Category Archives: Exercise program design

Exercise program design, other, The practise, TIps

Exercise program design ABC’s

Exercise program design

Let’s talk about exercise program design! When you have decided to exercise, what next? Need a little structure? Check out the following ABC’s of exercise design. Use your current movement repertoire to fill in the blanks.

wArm up

Body of workout/main goal/target area/target activity

Cool down or release

Part A

Warm up:

Start with easy, repeated or rhythmic movements that are gentle and suitable to your current fitness level. To see where you stand on the exercise and activity spectrum, see post Are you evolving as an exerciser?

Your warm up may include using cardio equipment like like a stationary bike or treadmill. Your warm-up could also be components of your main workout done slower in a smaller, gentler range to start.

Use your warm up to transition your mind and begin directing your focus to your body and how it relates to the physical space around you. “Let go” of the tasks that you were recently involved in or one’s that you need to do later.

Vary the intensity, by changing the speed slightly or use progressively larger movements.

These are all options. You can do what works for you. If you are not sure, consult someone who should know how to help you find and narrow down your options.

Part B

“Body” of workout/target areas/target activity:

This part of your workout may be where your goals come in to play:

Do you want to get stronger, more flexible, less stiff, have more endurance, better posture, better cardiovascular fitness, or improved balance? Is increasing the amount of movement at a particular joint important to you? Do you need to relieve stress? Check out Exercise specificity: what do you need?

You could focus on a part of your body (upper body vs lower body, back body versus front, arms and legs, spine and core)

You can also look at specific workouts already out there that meet your needs (Pilates, Yoga, Barre, Zumba, HIIT, TRX, Spinning, Interval training, circuit training, Essentrics®, weights).

If you are not sure, talk to someone who should know (family doctor, chiropractor, trainer, physiotherapist, massage therapist, kinesiologist, naturopath, or other health care or fitness professional).

Part C

Cool down or release:

This could be a progressively slower version or less intense version of what you were just doing (you were jogging and now you will walk). Kind of like your warm-up but in reverse.

Often cool downs will include stretches of the muscles that were used in the workout, which could be static or dynamic stretches. A cool down allows the temperature of your body to decrease slowly and if you got your heart rate up, to slow it down gradually and allow the muscles to return to a normal level of circulation.

It may also be the time where you feel the most relaxed and released and if that is the case, go with the flow and stay focused on the here and now.

To stay in the moment, something like diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) can be used to center yourself and release even further.

The ABC’s of exercise program design!

For more information, join me Wednesday mornings at 9:00 on Facebook for an interactive livestream on all topics exercise. If you are interested in trying an Essentrics class, please see my sign-up page. And finally, watch for my fun “shorts” on You Tube!

Are you ready? Get set. Let’s move!

Anatomy, physiology and aging, Exercise program design

Exercise and injury: We all have our limits

Why do we injure ourselves?

Did we do too much too soon? Did we go beyond our physiological limits? Maybe we have an underlying problem that keeps resurfacing? Maybe there is something going on in our biomechanical bodies that we are not fully aware of or understand. Maybe we have been a consistent exerciser and have been doing the same thing for years? Did you try something new and didn’t really know the basics? Are you a weekend warrior?

Tissue tolerance

Exercise and injury. There are a multitude of possibilities. But I would say in most cases, we have exceeded our tissue’s tolerance. Not a great layperson term, but it kind of summarizes it all into one box.

Our bodies our made of different tissues, and I am speaking very generally from a biomechanical perspective: we have bones, joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, fascia, skin, and nerves that represent the physical entities that make up our musculoskeletal system, the one that moves our limbs, maintains our posture, allows us to move from one place to another, fidget or reposition, and of course carry out out daily tasks(even sedentary ones) as well as exercise.

We exercise to keep this system primed and ready for action. The less we move, the more limited our movement repertoire becomes. By checking in with your body regularly, responding to and modifying our physical routines, we are more likely to get the balance right.

Exercise and injury. Think about the following :

Consistency of exercise (how regularly do you exercise?)

Volume of exercise (number of repetitions or repeated movements in a session or specified time frame, eg. number of steps in a day)

Impact (high or low impact, which one do you do?)

Range (does your flexibility or available joint movement match what is required for your chosen activity?)

Force or strength requirements (are you loading a tissue too little, just right, or too much? It depends on your goals)

Frequency (do you have rest days in between workouts? Do you workout once a week or daily, or work different parts on different days?)

Technique (what are you doing, why are you doing it, and what is the best technique, alignment, speed, rhythm, or range to do it at)

The above list is very generalized, but you can see there are multiple modifiable factors that can affect the tolerance or resilience of our tissues, and in turn, when it results in injury or having “overdone it”.

If you are a high level athlete versus a grandmother who takes care of her grandkids, you will likely have different goals when it comes to your fitness and lifestyle. Try not to compare yourself to others when thinking about what kind of program you should do.

See my blog called Exercise specificity: what do you need? for help in figuring this out.

