New Year’s Resolutions often get a bad rap for reasons we’re all familiar with. Personally, my guitar, skateboard, and T-shirts from various gym sign-ups remind me of resolutions that didn’t quite stick over time. This post is to inspire and hopefully help your resolutions become lasting changes by addressing some common pitfalls before you encounter them. A few tweaks in the mindset and approach can go a long way to building a sustainable difference in your life.
First, we need to know how long it takes for our body to adapt. It takes about…
- 1 month to feel our cardio fitness improve
- 3-6 months for our muscles to get stronger
- Up to 1 year for tendons to become stronger
One of the biggest reasons I see overuse or nagging injuries is because a new activity was progressed too soon, it was done for too long, or too intense. When we feel our cardio levels improve in the first month, we logically want to run faster or longer distances. But we need to keep in mind that the body still needs time to adapt and we need to progress slowly. Think of it as “slow-cooking” your fitness levels.
I teach a principle to most of my clients: “Leave a few reps in the tank.” We mostly use this for resistance-based exercises, but we can apply it to cardio activities such as running. While exercising, I teach people to ask themselves, “How many more times can I lift this weight?” If the answer is about 3 times, then I encourage them to lift it only 1 more time and then take a rest break. Leaving reps left in the tank will create a buffer where we can still get a good workout while minimizing the risk of injury. As the exercise feels easier over time, we choose only 1 of these parameters to progress at a time…
- Increasing the volume (more sets or repetitions)
- Increasing the Intensity (increasing the weight or changing our speed to make it harder)
- Increasing the frequency (how often we do it)
How much to progress is based on the individual. I recommend no greater than 10% increase per week especially if you’re starting for the first-time.
Often times we don’t feel like we’ve gotten a good workout unless we’ve completely wrung ourselves out and we’re exhausted by the end. Maybe we feel it wasn’t as satisfying of a workout because we barely sweat. Especially when trying to start a new habit or resolution, we need to take extra care and allow time to do its work. Professional athletes don’t train always train at 100%, and we can do the same and still progress.
There will be days when the usual weights are light, or you could run for miles and miles. These are the days when the stars have aligned, and you can push yourself and set new personal records. Enjoy these sessions because you can be confident that you’re not cutting corners and your body is ready to progress. You might feel tempted to try it again on the next session but remember it’s not realistic or healthy to set new records each session. Reward your body with a lighter workout the following session and then get back to the “slow-cooking” process.
Good luck implementing these thoughts into your resolutions and remember our Prosper team is always here for you when you need us.
- Christian Bechara, PT, DPT, CMTPT
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