… and at times, excruciating.
I'm with famed paleo blogger Art Devany when it comes to
exercise. Workouts should never be dreaded or worked through like a soldier
marching over a desert. People think that a militaristic attitude must be
adopted if you want to see results from your workouts. That is not needed.
There is no need to wake up at 5 AM everyday to go for a monotonous hour-long
jog followed by weight training. That is too extreme for any sane person for
the long haul. For most people, a workout program like this will eventually
lead to failure. There is just no way the average person has enough discipline
to follow through with that kind of Spartan workout and not get injured or give
up in the long run.
To understand how you should workout, know that you are an animal and not a machine. Just like your pet dog and even like the lion on the Serengeti savannah. As an animal you have to survive. The worst thing you could do is to expend too much energy. You only expended energy when you were on the prowl looking for food. This is why you are so lazy. It has nothing to do with discipline. We are all lazy over-eaters! It's encoded in our goddamn DNA. Our genes tell us, "forget it and just lay down for a while." And at other times our genes say to us, "RUN! THERE'S A LION ON YOUR ASS!" That's what your body has seen for millions of years.
Your average gym-goer works out like she's a machine fueled by sugary, manufactured products like Gatorade and Cliff bars. People think that you must burn more calories than you take in. There is some truth to this but it is an overly simplistic and linear model that does not accurately describe the way your body works. Sure, you're not going to be breaking any laws of thermodynamics here so it is somewhat accurate. But it is not helpful. Not the least bit.
When you walk a mile you burn roughly 100 calories. When you sprint a mile you also burn about a hundred calories. So if we applied the mechanistic model you would say that each workout had about the same effect on your body. You burned 100 calories with both workouts. Well that's not the case. A person that regularly sprints a mile, as opposed to a person that walks it, is going to see far more positive changes in body composition. She will burn more fat and build more muscle and expend more energy throughout the day. Why is that? When you run hard, you are sending your body a signal to become more efficient and adapt to the stress. When you walk, there's really no reason for your body to do anything at all. Sure you burned some calories but that's all you've done. There are no metabolic changes going on once you have lazily walked a mile.
Positive changes in body composition come from acute forms of stress. So when you workout, you should be going easy most of the time and at infrequent times, you should be going hard.
To understand how you should workout, know that you are an animal and not a machine. Just like your pet dog and even like the lion on the Serengeti savannah. As an animal you have to survive. The worst thing you could do is to expend too much energy. You only expended energy when you were on the prowl looking for food. This is why you are so lazy. It has nothing to do with discipline. We are all lazy over-eaters! It's encoded in our goddamn DNA. Our genes tell us, "forget it and just lay down for a while." And at other times our genes say to us, "RUN! THERE'S A LION ON YOUR ASS!" That's what your body has seen for millions of years.
Your average gym-goer works out like she's a machine fueled by sugary, manufactured products like Gatorade and Cliff bars. People think that you must burn more calories than you take in. There is some truth to this but it is an overly simplistic and linear model that does not accurately describe the way your body works. Sure, you're not going to be breaking any laws of thermodynamics here so it is somewhat accurate. But it is not helpful. Not the least bit.
When you walk a mile you burn roughly 100 calories. When you sprint a mile you also burn about a hundred calories. So if we applied the mechanistic model you would say that each workout had about the same effect on your body. You burned 100 calories with both workouts. Well that's not the case. A person that regularly sprints a mile, as opposed to a person that walks it, is going to see far more positive changes in body composition. She will burn more fat and build more muscle and expend more energy throughout the day. Why is that? When you run hard, you are sending your body a signal to become more efficient and adapt to the stress. When you walk, there's really no reason for your body to do anything at all. Sure you burned some calories but that's all you've done. There are no metabolic changes going on once you have lazily walked a mile.
Positive changes in body composition come from acute forms of stress. So when you workout, you should be going easy most of the time and at infrequent times, you should be going hard.
As
hard as you possibly can.
You can apply this to any workout. If you're on a treadmill, go hard for 30 seconds and walk for about 2 minutes. Then repeat 5 more times. This will get you more results than a 45 minute jog. It's also much quicker.
You can apply this to any workout. If you're on a treadmill, go hard for 30 seconds and walk for about 2 minutes. Then repeat 5 more times. This will get you more results than a 45 minute jog. It's also much quicker.
Or
you can just lift weights. Lifting heavy weights using compound movements is a
great way to build muscle and burn a tremendous amount of energy.
So, remember, there should be peaks and valleys in your workouts. The worst thing you can do is sustain a steady slow pace. It gets you nowhere and it's excruciatingly boring.
So, remember, there should be peaks and valleys in your workouts. The worst thing you can do is sustain a steady slow pace. It gets you nowhere and it's excruciatingly boring.
