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Episode 4 - Fitness FUNdamentals
18 Plays2 months ago
Are you looking to become fitter, faster stronger, healthier? Whatever your goals you're going to need a plan. In this episode we discuss how to balance your programme to make it effective and sustainable.
LCW founder Russ Harris discusses how to design a balanced training programme, manage your rest and pick the right type of training for your goal.
If you're getting started or launching out to achieve a new fitness goal this is the episode for you.
For more information about our corporate wellness offering check out our website
For more tips and coaching, online courses and article about health and wellbeing join the LCW app for free
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Transcript
Introduction to Fitness Fundamentals
00:00:00
Garret
Welcome to the LCW put podcast on today's episode, Fitness Fundamentals, Crafting and x Exercise Routine for Long-Term Health. My name is Gareth Amore, and today I'm joined by a founder of LCW, Russ Harris. Welcome, Russ.
00:00:13
Russ Harris
Hello.
Navigating Fitness Information
00:00:15
Garret
um So I guess something, Russ, we've talked about is you know thinking about longer-term health, fitness, and you know how do you actually develop a sort of you know a balanced and sustainable approach to that?
00:00:28
Russ Harris
Yeah, I think it's a really good question. Um, particularly at this time of year as well. I know there'll be a lot of people listening in the new year and the you know going out and trying to get themselves in better shape. There's often a lot of Christmas guilt hanging around at this time of year. New Year's resolutions have been set. But regardless of that, whenever you start a new, um I suppose, fitness journey, um as a lot of people will call it these days, so trying to get in shape is one of those things that sometimes there's almost too much information out there that's available. And it can be sometimes quite hard to understand how to interpret that information specifically for yourself.
The Importance of Training Balance
00:01:06
Russ Harris
um And obviously in a coaching capacity, that's what I've spent years helping clients to do is to try and understand individually for them what should what should what should I be doing to get to get in shape. um And you mentioned their balance and sustainability. And I think that's one of the things that
00:01:22
Russ Harris
I would certainly urge people to try and focus on when it comes to fitness, because you do see people, whether it's, you know, they prefer ah yoga, they prefer strength training or swimming or hiking. All of these things can be said to be getting somebody in better shape, you know, be getting someone fitter. um And they can all be really successful. But the, the training for them,
00:01:51
Russ Harris
all looks really, really different. So while it's very hard to say, ah you should definitely do this kind of training to get in shape, or you should definitely do that kind of training to get in shape, it's certainly very easy to say that if you don't have a balance within your training program and you overemphasize certain aspects of of training, if you just overdo one aspect,
00:02:13
Russ Harris
um our body's need for a degree of flexibility, a degree of strength, a degree of cardiovascular fitness um will then will then show us some somewhere there'll be a weakness in the in the system.
Consistency and Perseverance in Fitness Goals
00:02:27
Russ Harris
And the sustainability piece is really just around the fact that these things take time to develop these adaptations, whether it's lifting heavy weights or whether it's going out and doing cardio exercise, whether it's running.
00:02:42
Russ Harris
um You're not just, as everyone will attest to who's ever tried this, you're not just instantly Usain Bolt. ah It takes a lot of perseverance and it takes a lot of consistency to achieve these things simply because you need to repeat repeat the exercise about again and again and again. um So there's there's different types of balance ah people should be thinking about if they're kind of embarking on on exercise programs.
Balancing Exercise and Rest
00:03:07
Russ Harris
so So there's a balance of your time spent exercising to your time spent resting. um and And often, particularly i feel like people are feeling very motivated by their goal, their fitness goal that they've got. And whether that's a performance goal like um
00:03:24
Russ Harris
you know, the books in a race or whether it's a beach holiday or something that's coming up they want to look a certain way for. um That enthusiasm can sometimes mean that like I'm just going to exercise every day or I'm going to exercise really, really hard and I don't need any rest because I don't feel right now like my body needs any rest and my mind is ready to go. I've i've made my decision, I revved up ready to go.
00:03:48
Russ Harris
But of course the reality is that the harder you exercise, the more frequently you exercise, or the longer you exercise for, the longer you'll need to rest for to recover from that activity. So if you go to the gym and you exercise really, really hard because you want to get in good shape,
00:04:05
Russ Harris
um you're going to need to balance that with some rest.
