You would have heard the saying, “Work harder or work smarter”. Many people fail to achieve their physical goals because they execute an exercise program that doesn’t compliment their lifestyle or they approach their program in the wrong way. Some people believe that working out intensely means you need to be aggressive. Actually, it means you need to push your body outside of its comfort zone so it can adapt. Whether you want to get big, lean or toned, how you approach the intensity of your workouts will determine how soon you will start to see results.
Here are some things that you should consider when working out.
When doing cardiovascular activity, measure your intensity in relation to your maximum heart rate.
One of the common mistakes that people make when they are doing a cardio workout is they believe that their workout has been productive because of the amount of sweat that their body has produced. Sweat is actually a cooling mechanism for the body, so more sweat just means that your body’s temperature needs to cool down. If you are working out in a hot or humid room, you might not need a hard workout to break a sweat.
A more accurate measurement is tracking your heart rate over the amount of time that you have been working out for. For example, participating in cardio activity for 10 minutes with an elevated heart rate of 150 beats per minute could see you burn more than 100 calories.
By knowing your body’s maximum heart rate, you can then perform cardiovascular exercise in the elevated heart rate’s ‘fat burning zone’. Typically, a workout at 50-60% of your maximum heart rate will suffice. However, if you can improve your stamina to perform at 80% of your maximum heart rate, you will achieve your fat loss goals quicker, while spending less time exercising.
Conduct hypertrophy resistance training until failure.
Doing the right weight training will force your muscles to grow, be well defined and can also act as a cardio agent for fat loss. This is usually accomplished by doing hypertrophy training. Movements usually consist of 15 repetitions or more for three sets.
If possible, workouts should consist of compound exercises where two or more muscle groups are used at the same time.
It’s important that the resistance weights that are used force the muscles into failure at 15 reps. If not, the weight is too light or too heavy and you will be working at a much lower intensity.
People that implement this approach typically see dramatic results within the three months of their workout. After 12 months, people usually undergo a complete transformation.
Why don’t you try taking up the challenge?
Set a 90-day transformation goal by committing to workout at an intensity level above 80%. Measure your progress on a weekly basis and let us know how you perform in the comments section below.