When it comes to exercise, routine is your enemy. Your body should constantly be forced to guess what crazy new workouts you decide to put yourself through. This practice inhibits your muscles and physiological systems from gradually adapting to the demands you place on them. While some training programs address this adaptation by completely changing the workout program’s set, rep, and exercise routine every 4-8 weeks, I’d like to explain a less common idea: changing the daily intensity. For the purposes of this article, I will be incorporating three different intensities - high, medium, and low. With a routine like this, you won’t have to worry about switching your workout mode every few weeks, as long as you constantly plug and play new exercises.
Think of your body as a car’s engine. Low intensity would involve idling at a stoplight. Your primary fuel is fat, and your actual caloric expenditure is low. There is still a good amount of blood flow to exercising muscles, but the actual cardiovascular stress and fiber tearing in the muscle is minimal. You are not breathing hard, conversation with your fellow gym-goers is fairly non-stressful, and muscles really don’t burn all that much. Such an intensity is great for a recovery workout, or for a strength/power workout with long rests between sets. You could potentially go for several hours at this intensity and still be able to do another workout the next day.
You’re cruising down the highway when in medium-intensity mode. Breathing and heart rate become a bit more rapid, you can feel a burn in the working muscles, and the primary fuel is a mixture of fat and carbohydrate. Mental focus is typically a little higher than low-intensity mode, and the workout itself is challenging, but not daunting. You can usually exercise the next day, but typically want to avoid stressign the same muscle groups.
In high-intensity mode, you are working at a 100%, all-out effort. Muscles are constantly burning, breathing and heart rate are very high, carbohydrate is the main fuel source, and caloric expenditure is through the roof (as is your post-workout metabolism). The entire body is tired after this type of workout and you generally need about 24 hours of rest of very easy work afterwards. Many times, it can be difficult to mentally force yourself to *begin* one of these kind of workouts, although once you launch into and the adrenaline kicks in, energy levels naturally rise.
The key to the sample training program outlined below that the low, medium and high intensities are stacked so that your body optimally responds and optimally recovers from each workout. So here is a sample daily-intensity based workout for a fairly frequent 6 day work-out routine.
Day 1 (i.e. Monday): high-intensity cardio intervals (shorter, i.e. 20 minutes) with high-intensity full body resistance training (longer, i.e. 45 minutes), incorporating back-to-back sets, challenging weights, difficult training scenarios, and short rest periods.
Day 2: low-intensity cardio, long and steady (i.e. 45 minutes+), with no lifting. Good day for an outdoor workout, like a hike or easy bike ride.
Day 3: high-intensity cardio intervals with medium-intensity full body lift, incorporating primarily body weight training. Great day to experiment and try new exercises and/or group exercise classes.
Day 4: low-intensity cardio, long and steady (i.e. 45 minutes+), with no lifting.
Day 5: medium-intensity cardio (shorter, i.e. 20 minutes) with low-intensity lifting (longer, i.e. 45 minutes),. For the lifting, incorporate heavier weights with longer rest periods, and focus on slow and controlled movements with perfect form and little to no ballistic activity.
Day 6: high-intensity cardio (longer, i.e. 45 minutes) with high-intensity full body resistance training (shorter, i.e. 20 minutes). Great day to try the Weekly Trainer Challenge, plus some extra cardio.
Day 7: active rest. Does not equal couch+bon-bons. Get up and move around, but just don’t stress your body too much.
There you have it. This type of exercise routine allows for sufficient recovery after the high-intensitiy periods, while still allowing for maximum caloric burning and efficient workouts. There are many different ways you could approach such a routine (in terms of exercises, specific cardio intervals, etc.). Just let me know if I can help you put a training plan together…you can e-mail me at elite@pacificfit.net.
Head trainer Ben Greenfield runs the online training website Pacific Elite Fitness, and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Sport Science and Exercise Physiology, as well as certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Personal Trainer and Strength and Conditioning Coach (NSCA-CPT & CSCS). For over 6 years, Ben has coached and trained professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes, and helped hundreds of individuals achieve their personal fitness goals. For more information on online personal training and fitness, contact Ben at elite@pacificfit.net.
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