Want to live longer? Try fartleks.
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
Fartlek is a Swedish term for “speed play.” This informal version of interval training is simple, effective and dare we say … enjoyable? And not just because fartlek is fun to say.
Exercise columnist Gretchen Reynolds is here to vouch for this often-overlooked, decades-old practice. Reynolds, who helped popularize the 7-minute workout, has found that a growing body of research points to the benefits of this approach, even in small doses. According to exercise scientists, it can improve strength, endurance and longevity and may even lower the risk of dementia.
Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was edited by Maggie Penman. Thanks to Anjuman Ali.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, it's Martine. |
| 0:04.4 | I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season so far. |
| 0:08.1 | So today, we wanted to re-air this delightful episode that we had from earlier this year. |
| 0:13.5 | It's with my co-host, Aloha Yazadi, and she interviewed our exercise columnist, Gretchen Reynolds. |
| 0:19.6 | Gretchen came on the show to explain an often overlooked, |
| 0:23.8 | decades-old, and surprisingly easy way to get some daily movement into your life. |
| 0:29.9 | Okay, without further ado, here's the show. |
| 0:36.9 | Good morning. I'm out on one of my favorite running routes. I'm about to start fart-licking. I've warmed up with about 10 minutes of running. It's a beautiful cold morning. I saw a lovely sunrise as I was warming up. |
| 0:58.2 | And now I'm about to start my regular fartlic route. |
| 1:06.3 | I just picked up the pace. |
| 1:13.3 | I'm going to be running to the next cross street here, |
| 1:18.0 | which is one of my longer little fart legs. |
| 1:22.5 | This is Gretchen Reynolds. |
| 1:24.2 | She writes about exercise for the post. |
| 1:26.9 | And recently, she wrote about a way to make your workouts more efficient. It's called the fart lick. |
| 1:35.3 | Okay. I'm coming up to the crossroad. And now I'll slow back down. |
| 1:50.0 | I can feel my heart rate slowing somewhat. |
| 1:56.0 | It's a little rest period. And now I will start to run again. |
| 2:10.6 | I'm going to go to the next cross street here. |
| 2:13.6 | Fartliff is a Swedish word. |
| 2:16.6 | It means speed play. Basically, whether you're water Bartliff is a Swedish word. |
| 2:19.2 | It means speed play. |
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