A bear however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.
A.A. Milne
I’ve really enjoyed seeing how lockdown in the UK, has made people get outdoors, appreciate fresh air, space and exercise. People are acutely aware of their health and trying to keep fit, active and importantly noticing the benefits to their mental health from spending a small amount of time outdoors during the day. I think it’s great! I really do hope people continue the healthy habits their currently developing.
But will our one daily exercise make us fitter?
Well, it can do, if we’re using our exercise time wisely. The problem with going out for an hour’s walk with the dog every single day, is that this becomes the body’s new normal. It’s the same with food and why I don’t advocate low calorie starvation diet – the body is really good at adapting to lower calorie inputs and higher calorie expenditures. In the very beginning, we will see our progress improve massively – we will notice we cover more ground than before when we are walking, we might even see a little fat loss and toning if we are sticking to a healthy diet. But how do we maintain progress? How do we avoid getting stuck in a rut and giving up?
I’ve compiled my top tips for making the most of your one daily exercise – these tips can all be rolled forward to your life after lockdown and the good news is, the plan isn’t just to keep doing more and more, in some cases, it means doing less!
1. Rest
Odd to start with the exact opposite of exercise in an article about exercise isn’t it?! But what science repeatedly tells us, is that we only get fitter when we are RESTING. As an athlete, one of the biggest challenges is balancing the amount of training I need to get fitter, stronger and faster, with the amount of recovery I need to achieve my best workouts. If I complete a hard running workout with lots of hills, running as fast as I can, I know that I have pushed my muscles to the limit and they will need lots of rest and appropriate food to get them recovered and get rid of all the nasty toxins that have build up in them. I will need fuel to restock my protein and carbohydrate stores and build stronger muscles for my next workout. Rest is really important because it not only allows you to enter your next exercise session feeling pumped up and ready to go, but it is also when your body gets fitter. When you strain your body, you cause damage. Your body responds to this by building your body back, stronger than it was before. Imagine you build a shed in your garden and one day the wind blows it down. Would you build it back to the same specification, or would you reinforce it with stronger wood, longer nails, better glue? Your body is just a really advanced shed!
I structure my rest in lots of ways; I look at how much rest I get in between two sessions and also how much rest I need in “blocks” of training. Essentially, I don’t do the same number of hours training at the same intensity every week. I need to allow my body some down time, so every 3 weeks, I have a “rest week”, where I let my body kick back ever so slightly – I always feel great after this week!
2. Push yourself!
It seems obvious, but many people aren’t very good at it. My Dad always told me that I wouldn’t know my limits until I’d actually hit breaking point. Now I’m not suggesting you need to go out and make yourself throw up after every 5k run, but I am suggesting you really ask yourself this question: Could I try harder? Sometimes, we need to have workouts that push us to our absolute limits. This might be by having encouragement in a group workout (try online group classes in the Fiit app or maybe a virtual challenge on an app like Strava) or structured weekly challenges between friends. I don’t suggest doing workouts to your absolute maximum capacity all the time, but fitting in some workouts where you promise you will give 100% is really useful in getting you fit. You shouldn’t be able to talk during these workouts! The main work might only last 20 minutes, but it will be as valuable as an hour of running if you get it right…
3. Stop doing the same thing.
The body is clever. It adapts. As I said in the introduction to this article, the body will plateau and stop responding to the same daily exercise; your fitness gains will slow and you will become disheartened. This is where we think about making our routines interesting, changing things up, finding out what we do and don’t like and mixing up rest days/weeks and really intense workouts to create a varied, exciting and effective exercise plan. I always plan in a couple of workouts each week, where I do nothing but say “I will go out and run/cycle for x amount of time and just enjoy the world.” I will often take the dog running over some forgotten trails or take my bike out and stop at the top of the hills to take photos of the views. The important thing is to keep your exercise varied, not only for your body’s benefit, to reap the rewards longer term, but to keep your mind exercise and remind you to appreciate the fact that you are able to get out and exercise and what a beautiful world we live in sometimes!
4. Think laterally…
So you can’t go to the gym right now. You can’t go out for a group ride to your favourite coffee stop. You can’t get to the pool and splash about with your mates. But what can you do? An hour trying flat out on the bike will confer as much fitness on you as a long slow plod to the coffee shop – if not more! Rather than focusing on what we can’t achieve, let’s think about what we can do instead. Here’s some alternatives I’ve found:
- A fun challenge for weights around the house – what can I lift instead of dumbbells? How many moves can I find that work with this object since I can’t get to the gym?
- Use bungee cords if you can’t get resistance bands (resistance band workouts are my new favourite by the way!) and replicate swimming movements to help maintain swim muscle – there are loads of exercises you can find online for this.
- Hill reps – if you don’t want to go far from home and want a great training session, find a hill near your house and go up and down the hill – you’ll soon find an hour seems like a very long time with this workout!
- Take your turbo trainer outside – if you’re like me and you have a turbo trainer to set your bike up on, why not set it up under a brolly in the sun on the patio?
- Workout apps! Loads of these are free or have free trials at the moment. Why not try something new like yoga or a strength workout you haven’t done before?
- Try a handicap with your significant other – who is faster? Let them set off a designated period of time behind you and see if you can stay ahead without them catching you before the end of the course! You can’t go to races, but this might motivate you just as much…
5. Remember you can’t exercise out a bad diet.
There is no point, planning a great week of exercise, if you round off every session with an Easter egg and a pint. Sorry. We’re all guilty of doing a bit of comfort eating right now – me included! – but we must be aware of how this will limit our fitness gains. Now is a great time to create healthy habits as we have time to invest in creating a really positive, healthy environment for ourselves with time to experiment with healthy recipes, new ingredients and new flavours. You wouldn’t put cooking oil in a Ferrari and expect it to perform the same, so don’t clog up your system with rubbish either!
Keep Going!
So while one outdoor exercise a day might be great, we need to think carefully about how we use that time to maximise the benefits and reap the rewards as well as make sure we’re forging great long term health habits. It isn’t easy. We all have wobbles and we all are able to pick ourselves back up. So don’t give up when the going gets tough!
I have spent a great deal of time over the last decade, researching, listening and testing science and advice for my own medal-winning triathlon training schedules. Ultimately, when I’ve put the groundwork in and followed my plan, I’ve succeeded. At the Wonder Clinic, I apply the same principles with my clients; we talk about challenges, goals and steps we can take to maximise time efficiency and get the best out of each individual.
I will leave you with a quote from a dear running friend of mine, who’s mantra I repeat at the start of every race and whenever it gets hard, or I ask if I could put a bit more effort in…
Be comfortable with your uncomfortable.
Anonymous.
To find out more about success and confidence building at the Wonder Clinic, check out my facebook page (facebook.com/wonderclinicSW) and to get inspiring tips for a liberated and successful life, sign up for my mailing list below. Each month, you will receive your copy of “Wonder Clinic Flex”, with video and blog highlights including fitness tips, recipes and skin care advice, to empower independent women to liberate themselves from make up.
https://confirmsubscription.com/h/t/6F6B460D8C8738BC