6 Benefits of Interval Training for Your Business

Most of us have heard of Interval Training as a way to help people reach their fitness goals faster. In a nut shell, Interval Training is any workout that alternates between brief periods of intense activity and periods of moderate activity or even rest.

Have you ever considered using Interval Training for your home-based business? Turns out the business benefits can be just as powerful as the fitness benefits.

6 Benefits of Interval Training for Your Business

1. Efficient Use of Time. Interval Training for fitness helps people get the most out of a shorter workout. Would you like to get more out of shorter spans of work time? To introduce intervals of high level activity into your business day, we recommend using 15 minute blocks of intense activity to get more done in less time.  You will be amazed what you can accomplish when you start inserting a 15 minute burst of  high intensity business activity into your day.

How many appointments can you book in 15 minutes? How many follow-up calls can you make? How many customers can you thank? How many people can you personally message about this month's specials?  This is about an all out sprint of business building activity for 15 minutes, and then returning to your usual work pace or other regularly scheduled activities.

Start this week by incorporating 15 minutes of high intensity activity at least once during every work day - you may accomplish more in those 15 minutes than you often do all day! You can gradually build up to two or more 15 minute activity sprints per work day depending on the amount of time you have blocked for business that day. Many people find that one 15 minute sprint in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening is the best recipe. See what works best for you. Use the countdown timer on your smartphone to time each spring. Make sure you go all out for 15 minutes and then back to your usual activity level.

2. The After-Burn Effect. When thinking about the fitness after-burn effect, you have probably heard that Interval Training not only burns more fat while you are working out, but also continues to burn more fat for the next 24 hours.

Interval Training in your business also has a powerful after-burn. Not only will you accomplish more during your bursts of high activity, but you will reap the rewards of that intense effort over the next 24-48 hours.  Your higher level of reach out activity will increase the number of people responding to you. You will experience more incoming contact from your prospects and customers in the 24-48 hours following your activity sprints.

3. Builds Stamina. Studies have shown that athletes who engage in Interval Training - who push themselves for these intense shirt bursts of exertion during a workout - end up developing better stamina.

For example, a study in The Journal of Physiology from 2006 showed that after 8 weeks of Interval Training, participants were able to engage in moderate exercise, such as riding a bike, for twice as long than they could before Interval Training was part of their routine.

The same goes for your business activities. When you practice intense focus and productivity for 15 minutes at a time, you are growing your capacity to focus on your business, even at a moderate pace, for an extended period of time.

How many of you know what it's like to sit down in your office and look up only to find it's 2 hours later, the kids are about to get off the bus, and you haven't really gotten anything accomplished that matters? Interval Training strengthens your business brain so you not only get more done during your high intensity bursts, but also can get your brain into business mode faster and accomplish more every time you sit down to work.

4. No Special Equipment or Training Required. One of the great things about introducing Interval Training into your workout is that there is no special equipment or training required. You are simply doing what you were already doing, just at a higher level, for short periods of time within your workout.

The same is true in your business.  If you are already doing the right business building activities - prospecting, scheduling, presentations and follow-ups - then implementing some Interval Training just means taking those activities and doing them at a super high level for short sprints during your work day. You don't have to buy anything or learn anything new. You just need to do what you already know matters, at a higher level, for short periods of time.

5. Boosts Your Business Metabolism. There has been a lot of talk lately among my over 45 friend set about what we can do to boost metabolism. Interval Training has been linked to an increased production in HGH (Human Growth Hormone) of up to 450 percent for the 24 hours following a workout which increases your metabolism and makes you feel energized.

If you're building a business from home, our business metabolism also gets a boost from Interval Training. Similar to the exercise after-burn effect, business Interval Training makes you feel energized, excited and happy about your business. Success for independent consultants and entreprenuers is so much about feel.

It's not what you say, it's how you FEEL about what you say that matters. When you get that boost in your Business Growth Hormone, you should see a corresponding increase in sales and sponsoring. Why? Because when we feel better about our business, more people are attracted to our business.

6. Achieve Faster Results and Have More Fun.  Finally, one of the promises of Interval Training is that you will achieve faster results and your workouts will be more fun and less boring.

Both of these are true for your business as well. As you begin to incorporate high intensity activity bursts into your work days, you will find that you are getting more done in less time and getting better results faster. Let's face it, we all love our businesses more and have more fun when we feel productive and we feel like we are getting something out of the time we are spending.

Most articles I have read recommend making a commitment to regular Interval Training at least 3 times a week for 8 weeks before you can honestly evaluate if it's making a real difference in your fitness.  I think the same goes for changing the health and fitness of your business. What kind of shape could your business be in by the end of the summer?