Gradual

When things go well with our workouts, sometimes we get tempted to do more of everything.  We often end up with more ice and ibuprofen.

We do, in fact, want to push ourselves.  We just need to use our good judgment about how much.  If, say, we know we’re going to be doing a big run or ride or swim in a particular week, that’s not the right time to bump up all the weights on our strength day.  Or say we want to run both faster and longer.  We need to work on one at a time, perhaps increasing our running time (about 10% per week is a good rubric) for a few weeks and then upping the pace via intervals.

Most of us, even fresh off months on the couch, can manage a 30-minute walk five days a week.  That’s a great place to start.  When that begins to feel easier, it’s time to toss in a strength workout or two.

When we go gradually, we actually get farther faster.