Variety in Training to Stay Motivated
00:04:08
Russ Harris
And that's one of the things that will put a limit on how fast you can make those improvements is because you're going to need a rest day here or there or a couple of rest days. um So you can't just be working all the time. Our bodies just don't work like that. When we exercise, part of the fatigue process is that our bodies then need to recover in between and our mind as well. So it needs to recover.
00:04:31
Russ Harris
ah So there's an element of that balancing the rest and the work ratio. I suppose there's also a balance in regards to actually, for multiple reasons, psychologically, if you're just doing a single type of training, so if you need to balance your types of training as well, if you're only running, it's very easy for sometimes people to get bored of running.
00:04:57
Russ Harris
So when you start, you're feeling very enthused and away you go, but then after a while you go, I'm gonna do that same run again. I'm not feeling quite so excited now about going and doing the same thing again.
00:05:09
Russ Harris
um
00:05:10
Garret
So freshness is something that's important.
Diverse Training for Enhanced Performance
00:05:13
Russ Harris
It's important, yeah, certainly from a motivation point of view, um our bodies respond very well to consistency, so consistency of exercise, and but they also require some some progress over time. We need to continue to make the stimulus a bit ah bit more challenging over time. um But the other reason I think that the balance is important in in training is not just psychological. It's not just staying motivated and keeping the program interesting. um But our bodies are integrated systems. So we've got to be mindful of that when we're training is that if you were to take a runner
00:05:52
Russ Harris
and you were to get them to do some strength training, there are transferable effects that will improve their running performance or their fitness at running um from doing some strength training. and And likewise, if you were to take ah somebody who spends all of the time in the weight section and is focused on building strength or building muscle, and you give them some flexibility training, some stretching, ah that there's going to be positive transferable effects that go across from that. So from a purely technical standpoint,
00:06:22
Russ Harris
balance will help you to have a ah more robust body um and will help with whatever goal it is you're reaching towards. um That's not to say you wouldn't bias the training that you either enjoy or the one that's ah most akin to your goal, but there is some element of balance that requires just beneficial, beneficial for results and beneficial for keeping it interesting and keeping yourself
Setting Specific Fitness Goals
00:06:47
Russ Harris
motivated.
00:06:47
Garret
Okay. And for someone who is maybe you know sort of newer to this idea of almost developing kind of fundamentals around fitness, or perhaps they're they're from listening to you recognising that maybe they sort of predominantly doing one particular type of exercise.
00:07:00
Garret
So maybe they maybe they run, but they're going, Oh, actually, I don't do much strength training. where Where would you sort of recommend that people sort of begin, you know, to answer that kind of question, how do I sort of pull this off?
00:07:12
Garret
How do I kind of get fit in that kind of way?
00:07:15
Russ Harris
Yeah, how do I get going?
00:07:16
Garret
Yeah.
00:07:16
Russ Harris
yeah because you do You're right, because we do tend to focus on the the end goal very much. We sort of focused on where do we want to get to and so how do we get going is often left a little bit less well described.
00:07:30
Russ Harris
I think there are a number of different skills that are going to go into any one goal. And it is important to speak with regards to training to specific goals. So if your goal is ah weight loss and you want to use exercise to support that, if your goal is to gain muscle, to gain strength, to get more cardiovascular fit, these will need different types of training. And so I think the best place to start is really to identify what is the goal specifically that I want. And it can be all of those.
00:07:57
Russ Harris
but it's not just general fitness is made up of all of those. So it's worth acknowledging that they are different goals that require different types of training. And I want kind of do a bit of all of them, or I want to specify a little bit more in one area.
Foundational Skills for Long-term Success
00:08:11
Russ Harris
The reason for that is because I would say that the place to start is to learn about the style of training required for the goal that you're after.
00:08:17
Garret
Mm hmm. Hmm.
00:08:19
Russ Harris
And if that is a very broad goal and you do just want to be generally a bit fitter, then it is a good idea to have that balance of training styles in your program so that you do do some stretching, you do do some weightlifting, you do do some cardio, you do do some relaxation drills.