Let’s be realistic

Exercise and injury do not need to go hand in hand. I think in many cases our ego gets the better of us. Or maybe it’s our memory (or inserted memory, a.k.a. delusion). Our inability to be in the moment with our bodies may result in participating in an activity in a manner that was better suited to a younger version of us, many years or even decades ago. In this case, re-evaluating how you feel during or after your activity of choice may help you refine and remodel the way you do things, matching it more closely to your current abilities or physical capacity.

Training

If you know you are training for a future event which will require a level of fitness that exceeds your current fitness level, educate yourself, use common sense, ask questions and look for advise from those who appear to be successful in the same activity. This may increase your odds of avoiding injury and completing your goal. I think one of the best things you could do is be realistic on time. Give yourself more than enough time to prepare for the event.

Fuel

We know that the resilience of our tissues also depends on the fuel we use to sustain activity and to build and regenerate new tissue. This gets even trickier, as there are so many views on nutrition, and everywhere we look there is advise on how to best address this. Find someone you trust and whose perspective is similar to yours when it comes to food choices. Start with the obvious by making healthy food choices(i.e. avoiding junk food, highly processed food). Eat what you know is healthy more often.

Consistency

Exercise and injury. My last thought is think about consistency. If you only dabble in exercise or in intentional physical activity once in a while, start with one day a week, or one activity that you can do well. Develop a basic schedule that you can stick to. Find a place for it in your calendar and make that the beginning of your “exercise week”. You may find that planting the seed (deciding when, where , what and how) and then cultivating it (completing it at the beginning of your “exercise week”), may result in new “buds” in unexpected areas.

Motivation to exercise

Exercise for the most part should be fun. If you hate it, maybe you are doing the wrong thing. The options when it comes to exercise and physical activity are endless. You don’t need to fit into any mold. If something works for you, stick with it. Then see if there are ways to expand your horizons, and switch it up a bit.

If you really do not know where to start, talk to someone who should know, and don’t feel intimidated. It doesn’t take much to get moving. And once you find the beginning of your path, it could take you anywhere.

It’s OK to “start over” many, many times. Keep at it, and soon you will feel something stick. You’ve got to move, and I have no doubt that you can do it!

Let me help you get started

If you need help, accountability(and I mean this in the lightest sense) or just to know that you are not alone in your exercise journey, join me in September for weekly motivational movement, exercise demos, conversation and fun! It won’t be complicated. Stay tuned!

If you are ready to roll, check out my page, Essentrics with Andrea. It could be your starting point, or maybe it will be something you can try later. In any case, take charge and join my email list. I will send you future blogs and the latest updates on my scheduled livestreams.

Are you ready?

Get set and let’s GO!

Exercise program design, other, Personal notes, The practise

Creating Space to Exercise

I have been dreaming of my own personal exercise studio with all the gagetry needed to both receive and give amazing exercise experiences. What do you need to make an ideal exercise space?

My exercise space

I don’t have the luxury of a separate space in my home for exercise, so I already use a multiple use space for yet another use. Gratefully, the space that I do use does not have any furniture that requires re-positioning. I have an open wall when teaching for my backdrop. My camera depth is limited so boxes on a counter serve as my tripod when virtual.

One thing I am noticing is that lighting can be a problem, especially on overcast or winter days. I may need to invest in more lights so I can be visible to myself and others while on the screen. For different levels of exercise (standing, lying) my computer has to be re-positioned so I can still see well. Did we ever imagine that we would be fiddling around with a computer while exercising?

If you are more fortunate, there may be more things that you can look into like improving your technology for your virtual experiences. It really helps if you can hear an instructed program clearly. Something simple like earbuds if you can tolerate them can allow you to zone in to cues and music.

I think back to all of the physical spaces I have moved in for the sake of fitness, conditioning and the creation of movement. There have been some that were amazing and others that were not so appealing.

Here is a summary of the factors that made the exercise experience more or less pleasurable:

The Good. Light, good audio/acoustics, clean/uncluttered, easy access, not isolated, fresh air, some sense of newness/modernity and if not, unadulterated classic style, soft floor(wood versus concrete), no carpet.

The Amazing. There were a few spaces where the atmosphere was further enhanced. They all had a cathedral-like structure (very high ceilings and lots of light). No doubt the feeling and sensations that came to me when in those spaces included: Spiritual. Expansive. Uplifting. Energizing. Welcoming.

The Not So Good. The spaces that I didn’t care for much and that I believe ultimately influenced my movement experience included: old and decrepit, cold(I mean really cold), yellow tinged walls, low ceilings, dark, cluttered, and significant distractions from outside sounds.

We can’t all have perfect personally controlled spaces to move in. Especially when exercising in our homes, there may be a limitation of physical space and/or a shared space that can’t otherwise be significantly altered.

I don’t have a magical solution to creating an amazing space but if you start with the basics, like reducing clutter and improving lighting, this can go a long way to improving your exercise atmosphere.

But don’t wait to have the perfect space to get started. The exercise experience is obviously more about what you do with your body than where you are.

Defining your space physically and mentally will ultimately help you fulfill your goals. Removing both the tangible and intangible obstacles, with practice, will make your everyday commitment to movement and physical well being more regular and automatic. Make positive connections with your physical space and build on the possibilities a day at a time. Making space available may simply be deciding that here and now is the best option. Go for it. Let’s move!

Essentrics with Andrea