Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Work it hard!

It is amazing that a mere 20 minutes of hard exercise 6 days a week can help you reach your physical peak in 60 days!  No added weights, no equipment...just plain hard work! This is what I am learning while doing Insanity.
I think this shows that people typically don't work to their potential when they exercise!  A walk on the treadmill, a short run, a few weights...sure that is OK on a rest day!  Or if you are just trying to add a touch of fitness to your world!  A great way to judge how hard you are working is not the number on the treadmill, not the number on the weight, not the number on the scale, but the number, on a scale of one to ten, that you feel you are exerting energy- your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE).  One being sitting on the couch, 10 being very high heart rate, can't catch your breath...over the top exertion.  In the same activity one person's RPE may be 5 while another's is 8.  It is very dependent on your fitness level, your endurance, your health!  So don't look at how hard the person next to you is working and think that will work for you...think about what you are doing and how you feel and if you can push yourself that little bit harder.  If you get exhausted you can stop and take a little break...you will recover and carry on...if you don't push yourself to a point you need a break, maybe you didn't push yourself far enough!
Slow and easy can definitely get you results, there is no doubt about that, but for most people time is an issue!  I don't have time to spend an hour and a half exercising 5 days a week! So my choice is to work as hard as I can for the time I have allotted in my calendar for that day!  Planning ahead to meet your goals!  
Sometimes it is at different times each day as I have a specific class I would like to attend or a friend I would like to work out with!  That goes in the calendar!  Right now I have dedicated myself to a program which is approximately 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week.  I will also have Turbo Kick and my Bakersfield Loser class on Wednesday night!  For me, that is a lot!!! But you just need to find what works for you "right now" to reach whatever goals you have set for yourselves!  Then you adjust again when you need to. 
If you would like any personalized encouragement, please contact me through my beachbody site or would like to ask questions on my message board, I would be more than happy to help you figure out what will work best for you!

2 comments:

  1. I am going to take the RPE into consideration when doing my workouts. That is one main reason why I hired a trainer, to push me harder than I would push myelf.

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  2. Trainers are a great way to figure out what you need to do...just make sure you keep some stuff that you enjoy as that is the best way to keep you motivated!

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