00:08:33
Russ Harris
All of those things are going to help ah with getting you in better shape. And there are different skills and techniques within each of those disciplines that you're going to need that will set you up for very long-term success. Because as I've already said, with any of those goals, yeah this takes time.
00:08:54
Russ Harris
And so you're laying down those solid foundations of going, OK, how should I be lifting these weights? What's the techniques like? What are the best exercises to use for getting stronger? Or what should my running form look like? How should running feel when I'm out on the road? What should I be focusing on when my foot hits the floor? you know With stretching, what are the sort of sensations that I'm looking for? How intense?
00:09:19
Russ Harris
should a stretch be? I mean these are all really fundamental questions that you will need to answer not just theoretically but also you'll need to be in the gym out on the road in the weights room to actually feel what these feel like and to be able to identify if there are any issues or any techniques you haven't quite got yet because if you start adding weight for instance in the gym room but your technique is not very good at some point that lack of technique is going to undermine your efforts to get stronger and then you're going to have to either you pick up an injury or you'll have to just dial things back a little bit. And it can be quite frustrating to have already put all that energy into a goal and then seemingly to be going backwards to where you probably should have started in the first place.
00:10:02
Garret
And what you're describing, I mean, what's your sense? Is there a degree to which we can, can we develop some of this on our own? Or or is this sort of a situation where it's more helpful to get, you know, specific input from maybe like, ah you know, a personal trainer, or if someone was quite interested in running, you know, kind of a running coach, or but what's your, what's your kind of sense on that?
The Benefits of Coaching
00:10:21
Russ Harris
Yeah, I would i mean i'd be biased towards towards the coaching simply because all of the evidence points to towards the fact that one-on-one coaching produces faster results than group coaching or taking it solo. So if you're in a position to be able to invest in that, um actually,
00:10:37
Russ Harris
you're going to get answers to those questions very quickly and then you can be on your way and feeling like you're making progress far quicker which is much more motivating and and you know everybody wants to see results so if you can get to seeing those results more quickly then That's obviously going to be preferable. But going along and just being in a group environment of other people who have exercised for a bit longer, you will pick up great tips as much as you'll pick up some things that are not founded in any evidence at all, and you will have to sift out for yourself.
00:11:11
Russ Harris
what's effective and what's not effective and you will have to really assess that on your own. Whereas if you try and just go solo without doing any research or bringing any coaching in, the trial and error process of trying to figure all these things out can be quite a long, quite a long road indeed, because some of them are not, they're not totally intuitive.
00:11:33
Garret
And I guess then, you know, your pretense you go down, maybe take this a wrong turn as a good name, some kind of...
00:11:40
Russ Harris
Yeah.
00:11:41
Garret
at least, yeah, which, which obviously someone with the experience, they're kind of aware of that already. So they're saving potentially that sort of time and frustration.
00:11:47
Russ Harris
Yeah, I think we we tend to factor in, when when we ask the question of how long will it take me to get in shape, we tend to just factor in ah like how quickly can a body get into that kind of shape from where I am now. um But we don't tend to factor in mistakes.
00:12:07
Russ Harris
Wrong turns, illnesses, holidays, breaks, dips in motivation, and all of those things and more can be navigated in a far easier way if you've got somebody there who's actually been through that process before or somebody who's taken other people through that same process before and can give you those, I suppose, or alert you to those kind of roadblocks before you get to them. and So yeah, when we when we're sort of thinking about how how long would it take me to get in shape,
00:12:37
Russ Harris
You know, really that that question depends on partly what the goal is, but also partly what's the support system that you're putting in place. And I think when you look at building your own sort of fitness routine to achieve your goal, these are the kind of fundamental building blocks that you want to be thinking about.
00:12:55
Russ Harris
Not just where do I want to be, but ah yeah what kind of training do I want to do?
00:12:59
Garret
Mm hmm.
