Welcome to afitnewyou! Today I would like to emphasize just how much
of a positive impact one day of exercise can have on your fitness. We often hear guidelines suggesting that we
should exercise, or at least be physically active, seven days a week. While I agree 100% with those guidelines in
that you should be physically active everyday, I also understand that meeting
those guidelines can be intimidating for people who are not regularly
physically active. Instead of being helpful,
the guidelines become overbearing and keep people from starting a fitness
routine. And I am not saying that you
should exercise only one day a week either; rather, I am saying adding a day of
exercise to what you are currently doing will have a major impact on your
fitness level. People who come to the
gym for the first time planning on training 5 days a week have the best
intentions. But, if that schedule is
unrealistic, especially if they are coming from doing nothing regularly, it can
actually become detrimental. However,
adding one additional day of physical activity to what you are already doing
will reap huge fitness gains in the long run.
Elliot is a client of mine who at
his highest fitness level was training with me three days a week. Coming in a few days a week allowed us a
great deal of flexibility and variation in his exercise plans. We kept all of his progress in a notebook,
and you could easily see that he progressed to his strongest during this
training frequency. A couple of years
ago he got very busy at work and had to cut back his training down to only once
a week. Coming in less often required a
change in his training regimen and overtime, led to a decrease in his
strength. However, six months ago his
work schedule had changed again and Elliot started training at least twice a
week with me. This additional day had
once again enabled his strength to progress again and he is nearing his
personal bests again.
I continue to say that doing
something is better than nothing, especially when that something is done
well. But doing something more than what
you are already doing allows the body to be stressed more to the point where it
has to adapt. If the something you are
doing is physical activity, your body will adapt in a healthy way. If you haven’t been physically active on a
regular basis, don’t be intimidated into thinking you need to start a seven day
fitness routine; you will be amazed by the results you will see by simply
adding one day of regular, physical activity!
And if you are already regularly active adding one more day to your routine
will reap benefits as well!
I often tell my clients, like
Elliot, who have scheduling conflicts that from a physiological stand point,
exercising one day a week is good for maintenance, but, exercising more than
once a week will allow you to see “gains” in the gym. As I mentioned earlier, the body needs stress
in order to adapt, and the stress needs to be repeated. JT is another client of mine who had recently
upped the number of days he came into the gym after only coming in once a week
due to various reasons. He begrudgingly
had to agree with me after he saw improvements in his balance training and the
workouts overall got easier from simply coming into the gym one more day a week.
Whether you are someone who isn’t currently,
regularly active or, you are already on a consistent training routine, simply
adding one more day to your weekly routine will reap major benefits. It would be fantastic if we could all find
the time to train seven days a week. But
in reality that’s hard for most of us, but by adding just one more day of
activity will be advantageous to everyone.
Starting small will give you the foundation to reach bigger goals. Once comfortable, add just one more day to what
you are doing now will help you reach a fit new you!
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