When I was doing this, it was running (not sprinting) for 2-3 minutes (the length a sparring round would last) and then slow jogging for 2-3 minutes to keep your heart rate going. You did a few reps of this every day. I did however many reps I could fit in 2 miles. If I was slow it meant I had to do more reps but you can do your reps however you need them. The reason for that in addition to working your cardio was you also learned what your speed was and how to pace yourself so you would not run out of steam towards the end of a sparring round and lose the fight. If anything you crank it up a bit towards the end of a fight when your opponent is tired.
As Liondancer indicates, they do tend to come up with the latest and greatest which also tends to be the "same old same old"
I was doing interval training back in the early 60s. We called it "wind sprints".... it was pretty basic but accomplished the same thing.
But lets get a little more specific. We have actually learned a few things over the last 50 years....
First of all, in order to do any sort of interval training, you should be monitoring your heart rate.
This is all tied to heart rate level.
Look at this chart:
http://www.topendsports.com/fitness/hear...
Most standard "exercise" work is done in the "aerobic training" range. 65-75% of your max. Not very hard work... You can usually maintain a conversation at that level.
High-intensity intervals are normally done at the 90% level. That's hard.... You can't talk, or you can only spit out a word or two between gasps....
Normal intervals are between 25-60 seconds.
"Tabata" intervals are much more intense and were, according to the Wiki, intended for Olympic-grade athletes in training:
Wiki:
"A version of HIIT was based on a 1996 study[7][8] by Professor Izumi Tabata (田畑 泉) et al. initially involving Olympic speedskaters,[9] uses 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles). The exercise was performed on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. Tabata called this the IE1 protocol.[10] In the original study, athletes using this method trained 4 times per week, plus another day of steady-state training, and obtained gains similar to a group of athletes who did steady state training (70% VO2max) 5 times per week. The steady state group had a higher VO2max at the end (from 52 to 57 mL/(kg?min), but the Tabata group had started lower and gained more overall (from 48 to 55 mL/(kg?min). Also, only the Tabata group had gained anaerobic capacity benefits."
It's very unlikely that a typical fitness training person would want to do this...
Thats for drenching its not like the Lactic Acid workout.
I'm currently doing Tabata interval training to increase my stamina for sparring.
I do: 10secs of jogging and 20secs of running at full capacity (4 reps. Aiming for 8 eventually).
But I heard you should rest for the 10secs. But I'm practising for sparring, so wouldn't the 'rest' period be when you're bouncing on your feet during a comp? So wouldn't it be better to jog instead of rest during training?
Or is it different when doing Tabata? Would my stamina increase for sparring even if I rested instead of jogged? Or should I stick to what I'm doing?