00:12:59
Russ Harris
How much time have I got to train? Am I going to get a coach? and answering those questions based on your circumstances at the moment where you feel you are but just know that the answers to those questions can be your own but know that there are some routes that are faster than others so when you're deciding to go solo know that that's probably not going to be as fast as so getting a coach um and and know that if you're keeping your goal to yourself that when your motivation drops off, if you're only accountable to yourself, it's likely it might take you longer to get back onto the horse and get back into training again. If you're accountable to other people, you probably do that a bit more rapidly. So there are plenty of things you could do to speed up the process.
00:13:38
Garret
Okay.
Personalized Training for Individual Success
00:13:39
Garret
And I'm assuming that also, you know, what a coach offers is that can really, I guess, tailor to you and your sort of individual circumstances. Whereas I imagine if you're trying to just get the knowledge yourself, perhaps from online sources or something else, you're going to have to do a bit of kind of figuring it yourself. Yeah.
00:13:56
Russ Harris
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah we're we're all different. And to add some context to that, that's a bit more specific and a bit more helpful is some of us will just have natural capabilities in you know a few areas, a couple of areas. You will know if you have always been quite flexible. You will know if you've always been good at lifting heavy things. You'll know if you've always been out to go out for a run and and you know you're faster than other people. are You know, whatever it is. And these things might be back from, you know, when you're at school or they might be more recent examples of when you've been able to um discern how you compare to other people. um But what we what we tend not to be able to know so readily is, I suppose, where are the gaps?
00:14:41
Russ Harris
Where are these things that I'm not um not thinking about? And so coaches will be able to say, OK, you are really good at this. But in order to get to your goal, you know this is a real area within this type of fitness or this type of goal that you're going to need to to focus on getting better at. um And then also be able to find a way in which um The training program can suit you and your temperament as well as your skills. So we've all got training preferences. you We might be um be really good at something, but yeah we tend to lean towards what we're good at as we like that kind of thing. We tend to lean away from, if I'm not so good at it, maybe I don't like it so much. um But when we pick a long-term goal, it might might be important to do some of those things.
00:15:24
Russ Harris
that maybe we don't like so much, maybe we're not so good at, and obviously coach is there to be able to one, point that out, but then two, support you to actually um to actually do that as well, take those challenges on.
00:15:35
Garret
Okay. And I guess another thing that kind of comes to my mind is, do you have a sense of actually, how do you sort of figure out, you know, what are the particular types of training that we should be doing, if that makes
Aligning Training with Fitness Goals
00:15:47
Garret
sense? How do we, because you hear a lot of things like someone like, oh, you know, you know, hit, hit training, if you've heard of that as maybe something someone could be doing. What, what do you, do you have a sort of response to that, that kind of,
00:15:59
Russ Harris
Yeah, it's a i mean certainly a big question. the in order to In order to, without getting into the weeds of these individual types of training,
00:16:10
Russ Harris
um Because there's it's just important to note that there are still arguments raging between experts as to which one between hit training and MIT training and this training and all these types of training that you might Google and be able to find. um There isn't a ah unanimous and agreed upon answer for any of these things. So it's a you end up going on a bit of a sort of um treasure hunt but without much success when you try and say this one is better than this one but there are some principles some underlying principles that are really beneficial to to think about and the sorts of things that I talk to my clients about is the type of training has to match match to match the goal so for instance strength
00:16:58
Russ Harris
If you want to be able to do your first pull-up or you want to be able to do your first press-up or you want to be able to lift the heavy weight in the gym, they would all be considered strength goals simply because the output that you're looking for is to be able to produce more force with your muscles and therefore move either your body or an additional extra external weight. You will need to do strength training that matches that goal in order to be optimally strong for
Key Factors Affecting Training Success
00:17:26
Russ Harris
that. I know that sounds really obvious but If then you are trying to do a program which is not using heavy weights and is not using low numbers of repetitions with longer rest periods, you're simply not going to be optimally developing your strength for that. Likewise, if you are trying to build muscle and you want to change your physique and that's your main fitness goal, if you're not
00:17:52
Russ Harris
ah If you're not lifting weights or using your own body weight and completing lots of reps and focusing on the amount of reps and sets you're doing, increasing over time, again, you're not optimally going to be developing muscle mass because there are certain conditions that we need in order to actually optimally move towards those outcomes. Likewise, if you want to be a runner or you're interested in anything cardiovascular like rowing or swimming, um and you're not you're not going out and actually getting your heart rate into the correct zones, so you're getting your heart rate up and keeping it up for a period of time,
00:18:34
Russ Harris
If most of what you're doing is in the weight room or you're stretching, you're just not optimally going to be developing your cardiovascular capabilities. Same for flexibility. Unless you are feeling a stretch sensation in your muscles, unless you're sitting in positions where you can feel that your muscles are being stretched for periods of time in the gym, you are not going to be developing those skills. So the type of training has has got to be has got to be very specific.
