It sounds to good to be true, right?

Many people vow to get to the gym, workout more and try to “melt” off those lbs.  When I was a fitness instructor, I loved this time of year because it meant new energy and full classes.  While working on my Ph.D. in exercise physiology, most people I interacted with were already very fit so the new year usually meant new training goals (marathon? century ride? half Ironman?).  It also meant more hours spent exercising, and a renewed commitment to stay healthy.  All of the above our excellent goals, but as we know the follow through is an issue for most people.  What do you usually see at the gym this time of year?  For those that stay committed, the seem to plod along on some machine with eyes glued to the calorie output.  There is little joy, but lots of fatigue and boredom.

Shorter Workouts

My Winter training goals are always the same, keep fitness up enough that when Spring finally comes, I can enjoy the outdoor activities that I love.  Because this is a very busy time of year, my workouts tend to be short, but intentional.  What do I mean by short?  Sometimes 25-30 minutes, more often 45 minutes and on that rare day I may have the luxury of no time limits and stay for an hour or more.  For some, 25 minutes may seem impossible to fit in, and for others, they may be used to logging 2 hours at the gym every day.  But the key to maintain (or build) strength and aerobic fitness with this amount of time is the intentional nature of each workout.

What is the Purpose of Your Workout?

Evaluating the overall goal is key.  Then you can decide what individual workouts you will need to accomplish that goal.  If your goal is weight loss, perhaps there is more days of cardio and less of strength.  If you are trying to add strength, perhaps less cardio and more strength.  For me, it is to maintain aerobic fitness and strength.  This means that my days are divided into short interval workouts (cardio), a day with plyometrics and strength, moderate cardio workouts, an easy day, and a rest day.  In the Winter, compared to Summer, I do not do any long cardio or strength workouts.   In addition, every workout is different!  You also don’t need to do each component in each workout.  But the key to the shorter workouts, is keeping moving from one exercise to the next and keep the intensity up.

An Example Week

In an ideal week (Sunday through Saturday), this is how the workouts would break down.  I change the days depending on my time and what is available to me on that day.

• Day 1: Moderate intensity cardio workout-skate skiing (45min) or outdoor run (30min) or elliptical (30min)
• Day 2: High intensity interval-running (20 min) or spinning (30 min)
• Day 3: Power and strength-plyometrics or agility drills & strength (4-5 exercises and repeat 5-8 times: 25 min)
• Day 4: Rest day-rest or light walk (30 min) or yoga class (60min)
• Day 5: High intensity interval-running (20min) or spinning (30min)
• Day 6: Power and strength-plyometrics or agility drills & strength (4-5 exercises and repeat 5-8 times: 25 min)
• Day 7: Easy day with light intensity-spinning or elliptical (30min)

So, 4 of the 7 days are high intensity, 1 day is a challenging cardio workout, with two easy or rest days.  All in all, it is about ~4 hours per week of exercise, which is half of what I used to do, and about half of what I do in the middle of the Summer (in the Summer, the intensity is lower).  There is only 1 day per week where I am plodding along (Day 7).  The primary workouts are short, intentionally, and challenging (Day 1, 2, 3, 5, 6).  For Day 3 and 6, a great place to start is the NYT 7-minute workout.  You can select a few exercises to repeat in a circuit.

High Intensity

High intensity workouts are trending right now, but as most exercise physiologists will tell you, athletes have been training this way for centuries.  Adding high intensity to your routine, particularly in the Winter when days are shorter, can build fitness fast and in less time then plodding along on a machine while staring at a computer screen.  With high intensity, you should spend a few minutes warming up and cooling down.  It is also important to add easier days to balance out the high intensity ones.  The easy days and rest days are important to reduce overall fatigue.  If you are able to do high intensity every day, you are doing something wrong!  They should be fatiguing enough that you need a day to recover.  This requires you be very intentional and have a goal for each day.  Each workout is an accomplishment.  Each workout you are making progress!

Here’s to a healthy, happy new year, filled with high intensity!