Sunday, June 3, 2012

Consistency, Efficiency, And Variation!


We all want to get what and where we want in the fastest amount of time. Any route that seems long or neverending is most often avoided. This habit is good for technology and the economy but does not do our bodies any good when it comes to health and fitness. The thought of a long term fitness plan that has an end is pointless. Exercise is something that should be done on a daily basis for the rest of your life. The key to exercising the right way, for the rest of your life, is to do it the safest way possible. Getting continuous results from your health and fitness routine without injuring ourselves depends on consistency, efficiency and variation.

Consistency can be achieved by always putting time for exercise on your schedule and never missing a workout. The more consistent you are the more results you will get. Consistency will also result in your body adapting to the conditions that you put it through on a regular basis. If you exercised one day a week for 1 hour, you would be a lot fitter than you would be 5 years from now without exercise. To be consistent we must pay attention to the other two factors that keep you getting what you want out of your fitness routine.




With variation in your routine you are able to do intense training for a long period of time. Variation allows for you not to place high demands repeatedly on the same joints all the time. It is important to do things in moderation and avoid doing the same thing every time you come to the gym. Venture into the unknown every time you plan your workouts. For your workouts to stay exciting and shocking to your muscles you must be willing to change. Changing up your workouts will help you become skillful in multiple areas, keeping you from just going through the motions. Overtime you will see better results while enhancing other skills like functional strength, explosiveness, and stability. The goals is ultimately to make fitness a lifestyle and consistency and variation will lead you in that direction, but not without the last key factor; Efficiency!
Once you have a pretty solid workout schedule and you are able to maintain it consistently while adding variation, it is important that you are doing things the right way. Efficiency adds more value to every workout while making your workouts safe and accurate.  Accurate meaning that you are focusing on the right areas while in the midst of training.  Being efficient with your routine also allows you to get the results that you are working for.  For example, to be efficient with your cardio routine you must be in a certain heart rate zone to increase your metabolism while you are not working out.  To get the result you aim for, you must eat the right amount of food which have the proper nutrient balance your activity level requires. Being efficient allows you to learn more dynamic movements and increase the amount of weight you are lifting without causing an injury.  Following a balanced nutritional plan while doing your cardio and resistance training consistently is the baseline for being efficient.  Once you have these three methods of fitness down, that is half the battle.  To be more efficient you must structure each method to best get your results in the fastest time possible.



Finding what works best to get the results you want may take a while.  Understanding your body and how it responds to exercise and nutrients is difficult and is learned on a trial and error basis.  Focusing on being consistent, having variation, and being efficient is the best advice given if you plan to succeed.  Eventually, in due time, you will see your results.  It is always key to aim for perfection while following your fitness routine.  You may not reach perfection but to get close you can never stop trying.  Stopping will only set you back and is pointless.  Instead focus on the key points that make a workout last a long time.