Laying Out an Exercise Program
I'm a competitive runner, so my program is designed to maximize running performance relative to my goals. I am assuming that most of you are going to be exercising for fitness, so the layout of your program should be very different from mine.
Here are some basic concepts to keep in mind:
1) BE REASONABLE - I believe that the one thing that has killed more exercise programs is "biting off more than you can chew." Start with a very limited amount of exercise and build up slowly (perhaps 10% per week).
2) HARD, EASY - By this I mean that you need to recover after hard exercise. So, what is hard exercise? Are you sore? Are you fatigued? If the answer to either of these is yes, then you've exercised hard. And if you go really hard or are older, so recover more slowly, then you may need 2 or even 3 easy days before another hard day.
3) VARIETY - It's said, "Variety is the spice of life." There is a physical benefit to variety, you use different muscles, so you develop different muscles.
I believe that for most people, it's better to work out 6 or 7 times per week rather than the 3 or 4 that's often recommended. There are two benefits to this, the first is that your body can absorb more exercise in this form, so you'll tend to progress faster and more exercise means more calories being burned.
If you can manage the time, work up to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 or 6 times per week, also do one long workout weekly at a very easy pace, again building up to a 90 minute goal. This should be supplemented with weight training once or twice per week (if young, this can be done 3 times per week).
The short workouts should follow a hard, easy or a hard, easy, easy pattern and the long workout should count as a hard workout. The strength workouts are there to help you to maintain functional strength (that means you can open the pickle jar, climb stairs and stand-up and sit-down effectively) and to develop bone density (that means it lessens your chance of osteoporosis or osteopenia).
And, once you've built up to these goals (and don't feel badly if it takes you 4 to 6 months or even longer), you're not done. In order to benefit from exercise, you must continually increase speed, volume or weight. That means that once you've gotten to this basic level, gradually building your pace during the aerobic portion becomes the next step.
This represents a basic plan for laying out an exercise plan. Whatever you do, before beginning check your plan with you doctor or a trainer or coach to ensure that you aren't jeopardizing your health.
Here are some basic concepts to keep in mind:
1) BE REASONABLE - I believe that the one thing that has killed more exercise programs is "biting off more than you can chew." Start with a very limited amount of exercise and build up slowly (perhaps 10% per week).
2) HARD, EASY - By this I mean that you need to recover after hard exercise. So, what is hard exercise? Are you sore? Are you fatigued? If the answer to either of these is yes, then you've exercised hard. And if you go really hard or are older, so recover more slowly, then you may need 2 or even 3 easy days before another hard day.
3) VARIETY - It's said, "Variety is the spice of life." There is a physical benefit to variety, you use different muscles, so you develop different muscles.
I believe that for most people, it's better to work out 6 or 7 times per week rather than the 3 or 4 that's often recommended. There are two benefits to this, the first is that your body can absorb more exercise in this form, so you'll tend to progress faster and more exercise means more calories being burned.
If you can manage the time, work up to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 or 6 times per week, also do one long workout weekly at a very easy pace, again building up to a 90 minute goal. This should be supplemented with weight training once or twice per week (if young, this can be done 3 times per week).
The short workouts should follow a hard, easy or a hard, easy, easy pattern and the long workout should count as a hard workout. The strength workouts are there to help you to maintain functional strength (that means you can open the pickle jar, climb stairs and stand-up and sit-down effectively) and to develop bone density (that means it lessens your chance of osteoporosis or osteopenia).
And, once you've built up to these goals (and don't feel badly if it takes you 4 to 6 months or even longer), you're not done. In order to benefit from exercise, you must continually increase speed, volume or weight. That means that once you've gotten to this basic level, gradually building your pace during the aerobic portion becomes the next step.
This represents a basic plan for laying out an exercise plan. Whatever you do, before beginning check your plan with you doctor or a trainer or coach to ensure that you aren't jeopardizing your health.
posted by Scooter at 5:47 PM
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