I’ve recorded this email as a video as well. You can find it on Facebook or Instagram.
There is a general feeling that the harder the workout, the better it is. But this is not true.
There is a time for intense workouts – but the tough, complex workouts so often touted by the fitness industry as ‘the answer’ are beyond the capability of most of the people who sign up for them.
Time after time, I speak to clients who are fed up with the short term fixes which leave them burnt out and often injured. It doesn’t have to be this way!
As with most things, there is a law of diminishing returns with fitness – if you push your body to the edge every time you work out, and you’ll likely end up injured and in poorer health.
Sure, you might end up with a higher peak in your fitness – but you will fall from that peak more quickly and likely into a trough as well.
Instead, exercising at a more moderate intensity consistently throughout your life is more likely to get you the results you crave – and they’re more likely to last for longer.
This is not to say that a workout should feel like you’ve been for a quick walk around the block – you should certainly be challenging yourself during your workouts. But challenge yourself in varying ways.
Instead of focusing purely on ‘getting a sweat on’ and exhausting yourself in the name of burning calories – mix up your workouts across the week. Sometimes work on improving your posture. Other times, work on your skill, your speed or your strength. Sometimes do work to get yourself gasping for breath and dripping in sweat; just not every time you work out. You’ll be surprised by how much further you get this way.