Workouts, workload, number of reps and sets may change, but certain principles of exercise training reside at the heart of all exercise sessions.
Step out of your body's comfort zone
For an activity to count as exercise, it needs to be something that works your body and mind beyond what is comfortable. So if walking is effortless and doesn't challenge you, then it's
time to try something new. How one can tell what's comfortable and what isn't is as simple as just asking yourself how hard you pushed yourself to complete a task.
Did you read an entire article on Jennifer Aniston's love life while peddling away at the stationary bike? If the answer is yes, and 'I always read while peddling at a comfortable pace,' then it's time you increased speed or resistance. A good workout session should leave you feeling stronger, capable and a little exhausted (albeit in a good way).
Progress is what we're talking about. As Warren Rosenberg puts it: "As your body improves over time in response to exercise, the exercise load must be progressively increased to generate additional improvement -- the principle of progression."
The FITT principle of exercise: Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type
This is a well known principle for exercise that helps us determine how to make fitness progress and push through plateaus. The four contributing variables are:
Frequency: How often do you exercise? Therefore, if you start with three days a week and find that this becomes easy, then increase the sessions to four or five (depending on the nature of the exercise).
Intensity: How hard do you exercise? What heart-rate do you maintain during the exercise session, is a decent way to gauge your performance intensity. Several performance gadgets like sport watches and exercise monitors exist to help with this. However, you can try a simple 1 to 10 (easy to tough) self-check. Ask yourself how much you pushed yourself, and be honest about personal feedback. If your response is 'I couldn't possibly have done any more than I did,' you're probably on the right track.
Time: How many hours and minutes do you exercise for each week?
Type: What type of workouts do you follow?
Progressions in 'time' and 'type' are inter-related
For instance, if you walk for exercise, and that is your 'type,' then you can increase 'time' from 30 to 60 minutes after it begins to get easy. But if the type is heavy weight training, then time increase may not be a good idea.
Instead, you can vary type by introducing new weight training exercises; for instance move from machine-assisted work to free-dumbbells work, move from wide base of support to narrow base of support, etc.
Balanced nutrition goes hand in hand with exercise
Exercise without balanced nutrition is incomplete and will never give you the results you seek. You cannot expect great cardiovascular health, good body composition, and optimal weight management, if you routinely binge on fried food and alcohol. Further, you won't have the necessary energy needed for a challenging workout, if you skimp on the right foods. The sametheory applies to exercise progression.
When your body progresses with exercise, it must also progress with nutrition. This is why you'll find that athletes who train hard always alter their meal plans with every new workout. Several successful weight loss warriors, who did it the right way, will tell you that once their weight loss kicked in, they actually had to eat more to support more intense exercise - while still continuing to lose weight, or in other words: while building muscle and losing fat. This includes taking a good look at your meal timings as well.
Balanced exercise - How specific is your exercise routine
Exercise is a science that, when studied and practiced with adequate research, will give you very specific results. For instance, you cannot strengthen your legs with an upper body exercise. Similarly, you cannot hope to build strength with a cardio routine; you can walk for three hours a day, but you won't build any strength in your shoulders.
Understanding this specificity of exercise, is mostly what sets success and failure apart in exercise. To gain maximum mileage from your fitness routine, you will need to understand what your goals are and then work with the specificity of each exercise type to achieve those goals. This helps you determines the components of your exercise routine.
How balanced exercise and goals are inter-related
Your goals can be weight loss, strength, endurance, power, etc. Apart from the difference in building power (possibly hypertrophy - big muscle) and endurance (usually lean muscle), all other fitness goals are inter-related. Healthy and permanent weight loss must include strength building, for it is with a lean muscle tone that your body will burn energy effectively and retain the firm and attractive shape you desire.
Rest, recover, replenish
Once you get cracking on a challenging workout, rest becomes just as important as frequency, intensity, time and type. Consider it a part of your nutrition plan; after all, your body needs to be nourished through sleep and rest as well. A tired body that doesn't get respite from tough workouts is a body that begins to see fewer fitness results.
Over-training causes much unhappiness with symptoms like headaches, insomnia, unexplained aches and pains, etc - but this only applies to those of us who really do challenge ourselves. An average walker for instance, who doesn't weight train or increase intensity, can easily walk 6-7 days a week. On the other hand, a person who follows an intense workout routine must get at least 1-2 rest days in a week.
