“Your progress depends upon your degree of sustained intensity in a given direction. –Roger McDonald, The Message of a Master”
There are some weeks, when it comes to exercise, you can feel on top of the world and find yourself working out really hard all the time. At the time this can feel great, and feel like you are coming into your peak when it comes to fitness and ability to give your all.
This is great!!
However, and I have seen it many times, you can eventually come crashing down. You can find yourself feeling shattered and a bit broken. You then start to take a few days rest, a few days then turns to a week, a week then turns in to two weeks, and so on. All of a sudden you have not exercised for a long while, fitness levels have dropped, feeling nervous about trying to exercise again and consequently your exercise and nutrition habits may have fallen by the wayside.
All of this coming from one or two weeks of super intense exercise.
This is exactly why we emphasise the importance of exercise consistency over intensity, and you should never try and let your intensity affect your consistency.
Consistency is really the key to lasting results with your health in all areas.
Which one are you most likely to stick to, and which do you think is going to be best when it comes to helping you consistently progress your fitness and health?
3-4 times per week, with adequate recovery in between each session.
Or, 6 times per week, with a week off to recover.
Furthermore, which one do you think will allow you to consistently keep up consistent exercise intensity?
Psychologically if you have planned your week of exercise to have days to push it hard, followed by days to take it a bit easier, you will unconsciously allow yourself to really give it your all in your intensity session because you will know that you don’t have to back it up the next day with another massive effort. Give it a go!
There’s also the cortisol factor as well.. When you train with intensity all the time, you push your cortisol levels up, (that’s your stress hormone). If you are stressed and cortisol is running around in your system for too long, you’ll hold more belly fat. So those rest days are super important for a flat tummy… Aaah… Nice. So it’s all in the balance.
So next time you are thinking of trying to go hell for leather and exercise every day, just think about what impact this might have on the other elements of your health and fitness routine and your ability to keep up your consistency.