Personal trainer Janet Roget will answer questions about fitness for readers of Active-Style.
Take a deep breath and relax. I have a fitness suggestion for you that will ease your mind, take stress out of your day and spice up your tired workout routine.
I am giving you a workout that packs a wallop in the time it takes you to drive to the gym. It’s quick and efficient and does not require equipment. It can be done in your home, at the park or on the beach and can adapt to fit all ages and fitness levels. I should know, because last week I had a variety of my clients complete this workout, with much success.
But there is one drawback. You have to take a leap of faith and believe, as many exercise scientists tell us, that short bouts of high-intensity intervals interspersed with heart-thumping upper and lower body exercises can provide as much benefit as longer endurance training, but in much less time.
For workout-a-holics who spend hours riding a bicycle or pounding the pavement, substituting a short workout might be emotionally difficult. For the sake of your body, however, it is worth consideration.
When I was studying for my personal trainer certification, I had the advantage of training under Tom Purvis, a young man who is now one of the top fitness educators in the world. His sage advice to a roomful of personal trainer hopefuls has guided me all these years. Standing in front of the class, he asked, “How many would believe me if I told you the best thing you could do for your body would be to kick back for two weeks and not exercise?” You could hear a pin drop in the room. We were aghast at his suggestion and could not comprehend taking a break from our daily exercise fix. All that hard work down the drain.
But he was right. To get stronger, muscles need adequate time between workouts to rest and refresh. Bodies under the constant strain of exercise need a timeout from the wear and tear of daily grinding to heal. For some hardcore exercisers, overdoing it leads to injuries and burnout. Maybe you don’t need to stop working out for two weeks, but changing up your workout can rest overused muscles and provide positive mental and physical benefits.
So it was with interest that I read a recent study published in the American College of Sports Medicine’s ASCM’s Health & Fitness Journal that recommended a specific high-intensity interval training workout that results in many of the same benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time (see “High-Intensity Circuit Training Using Body Weight” in the May/June issue).
In the recommended workout, 12 exercises are performed for 30 seconds in rapid succession with little or no rest between exercises. The prescribed workout combines exercises that target the large muscles of the upper and lower body while mixing in bouts of intervals using only body weight. The authors suggest this workout should last about seven minutes. But when I used the protocol with my clients, no one finished all 12 exercises in just seven minutes, even my fittest clients.
My super-fit clients in the forty something age group finished all 12 exercises (with only 10 to 15 seconds rest between exercises) in about nine minutes, and after a 5-minute water break, repeated the workout two more times before falling down on the floor, crying “uncle.”
In the middle were the clients in my own age group (late 50s, early 60s), most of whom repeated all 12 exercises two times, resting as long as needed between each exercise.Age, as it turns out, allows for a more relaxed and sane attitude, as I found out when I worked with my older adults (80 years and older), who performed the exercises with modifications and allowed for rest and water breaks between each one. They were content to finish one round, but they all enjoyed it and pronounced it challenging.
Below is the workout program, complete with my suggested modifications for age and ability levels. The fittest should attempt to finish all exercises without a break until the end, then repeat the order again, but for all others, rest accordingly. The 30-second time period works the best for all levels.
Jumping jacks. Older adults can mimic jumping jacks with the hand motions, but should lift only one leg at a time.
Wall sit. Older adults can limit the degree of the squat but all others should aim for a 90-degree squat.
Push-ups. Knee pushups are applicable for all but the fittest bodies.
Abdominal crunches. After doing the push-ups, older adults can rest on the floor before beginning these.
Step-ups. The fittest group can step up and down on a bench continuously for 30 seconds while older adults can use stairs.
Squats. All age groups can do this to some degree.
Triceps dips. Use a chair, bench, low wall or stairs for your hands.
Elbow plank. This is appropriate for all ages and ability levels.
High knees. The fittest can run in place with high knees while older adults can stand in place and lift one knee at a time in a slow and methodical pattern.
Lunges. Older adults can take a big step forward, push back to a standing position, then step forward with the other leg.
Push-ups with rotation. Older adults can skip this one.
Side plank. Older adults can perform a side elbow plank with one knee on the floor and the other leg straight.
While there is value in the traditional strength training and endurance workouts, this exercise protocol is proved to offer benefits that make it a valuable addition to your weekly routine.
Resting your body and adding variety to your workouts will help you stay injury-free and fresh in body and spirit.
Write to personal trainer Janet Roget in care of ActiveStyle at P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail
ActiveStyle, Pages 29 on 05/27/2013