Everyone exercises for different reasons but training for a specific goal or event is a great way to keep fit and moving over the cooler months. Starting the summer shred a bit early, upping your fitness for a 10 km run or just to become long and lean. We give the low down on what area of fitness to train to smash your goals.
Cardio fitness
Whether it’s working on your endurance for a long distance run or high intensity repeated cardio efforts.
Step one is to find out your max heart rate – basic way:
220- your age eg 220-26 = 194 beats per minute. To find out percentage of max HR eg 50% 194 x 0.5 = 97 bpm.
| Zone | Max HR intensity | What’s happening |
| Very light | 50-60% | Cool down / warm-up or recovery zone. Increase HR + fat burning zone |
| Light | 60-70% | Works on endurance – working for long periods of time. Improves fat burning. |
| Moderate | 70-80% | Builds up power. Starting to increase the intensity, sweat and build a better endurance base. Fuel switches to burning more carbohydrates rather than fat. |
| Hard | 80-90% | Improves anaerobic tolerance. Body’s ability to work without using oxygen. Lactic acid starts to build up. Improves high speed endurance |
| Max | 90-100% | Improves carbohydrate metabolism. Increase maximum sprint effort. |
Goal to lose weight and burn some fat? Stick to anywhere between 60-75% max HR
Want to be able to run, cycle etc longer and harder? Do some interval efforts starting with 80-90% max HR then throw in some short sprint 100% max efforts until you build up a stronger base.
Muscular fitness
Don’t be afraid to lift some weights. Research has shown that muscle mass actually burns more fuel when you’re resting.
Knowing your 1 maximum repetition effort in lifting exercises is key to finding which range you should be working on depending on your muscle goals. Never attempt a 1 rep max effort on your lonesome and don’t forget to warm up those muscles before hand with some lighter reps and sets.
| Reps | % of 1 Rep max | Goal |
| 13-20 | 60-70% | Muscular endurance, toning up with little strength gains |
| 9-12 | 70-75% | Better toning and definition with some added strength |
| 6-8 | 75-85% | Building up better strength with a bit of power. Increased muscle size. |
| 1-5 | 85-100% | Power + strength. Increase muscle size. |
Move, sweat + smile this winter.
TL + TEAM X
