Fartlek Training

Fartlek training is a Swedish term for 'speed play'. Fartlek is a form of conditioning which puts stress on the whole aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be both put under stress.


The best thing about fartlek training is that you can adapt the speed and time you run at a certain speed to suit the sport your playing. Not many field sports, if any, involve continuous running with no walking. Therefore you can mimic a likely scenario for your sport. 


Generally in a game of soccer, no player would sprint for 100m. It's generally 50m or less. Also no player would run at over 75% speed for more than 1 minute. Understanding the simple nature of your sport will allow you to adapt your fartlek session to suit your sport. 


A great and very simple sample fartlek session for a soccer player would be the following;


100m jog
40m sprint
50m walk


Repeat 15-20 times.


Or you can do your session based on time;


1 minute jog
10 second sprint
30 seconds walk


Continue sequence until you have exercise for 30 minutes.

If you have any questions or ideas you can leave a comment below. Otherwise make up your own sequence or follow one of these and add them onto your fitness training.