Workouts for the Wise!

For those of us who are driven by physical results, getting motivated is only half the battle. How often have I encountered women who are “doing their best” every day but just are not seeing results? Results are what we all want to see. Wasting your time in the gym is not a good use of time and goes a long way to making you feel defeated. Here are three dos and don’ts that will get you the best bang for your workout buck.
 
Don’t….
 
Rest too long:
I watch people in the gym lurking around like wallflowers. The fact is a shorter, more intense workout will produce great results. Since time is an issue for all moms, this is actually great news. Reduce the length of time you work out and bump up the intensity.
 
Fail to plan or plan to fail:
Planning your fitness regime means you won’t waste time. Plan when it will happen and what you will be doing. This particular aspect of results based training is crucial. The fact is, however, that most people don’t know how to put a fitness plan together and therefore do not make the most of their fitness routine. As a result, many people fall victim to something I like to call the “SAME SYNDROME.”  People fall into the same syndrome when their workouts rarely change and as a result, their bodies respond with a yawn because they are bored and no longer challenged.  Periodization plans are a highly effective way of varying the workouts and ensuring you are meeting identified goals and any trainer should be able to provide one.  If they don’t, ask for it.  I will expand on periodization plans later in the month.
 
Quit before failure:
Here’s an example to illustrate this point.  If you do 20 push ups and stop because you are tired, not because you couldn’t complete them all, you did not overload your muscles and quit before your muscles failed to complete a push up.  Pushing yourself until you fail to complete a full movement gets you working in the overload zone.  This is the basis of all results based training.  You overload your muscles until they fail to complete the movement.  If you quit the exercise before you get to this stage, your body won’t respond as quickly and you won’t see the results you expect.  
 
Do…

Eat before and after workouts:
Again this takes planning. Most people do not know that you need to eat within 20 minutes of exercise to refuel and feed your muscles. Failure to do so will make your workout counterproductive. Your body will begin to store fat and eat at your lean muscle mass, diminishing the short and long term benefits of exercise. You can reduce your energy output and flush a whole workout down the drain if you don’t eat properly before you exercise.  Likewise, if you do not feed yourself after your workout, you slow down the workout metabolic charge. The effect is the same as if the workout never happened.
 
Use a heart rate monitor:
This tool is fabulous.  Often we think we are working hard because we are huffing and puffing. A heart rate monitor will give an accurate assessment of intensity and if tracked, the assessments can also be used to measure results. You will see over time that a similar workload will not cause the same heart rate response and this will cue you to increase the intensity of your workout.
 
Increase your intensity:
This should happen regularly. Many people become fitness robots doing the same activities all the time with the same intensity. It’s a sure fire way to plateau. If you want results, vary your workouts a lot and consistently increase intensity.
 
Get help:
No matter how experienced you are at working out, having a trainer can be a useful asset. A qualified trainer can assess your goals and make sure your workouts will meet your needs. As you gain more experience, a trainer may seem unnecessary, but as fitness coach and author Fenley Fearon writes, “Lawyers get representation by other lawyers. Bookkeepers have accountants and dentists don’t go fishing around in their own mouths.” Whether you’ve just started working out or are an Olympian athlete, you can benefit from an experienced trainer.  I have trained with Fenley Fearon of the Best Damn Bootcamp and have also used other trainers over the years. I know how to exercise and what my goals are but I will never be able to push myself to the same extent as a trainer will.