00:19:01
Russ Harris
um You also you have to consider the the other factors, the other variables, once you've selected a sort of type of training that will determine to what extent you get towards that goal. So how far you get towards that goal and also how quickly are your intensity of your training. So case in point would be you could you could ah lift weights. You could do low number of repetitions with longer rest periods.
00:19:32
Russ Harris
and But unless there is a sufficient intensity to those weightlifting sessions, you won't actually get stronger. So you in principle, you have gone to the gym and you've done all the right things. You've done the right type of training. But if the intensity of your training is not high enough, unfortunately, you're not going to be driving any adaptations. And that's true for all of those types of exercise. um Duration is another factor. you know If I go in and I be the right type of training, and that my intensity is right, but I only do it for five minutes.
00:20:06
Russ Harris
Unfortunately, the duration is just not sufficient, again, to drive those adaptations. And then the final one to add on to that is frequency.
00:20:13
Garret
Mm-hmm.
00:20:14
Russ Harris
So if I go in and I do a really hard session, and it puts me off because I get the intensity, the duration, the type of training all correct, But then because I've got muscle soreness afterwards or, you know, I just get i just fall off that kind of habit of going to the gym regularly. And the next time I go to the gym is in 10 days time and I do the same again, but the same amount of effort in the right intensity and duration and type of training. The frequency is not correct. And again, I'm not going to be making progress towards my goals. So when you're looking at programs that you might want to follow or you're looking at classes,
00:20:51
Russ Harris
that you're looking to join as a part of your new exercise routine or indeed if you go and get some coaching, um finding out what those optimal frequencies and types and duration of training are is absolutely critical um to to setting yourself up for success.
00:21:12
Garret
Great, okay.
Scalable Exercises for Beginners
00:21:13
Garret
So just to recap that, so what I'm understanding is that the the sort of the intensity of the exercise, you how hard you're kind of working, um then the duration, you know so how long that sort of, I guess we call it that session or or time of that but piece of work is, and then the frequency, sort of maybe how often that would be sort of in in in a given week, if that makes sense.
00:21:30
Russ Harris
yeah
00:21:31
Garret
Yeah. Okay. Great. And so it's a great sense, a great thing for people to have a mind. Um, do you have any sense of like, what would you recommend for someone who might see themselves as a bit of a beginner and in terms of like, what exercises do I sort of start with or, or what particular, uh, uh, almost activity to assert like more broadly, whether should I be thinking gym or yoga or swimming or running or.
00:21:54
Russ Harris
Yeah, that's a good question. Yeah, for anyone getting started out there, um All of the activities that I've talked about so far ah within the same activity can all be scaled up or down using those same factors. So there is no particular exercise or type of exercise that you can or can't do as a beginner. um It's just the amount of it you do, the intensity of it and the frequency of it need to be matched to your current fitness levels.
00:22:25
Russ Harris
um So if you're going to be going into the gym and lifting weights, going in and lifting lighter weights for fewer reps with more rest periods, more of a focus on technique is a better place to start and then you will soon be able to build yourself up by adding intensity and duration and ah repetitions of certain exercises once you have Once you feel comfortable and confident that with the level you're at, because the problem with going in and going too hard is that if you perceive the exercise to be just too difficult, you're not going to be able to rationalize a way of saying to yourself, I'm going to go back and do this three times a week.
00:22:58
Garret
Mm hmm.
