I remember this being a catchphrase when I was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s, can never remember where it came from, but it just always sticks in my mind.
When it comes to training I have seen plenty of people go by this adage, and plenty become unstuck by it.
There is a commonly held belief that is actually a myth, that you need to end up in a pool of sweat, gasping for breath, hot, bothered and feeling really taxed for a workout to be any good.
MYTH??
Now I have seen this myth propagated by the fitness industry time and time again, and at times I will admit, I thought it was the right way to go (well, back in to ‘00s when I was just starting and knew no better.).
Realistically an all out, high intensity effort should only be hit maybe three times in a week. The other two to three training sessions should be light to moderate intensity at the most.
How much then?
A bunch of research has been done on high intensity training over the years, and most of it has concluded that 30-40 mins (cumulative) is what you should be aiming for each week.
That is an effort at 85-90% capacity! So it is going pretty hard the whole way!
Now this is part of my love of the CrossFit methodology. Most of our workouts are between the 5 and 12 minute mark in length. This allows for maximum effort in that time, you do three or more of these a week and bingo! You are at that 30-40 mins cumulative per week.
Now, you also should not be smashing yourself each day in a row. And the original CrossFit method knew this, hence the three on days one off, short high intensity days interspersed with longer steady state efforts and heavy days.
It should be built in
So right from the beginning with CrossFit I would see a day where I would go all out! Super hard!!! Then the next day would be a steady state for 20 or 30 mins and I would finish feeling like I could do more, which was the goal that day.
Most of us aren’t professional athletes, we are people that go to work, have a family and social life and just want to be healthy. So we don’t need to smash ourselves into the ground every single day.
A solid exercise program should have three tough, all out efforts in it per week, and two to three lighter efforts, and at least one full rest day, maybe two.
Rest!!! You need it!!!
Yes, full rest days, a light swim, bike ride or walk should be the most that happens on that rest day outside your regular activities. You need to recover, you need those lighter days, otherwise your exercise program designed to have you be fit and healthy could start to push you in the opposite direction!
If you think you have been going a bit too hard, or are feeling a bit run down and tired even though you are working out regularly and it sort of doesn’t feel right, drop me a line and we can sit down, have a chat and assess what you need to do to keep making progress.