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Interval training: 30-20-10 for speed and endurance!
SPB looks at a short-interval protocol known as 30-20-10 intervals, and highlights new research showing how it can be adapted for recreational endurance athletes
As we’ve explained in previous articles, grinding out steady-state, one-pace workouts can only take endurance performance so far. Once the performance plateau that one-paced training inevitably brings has been reached, a more effective method of endurance training is needed. The most widely used method of providing this stimulus in athletic training is via the use of interval training workouts.
There are now dozens and dozens of high-quality studies showing that a wide variety of interval training protocols using varying interval durations and intensities are effective for enhancing the efficiency of both the aerobic and anaerobic energy producing systems in the muscles(1). It’s also a topic we have written about extensively in these articles. In particular, the inclusion of high-intensity intervals in a training program has been unequivocally found to produce greater fitness gains than just adding in extra steady-state aerobic training(2). In short, interval training is popular because it works!
Can shorter intervals give big gains?
Compared to longer, more traditional intervals lasting four minutes or more per interval, high-intensity intervals are relatively short, typically lasting a minute or even less (necessarily so because of the high intensity!). These high-intensity type intervals were originally pioneered by a Japanese researcher called Izumi Tabata. Tabata discovered that just 8 x intervals of 20 seconds of work interspersed with 10 seconds of rest produced excellent gains in fitness(3). In particular, he demonstrated that his high-intensity protocol:
· Achieved very substantial gains in aerobic capacity (cardiovascular fitness).
· Produced anaerobic (speed/power) benefits for athletes that could not be achieved with steady state aerobic exercise alone.
· Required less time to produce the equivalent gains observed in other types of interval training.
The rest, as they say, is history and ever since then, the use of high-intensity intervals to enhance endurance performance has grown hugely in popularity. In particular, high-intensity intervals have become popular for those who wish to develop speed-endurance – in other words to sustain a faster pace over short to medium distances. Numerous studies show that repeated bouts of 5 to 40 seconds at near to maximal-intensity exercise with rest periods greater than five times the exercise bouts, has been found to improve performance of 10–50 min events in both untrained and trained subjects(4-6).
Mixed intensity intervals
When performing high-intensity intervals, sessions can be adapted by altering the duration of the intervals, the rest periods in between and the number of intervals per sessions. The intensity of the intervals themselves are rarely altered within a session, However, in recent years, the effect of intervals where there is switching between low-, moderate-, and high-intensity has been studied, and found to give good results(7,8). Indeed, new research on the use of variable-intensity intervals to improve training outcomes was highlighted in an SPB article by Andrew Sheaff, published only a year ago. Basically, this research found that either increasing or decreasing interval intensity resulted in a better aerobic training stimulus than using constant-intensity intervals(9).
One method of varying intensity within an interval session is with the use of ‘30-20-10’ sessions. In 30-20-10 interval training, intervals consist of consecutive 1-minute intervals, each of which contain 30 seconds of low intensity, 20 seconds of moderate and 10 seconds of high-intensity exercise effort. Although a less well known approach to varying intensity in a high-intensity session, 30-20-10 training has been shown to improve performance of both untrained and trained subjects. Specifically, 30-20-10 training in recreational runners has been demonstrated to improve 5km performance by 4%(8) and intermittent endurance exercise performance of elite soccer players by 18%(10). This mode of intense intervals is thought to be particularly effective because heart rates typically reach around 90%–95% of maximum (a level that maximally stimulates aerobic adaptation), and because it enhances maximal oxygen uptake in both trained and untrained subjects, despite a reduced training volume(11,12).
Improving 30-20-10 intervals
There’s no doubt that 30-20-10 intervals are effective. However, the drawback for recreational endurance athletes is that they are quite intense and tiring to perform. Athletes without a grounding in high-intensity training or novice athletes may therefore find them difficult to perform regularly. It’s a fact of life that recreational athletes are unlikely to have their own coach so may lack the motivation to perform these very high-intensity sessions. A question therefore is can 30-20-10s be made a little easier to perform while retaining most of their benefits?
