Rest
September 12th 2007 09:38
The average person who enters into a fitness program complete with gym membership may well not do it out of some innate attraction to the idea of working against their physical limitations. Probably their presence in the gym has more to do with dissatisfaction than with real interest . For this person the problem is not to pace oneself with the proper level of rest and work. Theirs is a burst of activity for which failure or success will mean a swift good-bye to the world of sweating and laboring.
There are many,however,for whom weight training and cardio workouts have a genuine appeal. Like everyone else they start out with too little knowledge,but their enthusiasm for the activity sustains them until the know-how can season them into life long trainers. In that life of training there are bound to be periods of intensity and other periods of distraction. Today a few comments about the periods of intensity and the balancing rest and work.
The balance of work and rest is always a short term issue. If weight training is to be done properly it cannot really be rushed in the long term. Muscles and leaness are a productive of years and nothing can really change that. There is no substitute for months of training and discipline. The body responds well to the tasks to which it is regularly exposed,but it has its own calendar and will make only so much progress within a given period. The pictures that we see in the before and after sections of diet products are artificially produced by insane amounts of short term dieting and training. That pace is really not sustainable and that fact more than anything else is responsible for a high rate of recidivism among those who have spectacular short term success.
To move toward real fitness the trainer must guard the short term. He/she must constantly make sure that the amount of rest is central to thinking.A short burst in the gym can cause enough damage to require a significant recovery time. Day after day of enthusiastic training of various body parts may be just what is necessary for those individual parts, but the overall effect is one of fatigue and loss of vitality.
To get the most out of your hard work you,the serious trainer, must learn to monitor your body to the point that you are aware of the signs that you are overdoing it. The slightest loss of strength or endurance should tell you that you are on the wrong side of your energy levels. When either reps or weight used is growing, you are doing fine. This calibrating of results and workouts is ongoing. A schedule is a good thing,but it is really a convenience more than anything else.
If the real trainer focuses as much on rest as hard work, there will be results that hard work cannot produce. That is counter intuitive and when a person is inspired hard to implement, but it is true. You will do as much for yourself by resting as hard as you work. Your servant, as always.
There are many,however,for whom weight training and cardio workouts have a genuine appeal. Like everyone else they start out with too little knowledge,but their enthusiasm for the activity sustains them until the know-how can season them into life long trainers. In that life of training there are bound to be periods of intensity and other periods of distraction. Today a few comments about the periods of intensity and the balancing rest and work.
The balance of work and rest is always a short term issue. If weight training is to be done properly it cannot really be rushed in the long term. Muscles and leaness are a productive of years and nothing can really change that. There is no substitute for months of training and discipline. The body responds well to the tasks to which it is regularly exposed,but it has its own calendar and will make only so much progress within a given period. The pictures that we see in the before and after sections of diet products are artificially produced by insane amounts of short term dieting and training. That pace is really not sustainable and that fact more than anything else is responsible for a high rate of recidivism among those who have spectacular short term success.
To move toward real fitness the trainer must guard the short term. He/she must constantly make sure that the amount of rest is central to thinking.A short burst in the gym can cause enough damage to require a significant recovery time. Day after day of enthusiastic training of various body parts may be just what is necessary for those individual parts, but the overall effect is one of fatigue and loss of vitality.
To get the most out of your hard work you,the serious trainer, must learn to monitor your body to the point that you are aware of the signs that you are overdoing it. The slightest loss of strength or endurance should tell you that you are on the wrong side of your energy levels. When either reps or weight used is growing, you are doing fine. This calibrating of results and workouts is ongoing. A schedule is a good thing,but it is really a convenience more than anything else.
If the real trainer focuses as much on rest as hard work, there will be results that hard work cannot produce. That is counter intuitive and when a person is inspired hard to implement, but it is true. You will do as much for yourself by resting as hard as you work. Your servant, as always.
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