The More I Want to Get Something Done, the Less I Call It Work – Richard Bach
I love the following list of truth in fitness. The point of the list is to help keep you grounded in reality, while at the same time helping to avoid being sucked into overdoing it or – and let’s be frank here – being bored out of your mind.
Time Does Not Equal Fitness
The first truth of fitness is that time does not equal fitness. Just because you spend 60 minutes a day, 7 days a week, working out does not mean you will be better off than your neighbor who works out for only 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Your probably snorting right now, but there are actually two very sound reasons for this. The first reason is that your body needs downtime in order to rest and repair. The second is that any routine you do day in and day out can become tedious and your enthusiasm will diminish.
Fitness Means Change
Okay, first and foremost, there is no one true way for people to workout and discover personal fitness. There are guidelines we can all follow, but the simple fact of the matter, some workouts will work better for one person than they will for another. If you experiment, chances are you will find a workout routine that you love. That’s great, but you cannot stick to the same routine over and over again. Your body will adapt. So you will need to keep your workouts varied in order to maximize the benefits. Usually about once every 12 weeks or so.
Fitness Does Not Equal Pain
I hate the phrase: No Pain, No Gain. Frankly, if you are in pain – you should STOP doing whatever it is you are doing. You should build your muscle strength, flexibility and cardiovascular capacity and endurance gradually. Remember, pain is your body’s way of saying you are injured or in danger. The idea that injury is a sign of progress is an oxymoron.
Repetition is a Key to Fitness
We said up above that fitness means change. Repetition is a key to fitness. Weight training requires repetition of certain muscle movements and you should vary the number of repetitions within the sets in order to achieve maximum fitness. By varying the repetitions, you will challenge your muscles and you will improve your fitness.
The Mind and the Body are Equal Parts of the Whole Fitness Equation
We have talked about mind and body exercises like yoga and Pilates. But whether you want to do yoga or not is irrelevant. The point is that your mind needs to be exercised, relieved of stress and relaxed as much as your body does. A healthy mind resides in a healthy body, but if you just focus on the physical exercise without mental stimulation and relaxation – you are doing yourself a disservice.