I'm coming for you!I know.
In this day & age when everyone is admonishing us to Up!The!Exercise! I’m here & waiving the “sometimes less (time) is indeed more (results)” flag loud & proud.
(A flag which is, alas, not quite as fun as my freak flag. Youll have that.)
I’m frequently challenge by people when it comes to my workout routine (or, more aptly put, my lackthereof).
They question my brevity (My workouts are short but intense).
They struggle with the idea I squeeze in fitness where I can, when I can & completely non-traditionally (Im not competing! This approach works just fine).
They can’t seem to accept if they aren’t where they *want* to be right now that perhaps doing less but more consistently could be the answer (Ive been there & overtrained that. I can entirely relate).
And, while I like to hope you’d immediately hop my brevity-bandwagon & merely take my misfit word for it—-I know many of you are hardcore folk.
From this soft of core woman I give you my 4 reasons why I firmly believe less.is.more.
1. High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as normal exercise. Intense interval training means working very hard for a few minutes with rest periods in between sets. Interval training can double endurance, improve oxygen use/strength by more than 10 percent, & speed by 5 percent. Studies in the elderly and in heart patients found better oxygen use and fitness after doing interval training. Interval training also makes for shorter workouts.
2. You’ll never over-train. When I was a personal trainer many of my clients would see results & start exercising more in order to see more results. Initially this plan would work. After a few weeks, however, the results would drop-off dramatically due to over-training. Consider this fact: not giving your body the rest it needs is almost akin to not working out at all. Exercise. Move daily. Consistently over time. Unless you are training for competition there’s no need for marathon-length workouts.
3. It’s the fits & starts that kill us. Sure I’m being hyperbolic, but let’s talk self-esteem. Remember the last time you started a workout program? How you planned out 60+ minutes of exercise six days a week? How fantastic you felt about yourself….until life derailed you & you fell off the workout wagon? This time plan an amount of exercise you can fit into your life today and forever. Less exercise time plus ZERO fits & starts = happier and healthier you. For me that’s 30 minutes a day. Every day. No “starting Monday I will…” ever. I’m healthier and I feel better about myself through setting realistic goals and achieving them.
4. Exercise should fit into your life…your life shouldn’t have to be fashioned around your fitness routine. It’s recommended that adults get 150 minutes of exercise per week. For those of us working out for overall fitness and not competition, this number is a reasonable and healthy goal. Try breaking these 150 minutes down into short ten minute bursts! Take a ten minute power-walk, three times a day, five days a week. Jump rope or hula hoop for ten minutes at a time, three times a day, five days a week. You get the idea. Less time at the gym exercising traditionally does not have to mean a less-fit you.
And you?
Have you had an experience where you ratcheted back the workouts and discovered, to your delight, you both gained (muscle strength energy) and lost (bodyfat)?
Do you remain in firm disagreement with my stance and remain strong in your belief to gain and lose we need the long workouts?
Please to hit us all up in the comments below.
Im off to workout, but, uh, Ill see you back here in ten minutes or so…
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