Sep
17
Working Out Hard Enough?
Filed Under Work Out
One of the most frequent questions is a variation of “am I working out hard enough?” It’s usually something along the lines of “am I doing enough reps?”, “am I lifting enough weight?” or “am I running fast enough?” Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this. Everyone is different and what’s “hard enough” for me may be easy or impossible for someone else. Fortunately, there are a few guidelines.
Weight / Reps
Everyone has a different idea on what is a good weight and number of reps. Some people will do five reps with a lot of weight and others will prefer twenty reps with a light amount of weight. I have heard people claim that lower numbers of reps are good for building bigger muscles while higher number of reps are good for building tone, but I’ve seen ZERO evidence of this and no reliable research. If you know of any, feel free to send it in or add it to the comments. In the meantime, I’m going to assume that five reps are just as good as twenty assuming you lift sufficient weight.
Actually, I’m going to go one step further. I think you should vary the number of reps you do from day to day. Go light weight, high reps one day and high weight, low reps the next. I do this all the time, starting my week with a workout that uses ten rep sets and average weight on Monday. On Wednesday I do a workout with a low number of reps (around 7) and a high weight and I finish it off on Friday with a high rep (around 15), low weight workout. It keeps things interesting and challenging.
Still, what is the right amount of weight? Well, that’s something you’ll need to workout for yourself, but here’s a good rule. If you can consistently do two more reps that you intended to, then it’s time to increase the weight. For example, on Mondays I use ten rep sets. If I can lift my target weight 12 times, that means I should increase the weight. So if I intended to do 170lbs dumbbell presses and I managed to do 12 of those then I should probably increase the weight because my body is telling me “hey, this is easy! I can do extra reps here. Better crank up the weight and keep me challenged!”
By the way, the opposite is also true. If you find yourself consistently falling short at least two or three reps before your target number, you may wish to consider lowering the weight. Also, notice that I say consistently. Everyone can have an especially good or especially bad day once in a while. That’s not a reason to change your workout plan. However, if you do find yourself over or undershooting your rep goal multiple weeks in a row, it may be time for a change.
Cardio
I think I’ve spoken about this in the past, but I can’t find the old article to link to, so if this is a repeat for some of you, my apologies. Cardio is supposed to elevate your heart rate. So the best way to see if you’re working out hard enough is by measuring your heart rate. Your heart rate should be at around 60 to 80% of your max heart rate. Max heart rate is calculated as 220 minute your age.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit hard to measure heart rate while you’re running so here’s a quick short cut. Elevated heart rate means faster breathing, so we can do a rough estimate of our heart rate by seeing how hard we’re breathing. Try the following, sing out “Mary had a little lamb, his fleece as white as snow”. If you can get through that whole line without taking a breath, then you’re not working out hard enough. Alternatively, if you have to take a breath in between each word then you’re probably working out too hard. You can also try the conversation trick. That is, if you can easily hold a conversation while working out, then you’re not working out hard enough. If you can barely say a word, you’re working out too hard. You should be able to talk, but only in short sentences and with breathing in between sentences.
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Also, if you’re able to casually read a book, peruse a magazine or do your homework, you’re NOT working out hard enough. Yes, I’m talking to you on the stationary bike!
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2 Responses to “Working Out Hard Enough?”
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Yes, love those stationary bike readers — save the gas money!!! Alsmost as bad as the girls on the ellipticals with killer pony tails swinging from side to side — as they stare blankly at Fox News and try to remember where Iraq is. Uhhggg, the gym.
I get up to 60% max heartrate just by walking. When I do exercise it seems like I need to keep it more in the 75-90% range.