A new study by a team of Danish scientists has tried to answer this question(13). Nineteen recreational runners were recruited for the study, all of whom were running at moderate speed two to three times a week for 20–40 minutes per session. Following some familiarization trials and measures of aerobic fitness and 5km performances, the runners were randomly divided into two groups – a maximal and submaximal. Both groups performed 30-20-10 sessions three times per week for six weeks on an outdoor 400m track (ie 18 sessions in total). However, the exact nature of the 30-20-10 sessions was slightly different between the groups:
· In the maximal group the runners performed five consecutive 1-minute intervals of 30 seconds at low-speed (30% of maximum speed), followed by 20 seconds at moderate-speed (40%–50% of maximum speed – ie regular continuous running pace) and lastly 10 seconds of maximal high-speed running (74%–84% of maximum speed).
· In the submaximal group the runners performed six consecutive 1-minute intervals of 30 seconds at low-speed (30% of maximum speed), followed by 20 seconds at moderate-speed (40%–50% of maximum speed – ie regular continuous running pace) and lastly 10 seconds of submaximal high-speed running (ie limiting the speed to around 75% of maximum and no higher).
These 1-minute 30-20-10 intervals were each interspersed with 2-3 minutes of rest. Note, that to ensure the total work volume was equal in both groups, the maximal group (who covered more ground per interval) performed five intervals per session, while the submaximal group performed six intervals per session. Once the six week training period was completed, the 5km run test and measures of aerobic capacity were repeated and the results compared.
What they found
There were two key findings from this study.
· Firstly, both groups improved their 5km times significantly compared to before the intervention period; the submaximal group knocked 3% off their times, while the maximal group knock 2.3% off (see figure 1). Further analysis showed that the slightly greater improvement in the submaximal group was not significant (ie could have happened by chance), which essentially means that both groups experienced the same degree of improvement.
· The second finding was that blood analysis showed the maximal group experienced changes (improvements) in the ability of the muscle fibers to process and use oxygen whereas this was not seen in the submaximal group. However, as we mentioned above, this did not affect 5km times!
Figure 1: 5km times before and after 30-20-10 interval sessions
Practical implications for athletes
These results - that 30-20-10 intervals can be performed with a non-maximal effort during the 10-second high-speed running segment yet still be efficient – are good news for recreational runners and other endurance athletes seeking to elevate fitness and performance levels. These submaximal intervals are easier to perform than standard 30-20-10s, yet they still appear to produce good results. They are also still very time efficient, which is a further bonus as ‘lack of time’ is often cited as a barrier for recreational athletes wanting to go that bit further(8).
If you are new to interval training or simply out of the habit of performing regular interval sessions, the submaximal 30-20-10 protocol outlined above is a great place to start. Simply replace one steady-state endurance session with six sets of 30-20-10s, with 2-3 minutes of rest in between. After a while, you can add a second session of these intervals per week. With each session lasting no more than 18 minutes (plus warm up and warm down), these interval sessions are quick and manageable. As a result, you’ll be much more likely to get them done on a regular basis!
A word of caution however; if you are training for any event lasting half an hour or more, you still need to retain endurance sessions that take you near to or beyond that distance. Remember too that the subjects in this study were recreational runners who were not performing any high-intensity work; more experienced and highly trained endurance athletes are unlikely to obtain the same benefits. Instead, more conventional and longer intervals (eg 4 x 4 minutes) are recommended (see this article)(14).
References
1. Sports Med. 2001;31(1):13-31
2. Sport Med. 2015;45:1469–1481
3. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996; 28 (10), p. 1327-1330
4. J Appl Physiol. 2009; 107(6): 1771-1780
5. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2010; 20(Suppl. 2): 11-23
6. Physiol Rep. 2018; 6(3): 1-12. doi:10.14814/phy2.13601
7. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2018; 118(6): 1221-1230
8. J Appl Physiol. 2012; 113(1): 16-24
9. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2021 Nov 22;1-7
10. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2019; 29(5): 669-677
11. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2010; 20 Suppl 2: 1–106
12. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2015; 25(5): e479-e489
13. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2023;00:1–9
14. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2022 Oct 31. doi: 10.1111/sms.14251. Online ahead of print
Andrew Hamilton
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