Exercise - Establishing A Routine
Establishing a routine with exercise is more difficult for most people than just about anything else they do. In actuality, it’s not that hard once you’ve been doing it for a little while. Most people that struggle with finding time for exercise are doing so because they are trying to “fit in” exercise, depending on the events for the day. Establishing a routine with exercise involves planning it into your schedule, developing workouts ahead of time, and mixing things up.
Effective exercise programming involves planning it into your schedule while you are not tired. This suggests that you would be more likely to succeed with your fat loss goals if you choose to schedule in advance for an entire month, instead of each day. For example, you may choose to exercise at 8am on Mondays, but 5pm on Thursdays. This is perfectly normal, but planning for exercise to be as binding as a doctor’s appointment is a suggested strategy for success.
Establishing an exercise routine also involves developing workouts ahead of time. My most successful clients all plan their workout routines for a week at a time, instead of day by day. The advantage of this, of course, is that you will choose a larger variety of exercise, stimulate new areas for strengthening each week, and have a targeted plan to reach all areas of your body. When you consider it, exercise selection today should affect tomorrow’s workout anyway, right?
Knowing when to repeat exercise with a muscle group can be a difficult decision, although this is another topic in itself. Traditionally, most fitness professionals would recommend you rest at least two days before repeating a muscle group when exercising for pure strength. On the other hand, exercising for endurance may allow you to repeat exercises and muscle groups more frequently.
Finally, in order to manage your time effectively with exercise, you’ll need to consider having a variety of exercises in your routine. The typical exercise program repeats once or twice a week, indefinitely. This allows your body to acclimate to the exercise demands placed upon it, thereby decreasing your results over time and leading to plateau. By selecting a larger variety of exercise, as can be done with proper workout development skills, you will be constantly stimulating your body to react to new demands, and thereby increasing fat loss and fitness results. For this reason, marathon runners are able to look relaxed while running at insane speeds. After awhile, the human body accommodates this ‘abnormal’ demand, and learns to burn fewer calories and conserve more energy. The same thing is true with your exercise program. Be careful not to make this mistake.