The problem being that if your goal is to lose a few kg it is easy to see if you're succeeding or not. If you want to get fitter, how do you really know if you're getting to your goal?
You see, as each thing you've been doing gets easier, the only way to get more fit is to do more. When your goal is to be able to work for some hours on an archaeological dig, or walk up Mt Nebo or whatever, how do you actually know if you're on track?
So all I can do is do more and more exercise and get fitter and fitter, but eventually you run out of time that is able to be devoted to exercise (which, let's face it isn't a whole lot of time because there's heaps of other things that I need to be doing - Biggest Loser this ain't).
So I really need to get some goals for precisely fit do I want to be?
Suggestions (not all at the same time, mind you):
30 mins rowing
30 mins bike ride
20 times up and down the steps.
The thing is, I'm well on the way to these goals. And the additional medium paced 20 min walk with the LBD doesn't really add all that much to my conditioning.
But does being able to do any of these really help me to shovel dirt, be on my hands and knees scraping away at stuff, or walking for miles around ancient sites?
I need to get me some goals. More hills in the bike ride? Up the resistance on the rowing machine? Carry stuff up and down the stairs?
PS. I've decided that I'm not going to weigh-in until the end of the month. There's been no change much since I recommenced this fitness kick a couple of months ago. I think I've lost about 1.2kg in about 3 months. So hopefully a month apart may make any difference a bit more noticeable. We'll see.
2 comments:
A good rule of thumb when using weights is if you can easily do 12 repetitions, it's time to increase the weight. So with cardio stuff I'm guessing if you can easily do 20 minutes it's time to increase resistance, add weight etc? Maybe try increasing resistance on the rowing machine, riding up more hills, and carrying weights whilst going up the steps. Or maybe a challenge like 10 times up and down the stairs within a certain number of minutes?
I've faced similar challenges on the treadmill, because there's really only so fast I can walk without it being a jog, and I don't always have time to spend an hour on there to make it a harder workout. So sometimes I carry weights and I can really feel the difference in how hard my heart has to work!
I might try some added weight/resistance or a time-frame for stair-walking.
The thing is that I don't want to actually build up muscles. I want to LOSE size and tone muscle. My understanding is that increase weight/resistance builds bulk? (maybe not when we're talking the tiny amounts that I'm likely to increase.
Post a Comment