Women's Health & Fitness

Running stripped bare

Beat your own time with the our training programme

It's free, it's fat-burning and is easy on the purse strings. We take an up-close look at the most practical form of exercise, and show you how a daily run can give you the results you want

	Monday	Wednesday	Thursday	Saturday
Week 1 This week you will jumpstart your training by applying the two different types of running pace. Alternating a hard workout with an easy one stimulates your body enough to progress; allowing recovery time as well.	Walk (10 min) Run (15 min) Walk (5 min) Too easy? Repeat	Walk (5 min) Run (20 min) Walk (5 min) Too easy? Repeat	Walk (10 min) Run (20 min) Walk (5 min) Too easy? Repeat	Walk (3 min) Run (25 min) Walk (5 min) Too easy? Repeat
Week 2 During the second week you will start doing interval runs consisting of short, fast bursts interchanged with jogging at your own comfortable pace. These will last from one to three minutes for fast runs and twice the time for the recovery moderate runs.	Walk or Jog (5 min) Run fast (1-3 min) Jog (2-5 min) Repeat up to 10 times Walk (5 min)	Walk or Jog (5 min) Run fast (1-3 min) Jog (2-5 min) Repeat up to 10 times Walk (5 min)	Walk (10 min) Jog (10 min) Skipping rope (5 min) Kneeling push-ups (1 min) Squats (1 min) Overhead pressses w/band (1 min) Bend-over arm side raises (1 min) Walk (5 min)	Walk or Jog (5 min) Run fast (1-3 min) Jog (2-5 min) Repeat up to 10 times Walk (5 min)
Week 3 This week you will build endurance, strength and stamina with threshold runs. Your goal is to run the very fastest you can. To balance out your heart-rate, you will have short breaks of endurance runs, but these are meant to let you catch your breath if you need to.	Jog (5 min) Run at 100% (10 min) Jog (5 min) Repeat circuit up to 3 times Walk (5 min)	Skipping rope (5 min) Run at 100% (12 min) Jog (5 min) Repeat up to 3 times Walk (5 min)	Walk (5 min) Plyometric squat jumps (1 min) Repeat circuit up to 3 times Knee-up run in place (3 min) Overhead tricep extension w/band (1 min) Lunges (3 min) Ab sit-ups (1 min) Jog (10 min) Walk (5 min)	Jog (5 min) Run at 100% (10 min) Jog (5min) Repeat circuit up to 3 times Walk (5 min)
Week 4 Pat yourself on the back for getting this far! Now is the time to test your improvement. To make it most visible, you will attempt to take on week 1's program twice!	Walk (10 min) Run (20 min) Repeat Walk (5 min)	Walk (5 min) Run (20 min) Repeat Walk (5 min)	Walk (10 min) Run (20 min) Repeat Walk (5 min)	Walk (5 min) Run (30 min) Repeat Walk (5 min)