My Own Fitness Rules

The information below does not constitute personal advice, it is my current practice provided here for interest, ideas and for you to research and design your own program. Check with your Doctor before undertaking any new fitness exercises.

My average week at the moment looks something like this.

But no week is really the same as I vary it depending on how I’m feeling.

1. If you are stationary take a movement break every 20 minutes. eg walk to the other side of the room for a sip of water, do a couple of squats or keep a light weight (bottle of water / dumbbell ) by you for a few overhead presses or the like.
2. Get your heart rate up doing something you enjoy: but no higher than 75% of your max heart rate for 20 minutes or more . Do this at least 3 times a week. I use a heart rate limit of 110 beats per minute which is up a hill near me when I walk our dog Willow.
3. Sprint once a week. Currently I am doing 4 rounds of 20 seconds with around 3 – 4 minutes rest inbetween. (enough rest to get your breathing and heart rate back down). Use an activity you enjoy eg: stationary bike (sprinting on a road bike is risky), running up a hill (uphill is lower impact), swimming etc..
4. Aim for 2 or 3 resistance training sessions in a week. (if I don’t feel like it I show up for a stretch, if the feeling doesn’t change I go home feeling looser)
5. Always warm up. I do a set of full body dynamic stretching exercises and at least 3 minutes of activity to increase blood flow and core body temperature.
6. Go for complex movements. eg: Squats (like body weight squats, Bulgarian split squats), pull ups, press ups, deadlifts (if using a barbell), handstand or pike pushup or overhead press. I like to maximise the use the kinetic chain to increase the number of muscles being worked and to increase body coordination and proprioception.
7. If you can safely destabilize the resistance do. Like doing press ups with each hand on a medicine ball. It makes it harder and increases your control. Best of all it more fun.
8. Aim for 3 main exercises at most per resistance workout. For me this means 3 x 60 seconds of intense (less than 90%) work. Anything else is just for mobility or fun.
9. Always finish feeling that you could do more. Otherwise you did too much.
10. Choose a resistance that allows you to do 60 seconds of constant tension reps. I am currently using a 1 – 2 second concentric movement, a 2 second hold and about an 8 second eccentric movement. I don’t lock out joints to ensure the muscles are constantly under tension. This can be quite intense, remember 90% is the max I go for. If you can repeat this for more than 60 seconds consider increasing the resistance or adaptation difficulty. If you are much under 60 seconds reduce the resistance or adaptation difficulty.
11. If you feel pain question: Should I stop? So that you come back keen, fresh and injury free next time. A lost session has much less impact than the time it takes to recover from an injury. Its takes experience to tell the difference between pain that is useful and pain that is indicating an impending injury. I use the 60 second rule to reduce the lactic acid burn. At my age I have found that I don’t need to inflict this kind of damage to get strong. (If I was aiming to upregulate my ability to deal with lactic acid for a competition I would address it differently.)
12. Always stretch post workout. Even if it didn’t feel like you did any work. You will feel even better later.
13. Always note down what you did. so you can see your progress.
14. Monitor your Heart Rate Variability. It’s a great check that helps you tune into how physiologically ready you are for what you have planned.

Notes

I vary resistance by adapting the exercise, using weights or bands. My favourite method of destabilizing exercises is to use a resistance band to hang discs or kettlebells off a bar.

Please bear in mind that these rules and routine is personal to me, my age, experience and health and wellness goals. I am not aiming to win medals but to increase my: energy, vitality, immune system, testosterone levels, sleep and longevity.