Just how hard to you have to exercise to achieve your goal? Are you lost between high intensity interval training, Insanity workouts and walking the dog? If the answer is yes, then this blog is for you! First of all don’t panic! Simply put, you should only work at an exercise intensity as hard as you need to. Working harder than you need to is mental! You simply need to work hard enough to get the results that you want. In fact, many elite sports coaches talk about the minimum dose response – why perform excessive training loads when a smaller, more efficient exercise intensity produces the same outcome? We are all the same as elite athletes in this regard. We must find the minimum amount of training exercise intensity that produces the best return in results.
Exercising versus Training
So, how hard you need to work depends on the results you want to achieve. If you simply wish to lose weight then it boils down to moving more and eating less. Doing so, creates a calorie deficit that will result in burning of your body’s excess fat stores. Elite athletes train for very specific types of physical performance, and therefore their training reflects this. If we explore these two examples, we might classify the first person as exercising and the athlete as training. When it comes to losing weight it really doesn’t matter how hard your exercise intensity is to create a calorie deficit – only that you exercise! Therefore, working at a low exercise intensity for longer can be just as effective and perhaps less daunting and damaging. Working at a high exercise intensity may burn calories quicker but the end goal will be the same. If you’re exercising for weight loss – it doesn’t matter how fast you move – just move more. A lot more! This is reassuring for many people who are just starting out as it really doesn’t matter what physical activity you choose as your mode of exercise.
In the case of the athlete, exercise intensity is far more focussed. Careful consideration must be given to the type of activity / exercise chosen. Generally, athletes will select exercises that match the specific demands of their sport. Therefore, if the sport demands fast tempo’s and high intensity, training for that sport will follow suit. A detailed discussion of athlete programme design is beyond this blog. However, athletes will tend to work at intensities that are above 60% of their maximum capacity. Athletes too, shouldn’t work any harder than they need to!
Training and Exercising with Fulham’s best personal trainers
At NK Fitness many of our Fulham clients are either athletes or serious fitness fanatics. We use our expert Fulham personal trainer experience to tailor each and every training session to meet the specific goals they they have set. For some they wish to improve their physical fitness so that they can be more active in Fulham, whereas others have their sights firmly set on upcoming competitions. Not every session is high intensity, but exercise intensity is carefully considered at all times to match the clients specific fitness goals. If you live in Fulham or the surrounding area and would like improve your health and fitness with tried and tested experienced Fulham personal trainers NK Fitness, then please contact us for a free consultation.