HOW TO MAINTAIN FITNESS
Using three different intensities, low, medium & high, keeps exercise interesting & your fitness growing.
Exercise fads come and go but three little words have always underpinned the best possible blend for maintaining your health. They are, simply: low, medium and high. You’ve heard about the benefits available from high intensity interval training (HIIT) and benefits from low intensity training.
But what we don’t hear often enough is that the best and most sustainable fitness and training regimes incorporate all intensity levels – low, medium and high intensity. Even elite athletes have a blend of low, medium and high intensity exercise across their week. They appreciate that you cannot have high intensity workouts all the time. Nor should you stay in your comfort zone for too long. You can apply any exercise you like to the mixture of low, medium and high training, because the focus is on the intensity rather than the activity – you can be running, swimming, riding an exercise bike, lifting weights, boxercise or anything else you can imagine, provided you are doing that activity at the desired intensity.
WHY IS LOW, MEDIUM AND HIGH A POWERFUL BLEND?
We need low, medium and high intensity exercise to push ourselves outside our comfort zone. We grow physically and mentally when we do this. Our bodies are meant to move and be pushed in different ways. Doing three different intensities is far more beneficial than one intensity – for example, it’s widely considered that walking 10,000 steps per day is great exercise, but there’s no doubt many people do this exercise at the same intensity every time and become bored. Using three different intensities, incorporating different activities, keeps things interesting. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough, because when an activity is interesting, people are more likely to stick with it. Research increasingly shows even small increases in exercise have an impact. A recent report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found:
‘If all Australians did an extra 15 minutes of brisk walking for at least five days each week, this would reduce disease burden due to physical inactivity in the population by approximately 13%. By increasing this to 30 minutes, the burden of disease attributed to physical inactivity could be reduced by 26%.’
HOW CAN THIS WORK IN PRACTICE?
Key is to find physical activities that you enjoy. Low intensity exercise includes walking, gentle swimming, gardening and so on – ideally everybody will be doing a good amount of low intensity exercise on at least five days per week. Medium intensity exercise should be two to three times a week, for about 25-45 minutes each time. Medium is pushing
yourself to somewhere between 5.5 and 7 out of 10 in terms of exertion. Moderate exercise may include running, cycling, fast walking or swimming. High intensity exercise can give you an edge and research show tangible health benefits, even at short durations. Aim for a high intensity burst three times a week. Push yourself to 8.5 out of 10 intensity – it’s just a step back from going at full capacity, because any higher than this can invite injury. How long should a high intensity workout be? There are many options. I have seen great results with a three minute workout that I initially developed for my athletes, which is adaptable for anyone at any level of fitness, while others will do slightly longer or slightly shorter. Finally, it’s good to mix things up a bit. Change the activities you are doing, mix up the days when you do the activities and mix up the intensity of the exercise as well. For example, if you feel up to it, try doing high intensity for five days in a week instead of three, or try high intensity with a different exercise.
KEY POINTS:
• The body responds best to a mix of low, medium and high intensity exercise.
• You can do any exercise you wish, provided you are reaching these levels of intensity.
Kusal Goonewardena is an experienced physiotherapist, lecturer, consultant and mentor to thousands of physiotherapy students around the world. Kusal recently developed the App KINRGIZE, available at Google Play and the App store. He has has authored books including: Low Back Pain – 30 Days to Pain Free; 3 Minute Workouts; and co-authored Natural Healing: Quiet and Calm. Kusal consults via his clinic, Elite Akademy.