In our Community Facebook Page we have a theme for the each day of the week. And on Thursday’s it is all about movement. We thought you might like to see this wee snippet from todays Movement Thursday post. If you would like to be kept motivated, inspired and supported with heaps of free content, then come and join us!
Today’s movement Thursday is going to focus on whether you are challenging yourself in your exercise or simply going through the motions….. Put your hand up if you have ever half assed that Anramp in Hitt class, Not pushed yourself in that run, Cut short your kettlebell reps by a few during a set or even logged 400 calories into Myfitness Pal when you have barely dragged your arse around the block at a saunter. You know what we have all done it! I challenge anyone to say that they hand on heart have never dropped their form during a workout to get it done.
But you know what, who are you actually cheating here? Do you really think your HItt instructor or that friend who follows you on My Fitness Pal cares if you completed that ANRAMP in record time? No of course not, they care that you have challenged yourself and are keeping yourself safe during your workout… poor form increases risk of exercise.
The other big reason why you should be challenging yourself is because I’m pretty sure that you had a goal as to why you are exercising…. Whatever that goal is, you are most probably not going to get there unless you are challenging your body and constantly changing it up.
So I want you to honestly ask yourself, Could I be training harder? Answering this question requires a bit of introspection and self-honesty, but it’s likely that you know whether or not you’re hitting your limits. If you’re not sure, try slowly increasing the intensity of your exercise until you reach your maximum exertion level. A good rule of thumb for High Intensity exercise is that you shouldn’t be able to hold a conversation, so if you have no trouble chatting to your friend on that walk or run, then you want to bump up your effort.
Experiment with different levels of exertion until you can recognize what high intensity, moderate intensity and low intensity feels like for you.
One way to do this is with interval training. Start with a simple one-to-one work-to-rest ratio to see what it feels like to challenge yourself. That means one minute on, and one minute off. If a minute seems too long, simply reduce your time to 30 seconds. By the end of your first interval, you should have a good sense of what an effective workout will feel like. If you feel like you need added guidance, consider signing up for personal training. A great trainer should be able to create an exercise plan that is appropriate for your fitness level.
If one of your fitness goals is continual improvement, you need to be constantly challenging yourself. If it’s been awhile since you’ve altered your workout, it’s possible that you’re maintaining your level of fitness, but not improving it. Your progress may be static, and this can happen with both cardio and strength training.
Try challenging yourself with new exercises. Often times people plateau in engagement and intensity because they need to stimulate adaptation with new movement pathways and neuromuscular connections. For example, if you feel seasoned with a lunge, try performing a front lunge or a lunge with an overhead press to boost your effort level.
With strength training, you generally want to be upping the amount of weight you’re lifting by a small percentage every one-to-two weeks. One telltale sign that you’re ready to increase the weight is if you can bang out 12 or more reps without breaking a sweat. Aim for a weight that allows you to lift 6 to12 reps before fatigue sets in. One of the best ways to know whether you’re improving is to track your workouts, also comment on how you feel during the workout. By tracking, you can look for trends over time and definitively see when you last increased the difficulty.
Now is the time for the big but…… and this is something that Char and I see a lot, often our clients are beating themselves up because they are not able to push themselves further or flogging themselves to exhaustion with no gains. At times like this you need to consider taking a break. You might be exhausted or overtraining (yes it really is a thing), so think about going for a walk around the block… get some fresh air and a bit of perspective. In strength training we have De load week every 8 weeks or so…. Deload is a short-planned period of recovery, and I truly believe our bodies need recovery…. But that is another whole movement post.
So if you are struggling to challenge yourself in your workouts, stop and reflect. Do you need to reassess your goals? Do you need to take some time to recover? Do you need to challenge yourself a bit more?? And remember if you are cheating yourself… then you are only cheating yourself, no one else!
xx Carolynne – Personal Trainer