I’m sure many of you would love to know which exercise plan is the best for strength, fat loss or just general health and fitness. I’m often asked, “What’s the perfect workout?” And my answer may surprise you - there’s no such thing. Let me explain.
It's All About Variety
For starters, your body is highly adaptive, meaning that the workout you’re currently using will stop producing results rather quickly. Once an exercise stops becoming a challenge, your body no longer has a reason to improve its performance. Sure, you can try adding more weight, sets, and reps, but progress will ultimately slow to a snail’s pace. There’s a saying, “The best program is the one you’re not on”, and it’s totally true - your best workout really is ahead of you.
Plus, you can’t dismiss the mental aspects of exercise. So often we focus only on the physical changes a particular workout can bring, without thinking of the positive mental and emotional benefits. Depending on your mood, needs or just how you feel on a particular day, your “perfect workout” may vary, and serve different purposes. Perhaps you need to clear your head and a Yoga session is in order, or you’re feeling nervous energy, so maybe a few rounds on the boxing bag fit the bill. Or maybe you just want to sweat so you jump on a bike and try a 90-minute Spin class.
The good news is that there ARE certain elements a perfect workout should include. Often times I come across trainees that don’t use enough variety in their workouts – it’s all weights, all cardio, all classes, with very little crossover. Generally people stick with one mode of exercise because they like the “look” it provides, or feel it’s the best way to lose weight. If that sounds like you, chances are your program is lacking completeness. I’m a huge proponent of being fit, not just looking it. And trust me, there’s a huge difference between the two.
Key Aspects of Fitness
I gear exercise programs towards what I consider key aspects of health and fitness; cardiovascular conditioning, strength and stability, balance and core and flexibility. Exercise is like a question, and the results they provide are the answers. So the more questions you ask, the more answers you’ll get, the more fit and healthy you’ll be.
When I look at a week’s worth of activity, I’ll have a day where I focus more on weight training, one that’s more conditioning based, another for balance and stability exercises, one that includes specific core work, etc. You get the idea. Or I may just have several days that are cross training workouts that encompass all of these aspects of training. But it’s always multi-dimensional. A simple way to change things up is reverse the order of exercises, start in the middle, or add jumping jacks between sets. Just do something different than the last time around.
I very rarely perform the same workout twice, nor do any of my training clients. When you train with variety, not only is it more fun and less predictable, but also, it’s actually great for your body and productive towards your goals. I know what you’re going to say, that you have your own unique goals and needs. I have news for you, most of us want the same thing – to be normal weight, toned, fit and healthy. And while you may personally have to focus more on one area or another, varied training programs work across the board with most trainees.
If you remember to use a variety of exercises and constantly change your program, every workout can be perfect!