I assume the people who said they were training for strength building (heavy weight, low reps, long rest periods between sets, etc.) had probably set themselves clear concrete goals, and adapted their training to achieve them at the best of their ability and as fast as they can.
But what if you donāt have such specific goals? (Like being able to do 20 push-ups in two months, working toward a 150-pound deadlift, being able to run for an hour, doing the split, or whatever it might be.) What if, as is the case for most for us here I guess, youāre working out for general health and fitness improvement? You basically just want to feel good, energized, capable. But even when you have that approach, you still have some expectations (maybe unconsciously) of what should happen down the line, like being able to lift more gradually, being more flexible, being more endurant, lose fat around a specific part of your body, etc. But now Iām thinking maybe our training style is not meant to get us there, and some of our expectations might never be met, or not as we would want them to (even if itās unconscious).
What approach do you like best? Not that there is anything wrong with either of them, I just wonder what benefits we might get from being more conscious of all this. Do you think itās necessary for you to set a specific goal and to train towards it or do you just go with the flow without thinking too much about it? Does the approach you have make you frustrated or disappointed? Like, letās say youāre putting a lot of time and energy into heavy strength training trying to lift and round out your butt, but you donāt see any change because thatās just not what your body is built to be like. Wouldnāt that be a lot more frustrating and discouraging than hoping youāll eventually see that result at some point (in the long run) taking on the second approach, but diversifying your training much more and gathering small results in other aspects of fitness meanwhile? And to the contrary, if you donāt set any specific goals, wouldnāt it be frustrating not to know what could happen if you focused on one thing more intensely for some time?
For example, I donāt set specific fitness goals, but I generally have fitness āplansā or challenges I set myself (like completing a 1000 calorie workout every month) just for the fun of it. Iāve also thought a lot about what I could do to increase the amount of movement I do during the day, considering I have a very sedentary job and lifestyle outside of my workouts. Iāve come up with a few ideas that Iām trying to progressively turn into habits: doing yoga/pilates in the morning, maybe add in a short run once or twice a week, go for a short walk after work and before my FB workout, set an alarm on my work computer to remind me to get up and move a bit during the day, etc. Itās all very general, varied, nothing oriented towards a specific goal. I donāt have a favorite training style either: I like strength training, hiit, cardio, pilates, yoga, stretching, kickboxing, etc. and I really like switching things up (I canāt choose, you should have seen me trying to pick an ice-cream flavor as a childā¦ If I take vanilla, I canāt take chocolate, and if I take chocolate I canāt take mango :D). But Iām thinking that if thatās the approach Iām choosing, I should maybe start thinking about the results that this training style/life style could bring and what results it wonāt probably bring. To come back to yesterdayās post: stop unconsciously expecting that I should be able to lift a little more for various exercises every few months, for example. In short, be actively conscious of the fact that thatās not what Iām working towards.
Bonus personal question here if youāve made it this far into the reading: what results do you think I can expect from this training style and what results do you think I should forget about?
I donāt know, Iām just rambling here, but Iād like to hear your thoughts about this if you feel like rambling too. :D
Follow-up discussion: goal-setting
Hi again Blendfriends,
Thank you so much for all your interesting replies to yesterdayās discussion about strength training (https://www.fitnessblender.com/community/discussion/19192/thoughts-and-questions-on-strength-training-after-a-conversation-with-a-physiotherapist). I found it really interesting and it gave me a lot of food for thought. One of the common themes in the comments was goal-setting and preferences, which is logical. This made me think a lot, and Iām curious to see what you guys have to say about this new string of thought of mine. :D
I assume the people who said they were training for strength building (heavy weight, low reps, long rest periods between sets, etc.) had probably set themselves clear concrete goals, and adapted their training to achieve them at the best of their ability and as fast as they can.
But what if you donāt have such specific goals? (Like being able to do 20 push-ups in two months, working toward a 150-pound deadlift, being able to run for an hour, doing the split, or whatever it might be.) What if, as is the case for most for us here I guess, youāre working out for general health and fitness improvement? You basically just want to feel good, energized, capable. But even when you have that approach, you still have some expectations (maybe unconsciously) of what should happen down the line, like being able to lift more gradually, being more flexible, being more endurant, lose fat around a specific part of your body, etc. But now Iām thinking maybe our training style is not meant to get us there, and some of our expectations might never be met, or not as we would want them to (even if itās unconscious).
What approach do you like best? Not that there is anything wrong with either of them, I just wonder what benefits we might get from being more conscious of all this. Do you think itās necessary for you to set a specific goal and to train towards it or do you just go with the flow without thinking too much about it? Does the approach you have make you frustrated or disappointed? Like, letās say youāre putting a lot of time and energy into heavy strength training trying to lift and round out your butt, but you donāt see any change because thatās just not what your body is built to be like. Wouldnāt that be a lot more frustrating and discouraging than hoping youāll eventually see that result at some point (in the long run) taking on the second approach, but diversifying your training much more and gathering small results in other aspects of fitness meanwhile? And to the contrary, if you donāt set any specific goals, wouldnāt it be frustrating not to know what could happen if you focused on one thing more intensely for some time?
For example, I donāt set specific fitness goals, but I generally have fitness āplansā or challenges I set myself (like completing a 1000 calorie workout every month) just for the fun of it. Iāve also thought a lot about what I could do to increase the amount of movement I do during the day, considering I have a very sedentary job and lifestyle outside of my workouts. Iāve come up with a few ideas that Iām trying to progressively turn into habits: doing yoga/pilates in the morning, maybe add in a short run once or twice a week, go for a short walk after work and before my FB workout, set an alarm on my work computer to remind me to get up and move a bit during the day, etc. Itās all very general, varied, nothing oriented towards a specific goal. I donāt have a favorite training style either: I like strength training, hiit, cardio, pilates, yoga, stretching, kickboxing, etc. and I really like switching things up (I canāt choose, you should have seen me trying to pick an ice-cream flavor as a childā¦ If I take vanilla, I canāt take chocolate, and if I take chocolate I canāt take mango :D). But Iām thinking that if thatās the approach Iām choosing, I should maybe start thinking about the results that this training style/life style could bring and what results it wonāt probably bring. To come back to yesterdayās post: stop unconsciously expecting that I should be able to lift a little more for various exercises every few months, for example. In short, be actively conscious of the fact that thatās not what Iām working towards.
Bonus personal question here if youāve made it this far into the reading: what results do you think I can expect from this training style and what results do you think I should forget about?
I donāt know, Iām just rambling here, but Iād like to hear your thoughts about this if you feel like rambling too. :D
Thanks guys, enjoy your day!! š