Step out of your body's comfort zone
For an activity to count as exercise, it needs to be something that works your body and mind beyond what is comfortable. So if walking is effortless and doesn't challenge you, then it's
time to try something new. How one can tell what's comfortable and what isn't is as simple as just asking yourself how hard you pushed yourself to complete a task.
Did you read an entire article on Jennifer Aniston's love life while peddling away at the stationary bike? If the answer is yes, and 'I always read while peddling at a comfortable pace,' then it's time you increased speed or resistance. A good workout session should leave you feeling stronger, capable and a little exhausted (albeit in a good way).
Progress is what we're talking about. As Warren Rosenberg puts it: "As your body improves over time in response to exercise, the exercise load must be progressively increased to generate additional improvement -- the principle of progression."
The FITT principle of exercise: Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type
This is a well known principle for exercise that helps us determine how to make fitness progress and push through plateaus. The four contributing variables are:
Frequency: How often do you exercise? Therefore, if you start with three days a week and find that this becomes easy, then increase the sessions to four or five (depending on the nature of the exercise).
Intensity: How hard do you exercise? What heart-rate do you maintain during the exercise session, is a decent way to gauge your performance intensity. Several performance gadgets like sport watches and exercise monitors exist to help with this. However, you can try a simple 1 to 10 (easy to tough) self-check. Ask yourself how much you pushed yourself, and be honest about personal feedback. If your response is 'I couldn't possibly have done any more than I did,' you're probably on the right track.
Time: How many hours and minutes do you exercise for each week?
Type: What type of workouts do you follow?
Progressions in 'time' and 'type' are inter-related
For instance, if you walk for exercise, and that is your 'type,' then you can increase 'time' from 30 to 60 minutes after it begins to get easy. But if the type is heavy weight training, then time increase may not be a good idea.
Instead, you can vary type by introducing new weight training exercises; for instance move from machine-assisted work to free-dumbbells work, move from wide base of support to narrow base of support, etc.
Balanced nutrition goes hand in hand with exercise
Exercise without balanced nutrition is incomplete and will never give you the results you seek. You cannot expect great cardiovascular health, good body composition, and optimal weight management, if you routinely binge on fried food and alcohol. Further, you won't have the necessary energy needed for a challenging workout, if you skimp on the right foods. The sametheory applies to exercise progression.
When your body progresses with exercise, it must also progress with nutrition. This is why you'll find that athletes who train hard always alter their meal plans with every new workout. Several successful weight loss warriors, who did it the right way, will tell you that once their weight loss kicked in, they actually had to eat more to support more intense exercise - while still continuing to lose weight, or in other words: while building muscle and losing fat. This includes taking a good look at your meal timings as well.
Balanced exercise - How specific is your exercise routine
Exercise is a science that, when studied and practiced with adequate research, will give you very specific results. For instance, you cannot strengthen your legs with an upper body exercise. Similarly, you cannot hope to build strength with a cardio routine; you can walk for three hours a day, but you won't build any strength in your shoulders.
Understanding this specificity of exercise, is mostly what sets success and failure apart in exercise. To gain maximum mileage from your fitness routine, you will need to understand what your goals are and then work with the specificity of each exercise type to achieve those goals. This helps you determines the components of your exercise routine.
How balanced exercise and goals are inter-related
Your goals can be weight loss, strength, endurance, power, etc. Apart from the difference in building power (possibly hypertrophy - big muscle) and endurance (usually lean muscle), all other fitness goals are inter-related. Healthy and permanent weight loss must include strength building, for it is with a lean muscle tone that your body will burn energy effectively and retain the firm and attractive shape you desire.
Rest, recover, replenish
Once you get cracking on a challenging workout, rest becomes just as important as frequency, intensity, time and type. Consider it a part of your nutrition plan; after all, your body needs to be nourished through sleep and rest as well. A tired body that doesn't get respite from tough workouts is a body that begins to see fewer fitness results.
Over-training causes much unhappiness with symptoms like headaches, insomnia, unexplained aches and pains, etc - but this only applies to those of us who really do challenge ourselves. An average walker for instance, who doesn't weight train or increase intensity, can easily walk 6-7 days a week. On the other hand, a person who follows an intense workout routine must get at least 1-2 rest days in a week.
