Do I Need to Periodize?
The main value of periodization for all trainees comes from the fact that you cannot optimally impro...
| September 13, 2021
Read time: 3 min.
When approaching fitness, it may be overwhelming at first to commit. To make a change in any way regardless of experience, there needs to be adaptation, and adaptation only comes from doing things that you are not currently doing. Our bodies seem to be very intuitive at keeping us in the same place, and change to any degree is generally not the most comfortable process.
When looking at this new type of change, the best way to not find yourself getting too overwhelmed is to start by writing down your objective initially. This way, you have set a clear goal and expectation, and can branch off on several sub-steps and sub-goals to open doors that will allow you tackle these without being too overwhelmed or stressed in the process.
Remember, you make time for what is important, and health is a priority. When you prioritize your health (including the small actions you take), good things follow, whether that helps yourself, or enables you to pay it forward to another as a friend, parent, significant other or coach.
A walk a day for 10-15 minutes can be considered exercise. This notion can also be expanded on. Say an individual is looking to make a change in their life and they start going for walks, but they make it a CONSISTENT habit every day. As time goes on, naturally, they begin to want more out of the walk so they extend their time to 20-25 minutes per day. At this point, they are now hitting 6000-7000 steps per day; they begin to feel their resting metabolism go up and the body begins to crave more. The person then begins to start adding 5 minutes of their walk into a jog and are now working on the cardiovascular system much better. Furthermore, they look into getting a gym membership.
From that point forward the person might start adding a gym day or two per week, hitting the full body through several different exercises, meanwhile they start to see physical differences not only in themselves, their appearance, but also more objective forms, their clothes begin to start fitting better, they see a loss of weight on the scale, muscles begin to become more developed.
They may then start to realize their hunger and appetite have changed, at this point they notice a reduction in stress and are able to sleep better. Their stress levels have been cut in half and confidence levels have skyrocketed. At this point, they increase their training frequency to 3-5 times per week, and have now started to realize the benefit behind tracking their calories and paying closer attention to the actual food choices they make, including cutting out fast food, or at least reducing it to a fair moderation. After this step is accomplished, they start to see that by grocery shopping and not eating fast food two to three times a day they are saving money!
Seeing all of the benefits behind what this person has made a priority in their life, they start to see they are not only consistent in their efforts, but they have a particular skill set that they were not aware of until now, they then venture into approaching a sport to compete in, this person starts to become competitive and has a drive like they have never had, they now absolutely have fallen in love with whatever sport they are passionate about. This might completely have changed this person's life and could very well give them the feeling of having a very important purpose for their efforts. It all could begin with starting off with a very small amount of physical effort, but the decision to take that first step forward through the door, may have proven life-changing to that person. So for those on the fence about getting started, go for it, and start small then gradually add to whatever you love doing!
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