as you can. Use your hands on the rails if you want. Once you get to the top take a few seconds to catch your breath, walk down the stairs, wait until your heartbeat has dropped to 100 beats per minute, then go again. The number of repetitions depends on the length of the stairs. If it takes you 1 minute to run up the stairs then try going 6 to 8 repetitions. If it takes you 3 minutes then you might only want to go 3 times.

3 – go for a 20-minute run. Using lampposts as your guide, alternate between a fast sprint and a slow jog (i.e. run between the first two lampposts, then jog between the next two, then sprint again, etc.). If you like, use city blocks instead of lampposts.

I’ll give you some more examples of routines next week.