How much exercise is enough?
The Basic Overview.
Your workout should consist of full body exercises that are intense enough to reach momentary muscular failure. You should work hard and intensionally in the gym, be mindful of post-workout nutrition and allow your body enough time to make adaptions and recover fully before beginning the cycle again.
Frequency
At Muscles in Motion, we recommend only working out 1 or 2 times per week. High Intensity Training pushes you to your maximum intensity level, ideally reaching Momentary Muscular Failure. When you get to the fatigue threshold you are make physiological changes to the tissues, too much exercise doesn’t allow enough time for those changes to completely recover.
Intensity
Make each exercise it’s own event, focus on reaching failure while maintaining proper form. You can expect to spend roughly 1-2 minutes per exercise before reaching fatigue and moving to a new exercise with a total of 8-12 exercises per 30-minute workout. With such a short amount of time given to each exercise, it is important to give 100% effort so that you are reaching a high level of intensity and getting maximum results.
Balance
The body works as a whole, don’t skip muscle groups and be mindful of any imbalances (upper body/lower body, right side/left side). At Muscles in Motion, we have several pieces of equipment that work iso-laterally meaning each side moves independently. If you have an injury or weakness on one side of your body, the worst thing you can is avoid strengthening it all together! Working with a personal trainer can be a great way to safely begin to build strength and mobility without aggravation.
Recovery
Reaching failure in the gym sparks the physiological change in your body but the real magic happens during recovery! We cannot stress enough how important proper nutrition, rest and recovery is as part of a successful workout routine. Working out too often doesn’t allow adequate time for the body to recover and fully make the adaptions needed to become stronger.