Google tells me that the “fitness industry” was forecast to pass $32 billion in 2022. Which means that “personal fitness” is more than a New Year’s resolution for a large number of people.
Elite Athletes
“Exercise Science” has become a more rigorous academic discipline than the old “physical education” catch all. My guess (100% me guessing – just my opinion) is that most “high schools” now have a “strength and conditioning” coach of some kind – at smaller schools it might be a part-time supplemental job held by a teacher/coach of another sport (probably football).
All of which means that there is a vast amount of “information” out there. If you are an “elite athlete” or if you are responsible for training “elite athletes” there are a lot of factors to consider when designing a “training program” for competition. Much of that information is “sport specific” — e.g. training for “golfers” is much different than training for “marathon runners”.
The days of athletes “reporting to training camp” and “getting into shape” DURING “training camp” are long gone. The average “elite” athlete probably treats their sport as a year round obligation – and might spend hours everyday “working out” in the off-season to prepare.
General Fitness
But wait – this isn’t an article about “elite athlete training.”
A large amount of research has been done confirming that a “sedentary lifestyle” is actually a health risk. The good news is that recommendations for “exercise for general health” haven’t changed much.
It would be “best” to get 30 minutes of low to moderate exertion level exercise most days of the week. The exercise doesn’t have to come in one continuous 30 minute period – again the “best” option would probably be multiple 10 minute periods of exercise spaced out over the day.
Which means if you work in an office building and can make the walk from “car” to “office” take 10 minutes (park at the end of the parking lot, take the stairs) – that would have SOME health benefits — but that is just a made up example, not a recommendation.
If you are sitting in front of a computer all day – then you should (probably) also stand up and move around a couple minutes each hour. Again, your situation will vary.
Interval Training
If you hate to exercise (or if you have trouble finding the time to exercise), but recognize that you “should” exercise – “interval training” might be a good option.
The idea of “interval training” is that you alternate periods of “high exertion” with periods of “low exertion.”
Runners might be familiar with the idea of “fartlek training” (Swedish for “speed play”) – where periods of “faster” running are alternated with periods of “slower” running. Google tells me the practice goes back to the 1930’s – and I’m going to guess that MOST “competitive” runners are familiar with the concept.
From a practical point of view the “problem” becomes keeping track of “rest” and “relief” times.
With a “fartlek” run in the U.S. you might be able to alternate sprints and jogging between utility poles — assuming your running path has “utility poles.”
In a “gymnasium” environment “circuit training” becomes an option — e.g. 20 second “work” times followed by 10 second “relief” times (when exercises could be changed if using resistance training or calisthenics.
Personally I get bored doing the same routine, don’t really want to go to a “gym”, have an abundance of old computers, and some “coding skills.” SO I wrote the little application below.
Since I designed the application of course it seems “obvious” to me — just a simple countdown timer combined with “work” and “rest” intervals.
Specific “work” and “rest” periods can be entered — e.g. if you wanted to do a “boxing gym” workout you could set the “interval” count to 15, “Work Time” to 3, and then “Rest Time” to 1 – and you would get 1 hours worth of “rounds.”
The very generic “General Fitness” workout is 5 intervals consisting of 1 minute of “work” and 2 minutes of “active rest” periods — there is a “clacking sound” at 10 seconds remaining and a “bell sound” between periods.
Exercises
I like using an exercise bike or a “step” for my intervals – but you can do whatever exercise you like. e.g. Jumping rope or “burpees” would also be good options.
For “beginners” doing calisthenics for 1 minute is probably not realistic – but it would be a good workout for a college wrestling team.
You will get more out of the workout if you “walk around” during the “Active Rest” period.
Core Strength
There is a “20 second work/10 second rest” option under “Select Workout” – which is a good example for a “planking” type exercise for “core strength”/calisthenics intervals.
e.g. As an “ex-athlete” over a certain age – the 20/10 intervals are surprisingly tough. But again “currently a competitive athlete” could start with the same workout – they would just get more repetitions done in the same amount of time (and would recover faster).
If you are looking for something tougher/more challenging – there are a lot of “High Intensity bodyweight” exercise routines out there on the interweb – but again, be careful. Going too slow at the start is MUCH better than “jumping in head first” and getting injured …
Simple – not easy
If you do the General Fitness intervals three days a week (ideally with a day in between workout days – e.g. Sunday – Tuesday – Thursday, or Monday – Wednesday – Friday) and then some 20/10 “planks” for core strength (or do push-ups for 20/10 intervals) that is a “not bad” beginner workout.
Do that workout for six weeks and then maybe think about upping the “intensity” – or start doing the workout 4 or 5 days a week.
Coaches
I wrote this application for myself – and it could obviously be improved. I could add a “save custom workout” option with a little effort if there is an interest.
From MY point of view “coaches”/personal trainers are the folks that would find a “save custom workout” option useful — and there would be “time and effort” involved.
Download
The download has been tested on 64 bit versions of Microsoft Windows. I have a “Mac mini” so compiling a OSX version might be an option (if someone actually needs it). Same idea for Linux …
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