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To paraphrase the Bard; “To train or not to train? That is the question!” It can be confusing - we spend a lot of time thinking and researching our training programmes, pondering over food and liquid intake, our fats and carbohydrates, investing our time and effort, but are we getting the most benefit out of our training schedules?
The one sure thing you can say is that what suits one person won’t suit another and all of our needs are different. So let’s start by looking at an inactive individual and how much they should exercise:-
For the older individual it’s a good idea to add some flexibility and balance work as well.
Now this is where it starts to get tricky! As I said, no one programme will suit everybody and I would recommend the more active individual to have a sporting or fitness goal so that you can tailor the programme to suit. This might take the form of competing in a running race or Triathlon, improving on a swim time or dropping a dress size.
As you get fitter, the intensity and duration of your workout will need increase to avoid plateauing, it is always a good idea to include the three basics; one vigorous cardio, one weights session and one yoga/Pilates or stretch. This will leave two more sessions to complete your weekly programme (working on the basis of 5 sessions a week).
If weight loss is your goal add another cardio (maybe make it an endurance session), say a Spin class or long, steady run. If your focus is to improve your muscle tone, try an exercise class with weights. Alternatively if you have a sporting goal in mind, use the other two sessions to practice the specific skills required. Mixing sessions up is always a good idea; it helps to prevent overuse injuries and reduces the chance of the dreaded boredom-factor. As the body gets used to doing the same exercises, so the effort required to do them becomes less - look at my article on Cross Training for more information on how to benefit from introducing new training and exercise practices into your regime!
Now what would happen if you didn’t increase your training and the programme stayed the same? Well nothing would, and I mean nothing! You would reach a level of fitness and, at best, maintain it, although more likely you would see a fall-off in performance as your muscles became used to the same series of exercises. The human body is an amazing piece of equipment which requires being “shocked” out of its comfort zone to deliver maximum results!
So how much is too much? Again, this is a difficult question to answer as it varies from individual to individual. Athletes will typically exercise twice a day and I know some Triathletes who train upwards of 15 hours a week, but they have spent years building up the requisite levels of stamina and endurance. Even so, the body does need a rest and most athletes will have a “down” period (sometimes as much as a whole season) in order to recover. For the average person more than five sessions per week would probably be excessive. The most common signs of overtraining are consistent injuries, tiredness, lack of motivation and a drop off in performance.
As well as the signs of overtraining mentioned above, also beware of what I call “junk training”. You may be training a lot but does each workout have a purpose? There is no point in training just for trainings sake. If you are a runner just racking up the miles each week if you want to improve is pointless; each session should be specific i.e. one interval run, one short fast run, one long endurance run at even pace, and maybe a track or “brick” session. Your key objective is to ensure you have a plan and a purpose when setting out your training regime.
How much exercise should one take if you do have a specific goal? Let’s look at some examples:
Weight Loss
Simply put, to lose weight you need to take in fewer calories than you burn. If an average woman consumes 2000 calories a day and stays the same weight, in order to lose 1lb in weight she would need to burn 3500 calories, so a workout that burns 300 calories repeated 12 times loses the 1lb. However, by introducing a careful diet as well as the exercise, the increased calorie deficit will speed up the weight loss.
The best workouts for losing weight, because they burn the most calories each time, are cardio-based. How do you know how many calories you are burning when you work out? Well for most of us it’s not a precise science, we can only make a rough estimate. Calories burnt depend on age and weight and it’s worth remembering that no matter how much exercise you do, if you consume more calories than you burn off you still won’t lose weight.
To give you some guidelines here are some rough figures based on someone who weighs 70kg.
For 1 hour of exercise
| Exercise | Cals |
|---|---|
| Pilates | 238 |
| Running 12 min miles | 544 |
| Aerobics class | 408 |
| Bike at 10 - 11mph | 408 |
| Circuit class | 544 |
| Gym workout | 374 |
| Swim moderate effort | 272 |
| Swim Front Crawl | 748 |
So you can see from these figures that the more intense the exercise, the more calories are burned per hour. That being said, an unfit person who is new to exercise, will burn more calories than the average person because the effort required to do the task is greater for them. As they get fitter, however, they will require less energy to perform the same task and so will need to increase their effort to achieve the same results in terms of calorie burning. This is the reason why we should all review our training programmes on a regular basis and update them to ensure we get maximum benefit. If you require a more accurate reading then it’s worth investing in a heart rate monitor, as this can give you a more personal “calories burnt” count.
For the individual looking to lose weight it is best to avoid sports drinks, as most people will have enough stored energy for 90 minutes of activity. However low calorie rehydration drinks are a good idea, especially in warm weather.
Sporting Goal
For someone who is fairly active but wishes to compete in a sport, they need to look at their training in a slightly different way. Six sessions per week would not be overtraining so long as they’re not all the same, i.e. one gym session, one stretch session, one cardio session and then the other 3 spent on the more specific sports skill needed.
And so on to the good bit - rest!! How much rest do we need? I would recommend 1 to 2 days a week of rest. This doesn’t mean you have to lie down all day. If you feel like a walk, have one; just leave out the high intensity exercise and weight training. If you have trained long and hard for a sporting event take a few weeks off and do something completely different to give the mind as well as the body a rest.
And finally, listen to your body – it is the best barometer as to whether you should do more or less, different or the same, for longer or shorter, with higher or lower intensity. Learn to understand your capabilities – don’t be afraid to push yourself; it’s the only way to establish your capabilities!
As Thomas Edison, the Inventor of the light bulb said "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."
