Workouts are not one-size-fits-all. I mean, I’m not going to try to do a marathoner’s workout because I like continuing to breathe and I’m not going to get what I need from a workout geared toward someone who has been bedridden for the last year. That part is obvious. However, even workouts that are designed for people with more or less our level of fitness may need modifications to be right for the individuals we are. Here are some ways to customize the exercises to make them optimal for us.
If we have an injury, current or chronic: we may need to make some substitutions. Folks with bad knees will want to avoid jumping. People who have recently given birth may also prefer non-impact exercises to avoid leakage. Those of us who are older and may have bone density issues will want to avoid spinal flexion. These are only a few examples, but the basic principle is that if it hurts, don’t do it.
If the workout is too hard: we have some choices to make, depending on how it is too hard. If we are too out of breath, we need to tone down the cardio by moving slower, moving smaller, or resting more. This is another place where lower- or no-impact exercises can help. If our muscles can’t cope with the load, we can, obviously, use smaller weights, but we can also do fewer repetitions. Also, there are many ways to work the same muscle groups. If, for example, a renegade row is too challenging, we can do a bent-over row instead.
If the workout is too easy: we can increase the challenge. From a cardio standpoint, if we want more challenge, the easiest way to do that is to add jumping. Plain squats become jump squats. Step ups become jump ups. It is also possible to increase the cardio aspect of a workout by making movements bigger. This is the cardio difference between overhead presses and clean and presses. Heavier weights can also add more cardio to the mix. And there are always cardio intervals: throw in a minute of jump rope or a quick sprint on the treadmill between sets of weights for cardio fun. The solution if the weight part is too easy is not always just throwing more weight at ourselves, although that does often do the trick. It depends on what our goals are. Many of us may find that we get the challenge we want from doing more compound exercises and fewer isolation exercises (lunge to curl versus bicep curl, for example). In general, when we increase weight, we want to reduce the number of repetitions until we get used to the new weight. Then when the new weight gets easy, we add reps, alternating our way upward to greatness.
If we really really hate a particular exercise, most of the time we don’t have to do that one. There are a lot of exercises out there and we can usually find a different way to attack the same problem. There are very few things we just have to suck up; this is a good thing.
Ultimately, I encourage everyone to experiment and see what works. As we work out more, we will need to continue to experiment as our capabilities expand.
Go play.
