During the Building Blocks, interval training is a key part of Kriger Training.
You’ll see it in our monostructural conditioning (like Mondays and Fridays) and in our CrossFit-specific sessions (often on Wednesdays). It fits perfectly into the off-season because:
- You can accumulate more volume at high intensity, which improves movement efficiency and raw capacity.
- You spend more time at a high heart rate, which builds aerobic fitness and metabolic resilience.
But here’s the catch:
Going out too hard in your first interval can ruin not just that session—but also the days that follow.
This happens often, especially in group settings or when motivation is high.
You feel fresh. You’re surrounded by others. The first interval flies by.
But then round two hits—and fatigue creeps in. Movements feel heavier. Transitions slow down. Your mindset shifts from attacking to surviving.
“But I’m still getting tired, what’s the problem?”
Here’s the thing:
Getting tired isn’t the goal. Getting better is.
If you hit the wall too early, you’re not training capacity—you’re just practicing being exhausted.
Four reasons to avoid going out too hot:
1, Slower movement output
When you crash after a hot start, your later intervals suffer. You move slower overall and accumulate less total quality work.
2, Redlined heart rate = poor recovery
An all-out first interval overloads your nervous system. Recovery between sets drops—and you might underperform in the next day’s training.
3, Technique breaks down
Interval work should be a chance to move well under fatigue. But when you redline early, you start reinforcing poor movement instead.
4, You lose confidence
Hitting the wall repeatedly makes it harder to trust your pacing. Finishing strong builds confidence—you know you had more to give.
What Should you do instead?
Hold back more than you think you need to.
If the workout says RPE 8.5 (on a 1–10 scale), that’s how it should feel by the end of the session.
Start at RPE 7, then build round by round.
Will I get worse Training Effect if I go out too slow?
No, actually the opposite.
Starting slightly slower leads to better pacing, cleaner movement, stronger recovery—and more total output. Should you feel that you totally overpaced it for the last interval you can add one more interval to your session (for most, this will rarely happen)
Challenge this Week:
This week we have three big interval sessions in the Kriger Program:
- Monday & Wednesday: 4 sets. Your goal is to improve your time or score by 5 seconds each interval.
- Friday Running Intervals: Goal is to improve by 0.5–1 second per interval.
Bonus tip for group sessions:
To avoid getting pulled into a race with your friends in the intervals, try using a Burpee Square in the middle of the floor:
If you don’t manage to match or improve your score from your last interval, you owe 5 accountability burpees in the square before the next interval starts.
Bonus 2:
Other workouts this week
Nothing found.