Okay, assuming you sleep for eight hours a night…. You are probably working a job or going to school…. You gotta take time to eat…. How much time is left? That is how long you should be exercising. Well, not really, but it is not far off. One should be as active as possible during the day, and some of that activity should include a well-designed, effective exercise program. For most of us, this is probably not as much time as we would like to dedicate to exercise.
So, our time to exercise is limited? It is important then that we use this time wisely. There is no time to be wasted in your exercise session. There is not time to be spent on anything that is not carefully matched to one’s goals. Sure that exercise the guy across the gym is doing looks cool, but it is not about looking cool. It is about results!
What are you trying to accomplish with exercise? What are your goals? Remember, the principle of specific—i.e., the body system make specific adaptations to imposed demands. Any energy spent in training that does not go toward accomplishing one’s goals is wasted effort. This does not mean that one should entirely neglect any component of physical fitness (e.g., health-related: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle endurance, muscle strength, flexibility, and body composition; and motor skill-related: speed, power, agility, balance, coordination, and reaction time). It just means that one’s program should be appropriately balanced. The great amount of time should be spent in activities that most affect the outcome. For example, if the goal is to run a marathon, the majority of time should be spent running, but this does not diminish the need for strength and flexibility training. If the goal is to increase muscle mass (and, thus, improve body composition) lifting weights will take priority, and cardio should be limited to the minimal effective volume for improving oxygen consumption (or at least a maintenance volume). Time is limited, so one must prioritize the training (opportunity costs!) but not at such a cost to other performance parameters. Consider the principle of reversibility: the effects of training are lost should the training stimulus be removed (in other words, “use it or lose it”). As long as the training reaches the maintenance volume, however, gains or performance will not be lost. So, is one already has a sufficient level of flexibility, why spend an excessive amount of time stretching (for example)? If the goal is muscle mass, lift weights (maintaining a full range of motion) and keep cardio limited to short HIIT sessions.
Train smart and don’t waste effort. Do what is most productive and cut the unnecessary exercise.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!