You’ve heard it all.
Everything from ‘just ten minutes two times a week’ to ‘work out every day!’ It can be pretty confusing.
So today, we’re going to keep it simple, and we’re going to use some magic words to boot: it depends.
And those are magic words because no two athletes are alike. More than that, no two YOUs are alike. Wait, what?
Five years ago, maybe you were two months out from a company 5k and wanting to start running again.
Three years ago, maybe you’d just pulled a muscle in your low back and were looking to strengthen your core.
Today, you might be thinking of simple health and wellness…how can I feel better?
See what I mean? In each of the above situations, we’d likely recommend a slightly different starting point. Telling an athlete who’s just getting back into running to train every day, for instance, would be a recipe for disaster. But telling someone who is looking for simple health and wellness that they only have to workout once or twice a week won’t do much to install and reinforce healthy habits.
There are, however, some basics we can recommend without digging into individual history. These recommendations are based on our 10+ years of working with people just like you–busy professionals with plenty of non-gym responsibilities. Think of these as starting points you can play around with:
1. Get outside every day if you can. Walk, move, get some sun on your face.
2. Strength train 2-3 times a week. We think barbell-based programs offer the most bang for your buck.
3. Take 1-2 days a week for longer duration cardiovascular work. Walk, jog, bike at a steady pace for 30-45 minutes.
From a logistical perspective, it really doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. Of course, more specific individual goals will require finer details, but for a general starting point, we’ve seen this work time and time again.
How about you? Want some help coming up with a plan?
Book a 15 minute call with us and we can get you started!