When you’re new to exercise, the fitness benefits come quickly. But once you put on your running shoes or start exercising regularly, you need to work harder to challenge your stronger, more efficient body. You can achieve this by varying the intensity, duration and frequency of your exercises. The trick is to avoid overdoing it to the point of injury or burnout. Make a smart and safe transition with these tips.
Assess your current fitness level
Start by assessing your current situation, as well as your strengths and weaknesses. Here are questions to ask yourself:
– What you do before (exercise mode), including cardio exercises and strength training.
– Intensity of your efforts (intensity)
– how often do you do it (frequency)
– duration of exercise (time).
Set new goals: one more step
Then see where you want to be. What specific and realistic goals can you set for yourself to improve your performance? Maybe you can jog or swim for 45 minutes instead of 30. Or you can add simple exercises to your routine. Maybe you want to train for an event like a 10k or a minitriathlon.
Do more: step by step
The best way to improve your physical condition is to increase the intensity of your exercises. Intensity refers to the effort you put into it. The better you are, the more you need to practice to feel empowered and get results. By pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, you’ll get the most effective workout possible, which is important, especially if you don’t have much time that day to train. If you train at a low intensity, you will need to do longer or more frequent sessions to get the same effects on your fitness. To improve, first increase the frequency of your work (number of days per week). As you get fit, increase the duration of each exercise and ultimately the intensity.
To increase the intensity of your workout:
1 Move faster
Walk faster or start jogging if you walk or jog. The faster you move yourself, the more work you will do in a given time.
2 Add a vertical challenge
Run or walk on hills, or improve on the treadmill. Add a step stool for aerobics.
3 Increase resistance
Increase pedaling resistance on the bike. For strength training, lift more weight.
4 Cross training
Participate in various activities, some of which are more demanding or more challenging.
5 Try Intermediate Training
Just interspersing short bursts of high-intensity activity (like a 10-second sprint) with intervals of low-to-moderate intensity work, like walking.
Beware of injuries: do not overdo it
If you exercise for several hours every day, every day, you run the risk of an overuse injury or fatigue and exhaustion. And unfortunately you won’t get many additional fitness benefits. To avoid overtraining, increase the total time, distance or intensity of your exercise. Choose hard and easy exercises from day to day, and schedule rest and recovery periods.
Once you’ve reached a new fitness level, take a moment to congratulate yourself on how far you’ve come!
