Is Improvement Necessary?

When I first started working out, I couldn’t lift anything other than the bar and I couldn’t run for more than 5 minutes at 4.5mph.  That’s pretty bad no doubt about it.  Slowly but surely I improved to the point where I can lift a respectable amount of weight and maintain a 6.5mph pace for over an hour without feeling tired.  I’m very proud of these accomplishments and I’m happy with the way my body performs these days, but now I wonder, should I keep trying to improve?  Should I keep pushing myself to lift more, run faster, go longer?  Is there a point to improvement beyond a certain level?

Let’s take weight as an example.  Clearly there is an “ideal” weight that I should be aiming for.  This weight should not be too high nor too low.  Once I get to it, I should stop trying to change my weight and just focus on maintaining that level of weight.  It’s a bit difficult to figure out that ideal weight but with the help of a doctor, a trainer or any of a number of websites, you can come pretty close.  So in terms of “improving” my weight, I know exactly what I need to do.

Unfortunately, workout performance isn’t quite the same thing.  I am running today at 6.5mph.  Should I try to improve?  Will there be benefits from improvement?  Will those benefits be worth the effort needed in order to improve?  This isn’t as clear as the weight issue.  Theoretically, performance can always be improved but realistically there’s going to be a point beyond which I cannot progress.  Also, what’s the point of running at 6.6mph compared to 6.5mph?  Sure, I’ll be running faster, but is there any benefit to my body?  My heart rate and blood pressure are excellent.  Will improving my cardio performance help my body?

What about weights?  If I bench press more weight will it really help me?  I already have very good muscle tone and I’m lifting a considerable amount of weight.  Will trying to improve that improve my health or will it just increase my risk of injury?

Purpose

As I was struggling with some of these questions, I noticed a few things.  Look at the way in which I phrase these questions.  “Will doing X improve my health?”  That’s important because it clearly shows what my goals are.  I didn’t say “will doing X help me win the race” or “will doing X give me bigger muscles”.  I am concerned with health and that’s it.  I’m not trying to imply that winning races or building muscles are bad goals, I’m simply saying that, for me, the goal is health.  We all have our own reason for working out and recognizing those reasons is important when it comes to making decisions.  Without knowing WHY we workout, we’re going to make bad decisions about HOW we work out.

Let’s take the running question as an example.  I have no intention of becoming a competition runner.  I don’t need to run very fast nor am I looking to beat some specific time goal.  I run because I enjoy running and because I want to keep my body in shape.  So my decision on improvement should take these factors into consideration.  Will improving my speed improve my health?  The answer is yes but only slightly and only up to a certain point.  Improving my endurance by running for an hour at 6.5mph as opposed to 5 minutes at 4mph was clearly a huge change.  Improving from this point will only provide me with a marginal health benefit at best.  Plus, at a certain point, I might actually be decreasing my overall health since training at these levels might increase my risk of injury.

Deciding where to stop improving is harder then deciding when to stop losing weight.  There is less science around the “optimal” performance level.  So I’m going to use a few factors to decide this.

• Personal comfort - I want to run at a good pace but I don’t need kill myself.  So speeds that are too high for me to enjoy my run are out.
• Injury Risk - I have no desire to go through the repeated and frequent injuries that high end athletes go through.  With running, I want to minimize the impact damage to my legs.
• Cardio Performance - I do want to keep my heart rate and blood pressure in a good and healthy range.  That means working out hard but it also means not working out too hard.  A heart rate above 85% to 90% of max is not good.

With all this in mind, I’ve decided that my current running speed is fine but I would like to go for a slight improvement.  I have no desire or need to go faster or longer but I think moving up to 7.0mph would give me a better health benefit without any downsides.  So I’ll keep working on some improvement in my running speed.

Weights

For weights I am making a similar decision with similar considerations.

• I like the feeling of lifting more weight.  There’s something very primal about it.  Yes, it might be shallow and vain, but that’s ok
• I am getting to the point with several exercises where increasing weight might increase the risk of injury.  For example, I can already feel the strain on my joints when I do something like overhead triceps extensions.
• In terms of health benefits, there’s very little else that I can gain from more weight.  I already do enough weight, enough reps and enough times a week.

So I’m going to try and improve in a few specific exercises where I think I can still benefit from improvement, but for the most part, I’ll keep my weight levels as is.  I might sub in some new exercises just to keep things interesting and to keep my body challenged, but I’m not going for as much raw improvement as I was before.

You!

Are you trying to improve?  If so, why?  That’s not a joke.  I honestly want you to know WHY you should be improving.  What are your goals?  Do you need to improve in order to achieve them?  In what ways?  Make sure your goals are aligned with your plan or else you’ll find yourself lost along the path.

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Remember, a bit of time spent upfront thinking about goals will save you a lot of bad decisions down the road.

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