Your THPL journey and the many interesting dynamics of living a full complement of Life, Learning and Fitness activities will, most likely, cause you to pause from time to time to consider your activities, your goals, and how to continue to stretch and do more. That next level (in this case in fitness) can mean anything from added volume, to more speed, to consecutive days of exercise to multiple activities in one day and then to just about anywhere your imagination will take you. And it could be at this moment, when you want to go to the next level but fear of the unknown, uncertainty, or just apprehension about a new activity can get the best of you. It is at this time when you really want to reach out and leverage the THPL community that you are part of – they can help you figure out the next best step. Often all we need is affirmation that our ideas and approaches are sound and you can then move forward with confidence. I have found that other THPL practitioners give to you exactly what you need – just a bit of support and encouragement.
So, let’s for a moment talk about a two ways that we can stretch and do something different with our fitness The first is exercising for some number of consecutive days. Where to start? Well simply just set a goal and see how far you can take it. Could you make it four days in a row? How would it feel if you pushed it to seven days? Fourteen? What I think you will find is that once you get past the first “mini-streak” you will be able to push it longer and longer. You will, I am confident, do it to the level that you find appropriate. There is no right answer – only what works for you. I have to say that I have had quite a bit of fun with the consecutive day challenges.
The other challenge that I have found to be interesting is the Double or Two a Day. This is when you workout twice in one day – sometimes two different activities (run / bike) and some when you just double up your same workout (run twice, swim twice etc). What I have found out is that when you bookend a day with workouts you create a few good outcomes. First, it forces the body to stay in a state of readiness. The more frequent the workout the more you need to be prepared to do it. It creates a scenario where the body will start to build strength in anticipation of another workout – one that is less than 24 hours away. It also helps accelerate your development. It allows you to shorten a workout if time is limited and most of all it raises your fitness level since you are out and about more often than you would be otherwise.
I know for sure that there are many other ways to stretch the limits when you live THPL and I recommend that you try one of these approaches or some other interesting one that you come up with. Please do share them as we are all looking for fun , new, exciting and engaging ways to live THPL.
Saturday’s with Sally are great – (well at least it sounds good ) 3:26 +25 seconds and then the challenge of the song of 4:17 - I made it back to 250 pushups. I got there simply because I had a new goal and I went at it as hard as I could. Less rest - more push (pun intended). It worked, got the last one as the song ended. One more day and it will be a trend. Stay tuned…
Loving life especially when I get two workouts in a day (like I did today)
Ciao
joe