In my training and teaching I get asked a lot of questions regarding exercising and eating because (unfortunately) the two go hand in hand, sort of like ying and yang. So today I’m going to chat all about how to balance your workouts, then I’ll be back next month to cover how to balance your eating.
Set Goals
To balance your workouts, start by sitting down and outlining your goals. When you make short-term and long-term goals, you can better determine what you are aiming to achieve. When you are working on your fitness goals make sure to consider all parts of your health: strength, cardio, flexibility, stress management…
For example, do you want to become more flexible? Then you could list attending one yoga class per week (consistently). Or have you always wanted to try outdoor road biking? What about looking to join a group or club, or even finding a friend that wants to do it with you? Use your fitness goals as a way to stretch and develop yourself. There is no reason you need to keep doing the same old thing!
Look at where you want to go and then write down the steps that you will need to take to get there.
Shake It Up
Your body adjusts quickly to new exercises. For example if you begin running a few miles at a time, you will probably feel pretty sore the first two to three times you go running, but then your soreness will fade. Then you will find you are able to run the same amount, or even longer and you are less sore and eventually you may find that you are not sore at all. Your body adapts.
The same goes for strength training, the first time you do a challenging set of squats you can hardly walk up and down the stairs, but then as you continue on with your strength training the soreness will lessen and your body adapts.
It is really important to shake up and add variety to your workout routines. When your body has to guess and readjust, you will see better physical results. You will force your body to tap into different muscle groups, challenge your cardiovascular limits differently and your overall conditioning will improve.
Besides that – variety is the spice of life, right?
Adaptation is good, however, you don’t want to stay there.
Strength, Stretch & Cardio
To best balance your workouts strive to focus on the these three areas: strength, stretch and cardio.
I’ll use what I may do for a week to give you an example:
- Sunday – Rest (walk)
- Monday – 1 hour yoga class
- Tuesday – 1 hour tennis session
- Wednesday – 1 hour yoga class
- Thursday – 45 minutes of strength & 1 hour tennis session
- Friday – 30 minute swim – cardio & strength
- Saturday – 30-45 minutes of cardio (running)
As you can see I have a balance, 2 days of stretching with yoga (that also has some strength and cardio sprinkled in), 4 days of cardio, and 2 days of strength. Cardio should be your primary focus followed equally by strength and stretch. With the ultimate focus to move your body every day for 30 minutes plus!
Balancing the three areas of fitness will better balance your body.
I encourage you to set your goals, shake it up and strike a balance between the three areas of fitness – strength, stretch and cardio. Your health includes the three components so your workouts should too.
Feel free to email me with further questions or ask in the comments below. There isn’t an exact science or one way to balance what you do for exercise but there is the importance of hitting each of the three areas.
We’ve covered the ying – exercise, so….next month we’ll cover the yang – eating.
Have a great week! Be Moxie.
