Exercise Intensity: How To Determine What’s Appropriate

Intensity is a word often misunderstood in the fitness community. Many believe, in order to see results, they need a workout that leaves them vomiting, sweating buckets, and hardly walking the next day. There’s also the opposite end of the spectrum where reading the newspaper and pedaling aimlessly on a recumbent bike go hand in hand toward being fit.

With most things in fitness, you’ll find the answer to any question (In this case, “How do I lose weight or body fat?) somewhere in the middle of two extremes. Obviously, this scenario is no different.

There is a time to ramp things up (not to the point of puking) and a time to scale things back a bit. They’re both ok to do. The problem arises when we try to push ourselves to the extreme each and every workout.

That’s analogous to keeping your foot on the gas pedal as long as possible. Do this for too long and you will run out of gas quickly. You need to be able to hit the brakes from time to time and recover.

The obvious question then becomes, “How do I know when to ramp up and when to scale back?” Here’s an easy way to think about it.

If you have an event such as a wedding or a beach vacation coming up in a couple months, this would be the perfect time to kick things up a notch. There are 3 big things to focus on in a scenario like this: lifting heavy weights for high reps, performing interval training several times per week, and eating better.

Resistance training and interval training will elevate testosterone and growth hormone providing the perfect stimulus for fat loss. You’re effort here must be high and there is little room for mistakes.

Changing your food is always going to provide you with the best results, so you will need to clean things up very quickly here. More protein (meat and eggs), a moderate amount of good fats (coconut oil and avocado), and good carbs (fruits, veggies, quinoa) are a must.

If you do not have any important events coming up then don’t be afraid to take it down a notch. I’m not saying don’t worry about your results, because they will still come. What I’m saying is not to rush things, and don’t worry if you have a bad day.

In this phase, you should be: lifting heavy weights although feel free to vary your rep ranges here (2-6, 8-12, 15-20 are a few examples), doing some intervals, walking every so often, doing some corrective exercise, and focusing on creating new dietary habits.

Here the focus is a little broader. Resistance training and interval training are still integral components. So are walking and corrective exercise, two important things for improving the way your body feels and moves. Mistakes are ok here, just don’t let them control you.

You can see intensity is the main difference in these two examples. Not only with exercise but nutrition as well.

Notice, the second approach will take longer. In the big event scenario, you have to totally overhaul your entire way of eating. And you must do it rapidly, with very little mistakes.

This is difficult, but rewarding. The only problem is that it’s almost impossible to do this for the rest of your life.

In the second scenario, the focus is on creating habits that will change your dietary lifestyle. This takes time, but is well worth the effort. The advantage here is that you create changes that last a lifetime.

In both of these examples, you will see results. But again, the danger is in being in scenario one all the time. Trust me, you will get burnt out.

You can become so focused on crushing yourself in the gym and not eating one bad thing that stress piles up. The next thing you know, you’ve gained 5 pounds and you’re clothes aren’t fitting well.

When you scale back the intensity, you are working on your physique but also your quality of life. That is an important thing to take note of. You not only want to look better, but move and feel better too.

This a simple approach, but that’s ok. There’s no need to make it complicated.

British novelist Amelia Barr said, “It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.” Focus on the simple things and watch the marvelous changes that unfold.

Photo credit: http://www.dailyhiit.com/hiit-blog/hiit-life/build-crossfit-style-gym-home/