Many people believe that any workout or exercise is helpful and beneficial to getting a lean and hard body. Now any exercise is of course better than no exercise. But if you actually want to make progress, just any workout will not do. You need to ensure that your workouts are intense and require as much of your energy and strength as possible.
Consider the following two scenarios which illustrate this concept;
Scenario 1 (non-fitness example)
Back in the days when I was at high school (and university for that matter) I was never the best at studying for a test or exam. It was not that I didn’t put the hours in, okay it was not always that I didn’t put the hours in, but when I did put the hours in they were never solid studying. It would involve checking my email, checking sports scores, having a snack, the list could go on. The end result was obvious though, I didn’t study as much as someone who maybe even spent less time studying but made sure not to give in to any distractions.
Scenario 2 (fitness example)
Let’s imagine one day you’re required to walk a few miles to meet with someone. You might wake up the next day and feel a little stiff getting out of bed. The next day you need to travel the same amount by foot, but you’re late and have to run as fast as you can to make the appointment. Chances are you’ll use a lot more energy and you’re muscles will be a lot sorer the next day, but you’ll have taken a lot less time to do the similar activity.
“What’s the lesson that we can learn from these scenarios (apart from studying harder and keeping better track of time)?”
1. The more intense your workouts are the greater you’ll be benefiting your body
Don’t waste your time with ‘easy’ workouts. Our bodies won’t react to our workouts unless we make them intense enough to force them to go into recovery and muscle regrowth mode. The more intense the workout, the more changes will be visible at the end of the month. Don’t go too far though!
2. The more intense your workouts are the less time you’ll have spend in the gym
Unless you’re training for a triathlon or marathon you shouldn’t have to workout for longer than 30 minutes. As long as your workout is intense and keeps you heart rate up throughout, you can be happy with three 30 minute workouts per week. For optimum results you can increase this to five 30 minute workouts but this would be the limit.
“How does one know if a workout is too intense or not?”
You should be tired out after a workout, but not exhausted. You should still have enough energy to have a shower and go through the rest of the day, in fact you should feel better than you did before you worked out but in a different way. It’s hard to describe what I mean by that and if you haven’t really worked out properly before you probably won’t experience that feeling until your body adjusts to the new demands you are putting on it.
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