Having an understanding of progressino and rest in your fitness plan can mean the difference between living in a costant state of plateau, and getting fast, effective results.  Here are some thoughts on incorporating these key exercise variables into your workouts.

To progress your workouts means to consistently change variables such as time, intensity, weight, rest periods, and exercise difficulty to challenge the body to adapt to a new stimulus.  Progression means you are getting better, adapting, and responding to exercise in a way that will create results.  In progressing your workout plan, you should be aware of the volume, or total exercises and sets you perform in a session, as well as the intensity, variety, resistance, and other criteria that will keep you from falling into a fitness plateau. 

Rest is just as key an element to fitness success as progression in that your body needs to have time to adapt to new stimulus.  Workouts will break down tissue, and you must have sufficient rest along with nutrition to effectively adapt and respond.  A good workout plan will have rest built in, such as taking 1 week off weightlifting out of every 12.  This time is can be used for othere activities not normally part of the routine, such as outdoor hobbies and recreational exercise.  The rest period can help avoid training plateaus and ensure constant progression in your fitness levels.  I must stress again that these two factors can determine your ability to get results based on how they are used in your fitness program, and I recommend consulting with a certified personal trainer regarding what is the best course of action for your next fitness program.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 9:35 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.