In our last post we discussed the primary importance of intensity and that some see it as going as long as you can during an exercise session. This favours endurance but ignores strength, agility and real stamina. By stamina we mean the ability to keep being physical while maintaining strength. Endurance is fine for given activities/sports but fitness means having strength and stamina together NOT just being good at a particular activity or sport.
Endurance does come from building stamina then you fine tune based on the specific nature of your sport or favorite activity…by practicing that specific sport. Research and our years of training many different types of individuals suggests that 30 minutes is approximately the best time frame for a workout. This is of course dependant on how intense you train but the rule of thumb is exercising with enough quality to be fully done in 25-45 minutes.
Tips for keeping quality high and shortening workout length:
- Train with full control of your movements. The more control of your form you exert the tougher and higher quality the exercise stimulus will be.
- Shorten rest time between exercises. This is the real tough one…give it a try.
- Push exercises toward momentary failure. Instead of stopping when you ‘think’ you have had enough of an exercise keep going until you ‘know’ you have done what you can. This doesn’t mean cheat and breaking form it means buckling down and squeezing out a few more high quality repetitions.
Bottom line don’t drag our your workouts, it is never how much you do which matters but how high quality it is. Furthermore, shorter intense workouts are stimulating rather than just exhausting.
Be well, be strong,
Andrew and Tierney
wefit.ca 