ERNIE SAYS …

When I work with fitness clients, they are sometimes surprised when I talk about “irritation” and recovery. Irritation doesn’t sound very good does it?

Well … like the analogy of breaking eggs to make an omelette, the way that your body gets stronger, fitter and leaner is by causing micro-trauma, or irritation, to your muscles and then feeding them in a way that supports repair while you let them recover. It’s a cycle that gets repeated each and every time you work out, get sore and then rest and recover until your next workout.

There’s a delicate balance between how much trauma to create and how much rest to get that will determine which direction you move in on the health-and-fitness continuum. For driven Type A personalities, this can be frustrating since more work can sometimes result in less progress.

You see, while your body is incredible at repair and recovery, it can only do so much. If you go beyond its ability to recover it will slide in a negative direction. Muscles (and as a result, metabolism) will start to waste away and fat will start to accumulate more easily as strength and conditioning levels deplete. Your pants will get tighter and you’ll start to breathe a little less easily.

Too little stimulation, on the other hand, means you’ll never actually do enough to push your body to repair itself and you’ll stay … the same. The same, in this case, means you’ll slip in a negative direction as you grow and age. Imagine trying to crack an egg against the surface of water in a bowl. It’s a futile effort at best. That’s what’s happening when you ask your shoulders to get stronger and more toned using one-pound dumbbells if you are strong enough to handle 10 pounds.

This is where the art of fitness and fitness training comes in. For ongoing positive results, you need to get good at manipulating the different ways in which you perform your workouts. Progress becomes a byproduct of “irritation and recovery.” In my opinion, the best (and easiest) way to find the balance you need is to use something called the “FITT” formula.

FITT is an acronym for frequency, intensity, type and time. These are the four things to consider when designing a fitness plan for someone. By manipulating any (or all) of these variables, you can make a workout harder or easier, more effective and/or more manageable.

Frequency: This refers to the number of times per week that you complete a workout session. For very busy people, this number might be small and it might not be possible to change it. For people with more flexible schedules, there might be times where you could add to the frequency in an effort to reach a goal. At other times, it might make sense to cut back if your ability to recover is compromised due to your work schedule, demands at home, after injury or surgery or as a result of aging.

Intensity: There is a level of intensity to every workout. Whether the workout is a walk in the park or a weight lifting session, there is an intensity level that can be manipulated. As you examine your routine and the results that you are getting, consider whether or not you are pushing yourself enough to notice improvement or if you are simply pushing too hard and your body can’t keep up. Typically, intensity levels will work in opposition to duration or frequency. You can’t really work hard AND long.

Type: This refers to what you are actually doing. Walking, swimming, strength training, Pilates, yoga, etc. While all fitness options have benefit, not all are going to help you reach a specific goal. A runner who never lifts weights isn’t going to build muscle and a weight lifter who never trains his heart might not have healthy blood pressure or a strong cardiovascular system. If you are too comfortable performing your same routine week after week and find yourself “stuck,” it might be time to try a new type of exercise.

Time: While frequency refers to the number of times per week, time refers to the duration of each of your training sessions. As you go through life, you’ll find that the amount of time you have for exercise will change. As your career advances and you raise children, the time you have for exercise will likely diminish and working harder in shorter bursts might make more sense for you. In retirement, time might not be an issue and dialing back the intensity in order to do longer, more relaxed sessions might make more sense.

I encourage you to examine your fitness plan and try tweaking things based on the FITT formula. It is a great way to kick things up a bit or to bring things back to a more manageable level if you’re overwhelmed.