How often to train? When to train? What to train
How often to train, when to train and what to train.
As often as you want, when you want and what you want, it’s a bit vague but generally quite true. It all depends on your reasons for training. If you are part of a local sports team then it’s likely there will be some structure in place, a weekly training session during the week plus a competitive game or race at the weekend. With that you may or may not be encouraged to do additional training to support it. If you’re an aspiring Olympian or premier league player then there will be structure and routine for you – 10 times a week, covering all kinds of training, at least that what it was like for rowing.
In this post I want to write to those who are looking to get into exercise and feel it is out of their reach. To those who think that everyone knows what they are doing when it comes to exercise and you feel like you missed the memo somewhere along the way and feel like you want/need to catch up now.
Exercise can be anything you want it to be and it means different things to different people so there is no right or wrong way in which to get involved. We need a starting point though and hopefully this will help you make a plan.
Step One – how often to train?
What time do you have left? Mornings, lunchtimes and evenings during the week and anytime at the weekend. It’s important to be realistic as I’ve just highlighted 18 different exercise opportunities in just Monday-Friday. There’s no way I’d encourage you to fit them all in, what with showering, changing, having clean kit and meals/snacks/water to support each one, it wouldn’t be fun and your work other hobbies, family time will begin to feel the pinch.
A more realistic ideal might be twice during the week and once over the weekend. As you find things that you enjoy or you get a bit more savvy at meal prepping and feel more comfortable with saying no to work you mind find you can increase the frequency slightly but only if it works for you. Any fitness enthusiast worth their salt will tell you that consistency is key. Much better to stick with 3 times per week for 6 months and then a year etc.
Step Two – when to train?
Morning vs evening and the magic of lunchtime! Consider things like are you a natural early bird or more of a night owl. I personally like a morning workout as I feel it sets me up for the day but there are times when an evening workout is more convenient. For example, there isn’t always a Zumba class available at 7am so that you can squeeze it in before work. There is lots of information out there that will suggest exercising in the morning helps burn stored fat or any other number of claims, that may or may not have scientific backing.
The evening slot get your exercise done straight after work without going home first or head home and have dinner before exercising? If it’s a cardio workout out your after, go straight from work where possible and have a snack late-afternoon so that you have fuel in your body for the work out and eat dinner later. Avoid doing cardio past 8pm, it wakes the body up too much before going to bed. A weights workout however, doesn’t kick the heart and lungs into high speed so if you would rather go home and have dinner first then follow it up with a weights workout, that is a better solution.
From my days at the 9-5 and a 50min commute each way to work, lunchtime workouts were ideal. You are packing a bag for the day anyway, chuck in kit too and you probably already know what you are going to do about lunch. In reality your lunch break may become an hour and 10mins but it will be worth it. I found my afternoons to be more productive and I didn’t have to find more time at the start or end of my day to fit exercise in – magic! It is a bit of luxury though as it relies on your place of work having shower facilities. Unless, you have a non-sweaty workout like yoga, pilates or tai-chi.
Ultimately, the most important thing we can do for our health is move around. So, do it, at whichever time slot works for you.
Step Three – what to train
Training can be anything walking, jogging and cycling are generally the most accessible in terms of financially not cost prohibitive and timewise both individual so you can go whenever you like. They are both flexible and can be done with family and/or friends. I wouldn’t advocate cycling with your dog and especially if you’re still holding onto the lead whilst cycling but you know your situation best. Do consider a combination of walking and jogging whilst you are out with your dog. It can be more stimulating for you and your pooch and you might be able to explore a little bit further than normal but still within the same time frame. Or! Keep to walking and find some nice hills anything that will get you breathing heavier than when your started, cause you to get a little flush in the face and perspire slightly. This is what the body needs in order to achieve the health benefits for your heart and lungs.
What I’ve outlined above is largely cardiovascular exercise ‘cardio’ and comes in many other forms too. Different cardio machines at the gym, the endless plethora of classes offered at your local sports centre. There are other things too, gardening, housework, walking to and from the shops, running around after the kids, anything whereby you can get your heart rate to be elevated for 10-30mins would count.
The other kind of exercise which can be called weight training, resistance training or weight bearing exercise. This is in the simplest of terms is picking up heavy objects and putting them back down, it’s often associated with building extreme amounts of muscle and the equipment for it is predominantly found in gyms. Women often refer to it as the man’s part of the gym and believe it’s not been put there for them. Some men don’t feel it’s for them either, as they don’t perceive themselves to be someone who wants to build bulk.
I will now refer to this kind of training as weight training and I will say that it is excellent for both men and women and does not mean you will build bulking muscle overnight. Weight training is increasing in popularity as it becomes widely known that the more muscle, we have in our bodies the more calories we burn standing still. There are other health benefits of weight training that are less widely talked about.
The muscle that is grown around our joints is designed to create movement at the joint, not the bone itself. Which means muscle mass is great for staving of the affects of diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis, meaning we can delay or prevent the inevitably of surgery and relieve the reliance on pain killers to get through each day. Having muscles enables us to stave off lower back ache, hip and knee pain, muscle on the builds increases our resilience to handle everyday activities with less fatigue and fight infections.
To answer my question, what to train? If you currently have no regular exercise in your life, then do anything, get your body moving more than normal and see how that makes you feel. If you are doing predominantly cardio based activities, then consider getting weight training in your life. Find a friend that already does it or invest in some sessions with a personal trainer to help get you started. I and many other fitness professionals can not sing the praises of weight training enough. I hope that was useful read and worth your time please do get in touch with me via my Facebook page, Taskmaster Fitness.