Articles

F.I.T.

I guess you noticed that I turned the word FIT into an acronym. If you have ever suffered from a plateau in your exercise regime, this acronym may explain to you how to get through it.

Let’s begin by breaking down the meaning of FIT:

Frequency: The amount times you exercise per week. Example- 3 times per week with weight, 5 times per week doing aerobic exercise

Intensity: The amount of exertion or effort you put into the exercise. Example- 12-15 reps/set at 50 lbs., or Target Heart Rate of 145-160 beats per minute

Time: This is the duration of the exercise. Example- 45 minutes on the treadmill.

More about Frequency: In order to progress in your programming, you have to change the variables listed above sometimes. For example, if it is customary to do cardiovascular exercise 3 times per week, you may need to come in 4 times per week for a while. Most often what I have witnessed is you may decide to cut back (decrease your training day), thinking that you may get the same results or maintain. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. It’s like making fewer deposits in you bank account with the same amount of money, thinking that the bank account is going to look better. My advice is, to make as many deposits as you can (analogizing to fitness). When you miss a day because of a vacation or sickness, you find some more time during the week, or you just want to have more progression, then you have to increase the frequency. Just like when you find more money to invest, you can invest more when you get it.

More about Intensity: When you just start working-out, you notice as you go along it becomes easier. If you don’t change the intensity, then it just becomes to easy. At first, this is a good sign. It means that you are making progress, however, if you plan on making more progress you have to increase that weight, do more reps, or do more challenging exercise. In most cases, it’s whether you are pushing yourself enough. Sometimes though, you may need to back off on intensity. This is especially true with cardiovascular exercise. If you push it to hard, for a long period of time, you can risk breaking down muscle for necessary energy.

More about Time: Combined with the right amount of intensity, how long you perform the exercise is important. This rule is easier to explain in regards to cardiovascular exercise. Many times I have consulted with clients that have been running for the same distance, for the same amount of time, for months at a time. For example, they will run 2 miles in 30 minutes. Though this isn’t a bad achievement, it would be good work up to 3 miles in 45 minutes. Then once you hit that goal, you could try to do those same three miles in less time (increasing the intensity). Or, you can work on doing 2 miles in 20 minutes.

By talking about these variables above, you can see that it may seem confusing. Well it’s not really. If there a point that I am trying to get at, it’s this: If you want progression in your weight loss efforts, muscle tone efforts, strength, or whatever, you have to change these variables from time to time. This prevents you from hitting those plateaus. More importantly, your body’s physiology will always be in constant adaptation. Which makes you look better and feel more energized. Plus, you are less likely to develop chronic injuries from doing the same thing, over and over again.

Kelly Huggins, B.S., ACSM HFI
The Fitness MythBuster
404.303.8305 kelly@kellyhuggins.com