Episode 300: What Makes Your Workout the Best

Here is a top ten list of “What Makes Your Workout the Best”:

1 - The one you do consistently. The number one rule for exercise and physical activity is to make it more than a workout of the day, but something that fits into your schedule and becomes your lifestyle.

2—The one designed for your goals. Doing workouts that do not address your specific goals is generally unhelpful if you hope to see the results you want. Goals vary from aesthetics, health, and wellness to optimal performance for competition or sport. What are you looking to accomplish with your fitness routine? If you have goals, you will focus more on assessing yourself and seeing improvements.

3 - The one that works on both your strengths and weaknesses. Whether you have muscular imbalances or specific activities are more challenging than others, designing a plan to help you maintain strengths and improve your weaknesses will help you be more well-rounded. For the military professional, the fewer weaknesses you have, the more you will develop and maintain your abilities to be an asset in any situation. 4 - The one that works endurance, strength, and flexibility. Both optimal performance and longevity require a solid balance between the three main elements of fitness. Having a foundation of strength develops overall durability. Endurance helps with work capacity, and flexibility/mobility can be essential for injury prevention and more stable movements. 5 - The one that helps you with weight maintenance. Most Americans need to improve two things: moving more and eating smarter. Portion control is one of our most significant issues, as we have a habit of gaining weight every year, until 10-15 years later, we are 50 lbs. overweight. Weight gain sneaks up on you and soon becomes linked to many chronic illnesses that slowly take away our performance and, later in life, our independence. 6 - The one that fits into your schedule. We all have the same 24-hour time each day. Short, quick workouts can be as effective as longer workouts, depending on your abilities and goals. How we arrange our work, leisure, and family time into the day can limit our time to exercise. Combining physical activity with other events can be a useful source of time management. For instance, walking around a field your kids are using for sports practice. Or, taking a 10–15-minute walk during an hour lunch period. 7 - The one that has exercises that you enjoy. Nobody likes all of the exercises they have in a program. But you must like something about the workout, otherwise you will never show up to the workout in the first place. If you balance a workout routine with more things you like to do than do not like to do, you may find that, because you are doing new things, you see solid improvements quickly. 8 - The one you call a lifestyle change. Fitness is not a destination, but a journey. This quote describes a mindset that is needed for all of us. You are not supposed to stop when you reach your goal weight, PT test scores, or a competitive event you trained so hard to do. Instead, move on to the next goal of the month. It makes training fun when you have different goals each month or a long-term goal. 9 - The one personally designed for you. Having someone like a coach or trainer help develop a program that fits your abilities, time per day, days per week, equipment available, and goals will help you avoid the frustration of training programs that take too long and do not address your abilities. 10—The one that integrates nutrition.