00:23:08
Russ Harris
if it was just if you felt like you were just clinging on you know and a lot of classes obviously um that are out there are great because of the social environment you're in you know you're going along you're exercising with lots of other people but it's very difficult for those instructors when they've got lots of you know 20 30 people in the class to be able to individualize it just specifically to your own fitness needs. And so it's easy for you to ah potentially go to a class that's actually just too demanding, too difficult, and then that's really off-putting. Also, if you go to a class that's actually too easy, you may just feel a bit like, that wasn't quite quite right. So to any of these activities, and there are some great programs out there you can find online. you know The Couch to 5K is a good example for people wanting to get into running because it's pitched at that level of, I'm not currently a runner.
00:23:56
Russ Harris
and I don't currently know what my running level is. So it just teaches you how to progress week on week from very you know very short runs with lots of rest periods in between all the way up to being able to complete a 5k and run consistently for half an hour. So that's the same idea you'd need to apply to any of these um different training disciplines in order to safely progress not just safely for your motivation to keep yourself engaged with it, but safely from an injury perspective as well. you know you you know When you're lifting weights in the gym, it's easy to, suppose, overlook the risk that you're taking on. um But anybody who's gone out for a run and tweaked a calf or pulled a hamstring or anybody who's done their back in you know the gym will will tell you, you know be wary, but you know be wary of these things and and be sensible and build up and respect
00:24:50
Russ Harris
you know, the process of building up to kind of where you want to be. um But it can be really fun. that I mean, that process of learning in a weird sort of way, the pressure is off, there's no expectation.
Enjoying the Fitness Journey
00:25:02
Russ Harris
And I think that's how I'd encourage people to approach that, is that you're just playing
00:25:06
Garret
Hmm. Mm hmm.
00:25:07
Russ Harris
you're going and playing in a safe space ah where the exercise intensity is not so high that the risk is also high. um I think interestingly, later on, once you feel more accomplished and you feel like you're in a consistent routine with your exercise, interestingly, that's when the pressure comes on a bit more because you're happy to put more pressure on yourself.
00:25:27
Russ Harris
And you say, I should be doing this in my gym session. I should feel motivated. I should do all these kind of things. And that gets into a whole other realm of consistency. But when you're starting out, don't put that pressure on yourself initially.
00:25:39
Russ Harris
Just go and enjoy it. Get some coaching. Go along to group classes. Take it at your own pace. Don't overdo it. And enjoy the process of getting into it. Because because you know once you're into it, that's when you're going to start reaping the benefits and the rewards of all these adaptations. And you know there's lots of evidence to suggest that the closer we get to a goal, you know the the the more effort we start putting in.
00:26:01
Russ Harris
So to begin with, just treat it like a learning exercise. you know You're going in and learning and don't don't expect yourself to be at the level of somebody who's been training for 10 years or you know just go in and and and have a play with it. And don't worry too much about the outcome. It doesn't have to be perfect to begin with. you know There are lots of people far less capable than you are who are very, very capable at their running or at their gym work or whatever. And you will get there too.
00:26:28
Garret
So really keeping at what we call like a beginner's kind of mindset or beginner's kind of attitude, keep it kind of fun and playful. not not Not too serious, too soon.
00:26:35
Russ Harris
That's it. It's supposed to be fun, right?
00:26:38
Garret
a
00:26:38
Russ Harris
It's supposed to be, Matt. It's like your leisure time, right? so This is the thing. It's something you've chosen to do to improve yourself. um So yeah, so go and have fun with it.
00:26:49
Russ Harris
and and And I think that's what most coaches will attest to, is that actually they feel very fortunate. So I so i certainly feel this way, very fortunate to be in that space where you get to work with people in their leisure time and work with them in an area that you're passionate about. And I think when you're starting out on your journey, you want to tap into that as much as you can, because, yes, you want to get results. But results will only come from consistency. And these are the building blocks of really of of of consistency.
00:27:19
Garret
Great, okay. Well, thank you so much. That's been ah really, like I gotta say, really informative. um And I obviously look forward to to um speaking to you again sometime.
00:27:29
Russ Harris
Thanks very much.
00:27:31
Garret
Okay, take care.
00:27:31
Russ Harris
It's been a pleasure. Till next time.
00:27:33
Garret
Until next time, bye-bye.