I think the answer depends on what you’re training to achieve, and just how fit and able you are to begin with.
If you’re unfit and want an improvement in your general fitness level, then daily walking for as long as you can manage will do the job. You can aim to increase the distance or duration of your walk as you progress.
Essentially, any training modality that gets you out of breath on a consistent and regular basis will yield results, as long as you do it for long enough.
So how long is 'long enough'? Once again, that depends on your fitness levels i.e. how long does it take you to get out of breath doing your training or exercise? 1 minute? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 30 minutes etc etc?
You have a training continuum; you can train hard for a shorter period (my preference) or less hard for a longer period of time (great, if you've got plenty of time).
There are 'cardio' protocols created by Dr Tabata that last 4 minutes (check it out here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training).
It's a very intense 4 minutes, as I can personally vouch for, and it's not for the faint-hearted or inexperienced.
‘Long enough’ would also depend on how much time you have to commit to training. The majority of people I meet, know and train don’t have hours a day to spend exercising and so shorter and sharper is the order of the day.
So the answer becomes something along the lines of regularly training hard enough for long enough in order to elicit a training adaptation, i.e. you get out of breath on a regular basis through your chosen training modality, and your body adapts by making you fitter.
For most people, focusing on shorter styles of interval training is more effective on all fronts (e.g. time commitment vs results) than longer, steady-state cardio.
What if you want more than a basic fitness improvement? What if you want that plus improvements in physical strength, muscle mass, a drop in body-fat or all three?
Obviously, the training required will need to be harder; much harder, though let’s bear in mind that ‘hard’ is relative.
My version of a hard set will be different to anyone else’s, especially if they have less training years under their belt.
Essentially, if someone wants to get stronger they have to push themselves to lift more weight on a regular basis to create the strength adaptation in the body.
The desire for more muscle (depending on which expert you subscribe to) will entail lifting more weight for more reps on a regular basis.
Lastly, dropping body-fat will mean a mix of lifting weights as outlined above, and doing cardio work in combination with dietary improvements (another topic for another day).
All of the above can be done with varying degrees of effort and difficulty, though I think it’s fairly obvious to most people that there exists an inverse relationship between how hard you train and how quickly you see results (if all things are equal i.e. hormonal balance, nutrition, rest and recovery).
If you train very hard and push yourself on every session, you’ll see results quicker than someone who trains and pushes themselves only slightly every session.
However, the person pushing hard all the time is also likely to incur injury and over-training, so balance and de-loading weeks are required amidst all that enthusiasm.
I’ve trained people from all along the spectrum. From those people who I had to reel in from time to time and have occasionally learnt the hard way (myself included), by injury, that if you push hard all the time you burn out, to people who, whilst doing their best, had to be cajoled, motivated, coaxed and gently encouraged to train with any noticeable effort in the gym, and to put in extra sessions and effort outside of it.
The former are the type of clients who, whilst being great to train in some respects, want to lift more weight when they haven’t mastered the one they’re on, and do their best to train 7 days a week or twice a day. Not ideal, even with the best nutrition and rest protocols in place.
The latter are people who ‘don’t like to sweat’, have trouble generating aggression (controlled) and enthusiasm in the gym and whom believe a long walk or leisurely bike ride is effective cardio for fat loss. I soon set them straight.
Well respected strength and conditioning coach, Mike Boyle (http://www.FunctionalStrengthCoach3.com) sums it up quite nicely in his latest e-newsletter when he writes:
“The truth is that exercise needs to be smart and safe, but it also needs to be hard if possible. Very little in life was ever achieved without hard work. Fitness is clearly not the exception.”
He goes on to outline the results of a study in The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 346:852-854 March 14, 2002), which basically found that those test subjects who were able to exercise the hardest had a longer life expectancy.
Mike sums it up by stating “Think about that next time you take a walk or work in the garden. If that is all you can do, fine. However, healthy people need hard work.”
I concur with that, whilst reminding anyone reading that balance in their efforts is always necessary for ongoing success, and that giving your best effort in any given training session (or moment) is a worthy goal to aim for.
Stay well, happy and balanced.
Cris (El Baron)
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