Different Types of Exercise You Need in your Programming

Different types of exercise suits each person, plus when you switch to different types of exercise your body gets a shake-up. So if you’ve been doing the same thing for a long time there’s a good chance you’ve already adapted to that exercise style and become efficient at it. Changing what you do will likely give you better results.

These are some groups of exercises all with different outcomes. You should aim as much as possible to include as many different groups into your workouts.

1. Cardiovascular Exercise

· Whole body movement where the heart rate raises and the blood circulates and is maintained for a continuous period.

· There are different phases relating to intensity that also give different results and effects. 60% of Max Heart Rate is using oxygen as the fuel source and is almost limitless in time. The higher intensity zones use energy systems that are more limited in their fuel but burn through body stores of fat, glycogen and glucose so you may notice better weight loss. Usually you will use these systems in interval training formats.

· Cardiovascular exercise is important for heart and lung health and the health of your whole body.

· Goal: 150minutes per week of CV Exercise

2. Strengthening/Resistance Training

· Working with weights or other forms of resistance to challenge your body and work to muscular failure point throughout exercises to encourage the body to build more strength.

· You will increase your muscle mass which will increase your resting metabolic rate to allow you to burn through more energy stores (ie, bodyfat).

· Most people don’t do enough resistance training and as such can be quite weak with low muscle tone.

· Goal: 2 resistance training sessions per week.

3. Movement Quality/Training Exercises

· These moves are really important in teaching your body how to move and can be done as part of your warm up to your resistance training session.

· Focus should be on great technique, getting the body ready for load or speed or performance, and teaching the movement pattern. Not on loading with weight or going too fast initially.

· Good movements to work with are squat patterning, spinal alignment, core holding, lunge, pushup/plank. These particular movements will set your body alignment for more challenging exercises in your workout.

· Goal: practice movement patterning daily and as part of your warm up. Get some instruction on how to do these movements correctly from a reputable trainer.

4. Flexibility and Mobility Exercises

· To perform your movement correctly you may require some mobility or flexibility exercises.

· When you have a tight muscle or area it can inhibit good movement patterns. Addressing these restrictions allows for good movement, more ability to load the movement and helps prevent injury due to better movement quality.

· Goal: get assessed on your basic movement patterns by a reputable trainer and let them find your areas of restriction and prescribe you a mobility program.

I hope this little article helps you create a balanced exercise program that you can change but also maintain. Remember consistency is your best asset, and to be consistent you need to avoid injury and be able to do your workouts week after week.

As always we’re here if you need some advice or help.

Sincerely

Sarah Booth

Cooloola Coast Pilates & Personal Training