Training Intensity

I consulted with a client recently who wanted an exercise program to help her lose weight. She was already walking every day for about 30-40 minutes with her dog. She had a resistance program, which she had been doing at home 2 times a week for about 6 months. She was also taking part in a weekly yoga class, which she enjoyed.

On the face of it, she was doing everything perfectly. While living a busy life she was still managing to be active every day and include a range of cardiovascular, resistance and stretching exercises. Her frustration however was that she wasn’t losing weight despite following her workout plans and eating sensibly. I see this situation a lot. You can have the best program in the world but it will become ineffective if you continue with it longer than 6 weeks and if you fail to increase the training intensity as you progress.

By repeating the same program week in and week out you become better at executing the exercises simply through practice. This means that the program becomes easier each time you go through it rather than harder. We changed the exercises in her program, which instantly increased the demands from her resistance program.

We then looked at the training intensity at which she performed her exercises. To promote a physiological change in the body it needs to be pushed beyond it’s capabilities. There are a number of ways we can manipulate a program to force the body to adapt. Increasing variables such as repetitions, resistance, sets, or decreasing rest periods are simple ways to ensure the program remains a challenge.

I designed a circuit for this client, which meant she had reduced rest times in between exercises. Not only did this increase the intensity in her training program, it meant she could complete her resistance workouts in 30 minutes rather than the 45 minutes it had taken her previously. I then set out a training plan whereby each week she had a goal to increase the repetitions she performed. When she reached a set number of repetitions she increased the resistance for that exercise. That way, as she improved, the program evolved to meet her increased demands.

We used the same simple philosophy to increase the intensity in her walking plan. I asked her to time her regular walking route and challenged her to try to decrease the time it took to walk it each week. Much to her poor dogs dismay I also had her alternate her regular route with other walks, which included more demanding hills. By asking her to walk faster and to include hills in her walks, the intensity in her walking plan was increased.

To stimulate weight loss through exercise it is important to maintain the training intensity in your program as your fitness improves. This was what was missing in my client’s original plan.