3 Tips to get More from Your Workout

Are you getting the most from your workout sessions? Follow these three tips to reap the benefits of even the most simple workout and find out how avoiding premature death, according to these studies, could be as simple as moving and sweating more often.

1. Get Up and Move More!

“Higher levels of physical activity, at any intensity, helps to reduce the risk for premature mortality”

The BMJ recently released a meta-analyses of eight large-scale, observational studies, which included over 36,383 participants, by E. Uff and all, in August. The study showed that higher levels of physical activity, at any intensity, helps to reduce the risk for premature mortality in middle and older age adults [3] [4]. The study also reminds us of the importance of getting up and moving. Subjects who were sat still for several hours or were sedentary for 9.5 hours or more a day, were at an increased risk of death.

So you find that you spend a long period of time sitting around, make sure to get up, move, walk, and use your body as much as you can! It might also be useful to set timers or wear devices, like pedometers or fitness trackers, which can help you monitor measureable outcomes, like how many steps you take each day, or how long you move for.

2. Plan & Be Consistent

“The key to successful weight loss is consistency”

In a recent study published in Obesity, by Schumacher and all, 375 participants were studied carefully, and those who able to maintain weight loss successfully had a shared a common trait with the way they approached exercise. Consistency! It didn’t matter if they exercised with moderate-to-vigorous intensity in the early morning, afternoon, or evening, in particular, but that they were consistent with the timing of when they exercised [1] [2]. Further research is needed to investigate if there is a particular time of day that is the most advantageous for exercise. However, in the meantime, this could mean that if you take the effort to plan and carve out a regular time and structure for your physical activity sessions, you may have an easy way to maximize your exercise results.

3. Puff and Sweat

“Engaging in physical exercise vigorous enough to elevate the heart rate and make you puff and sweat is significant in avoiding an early death”

In a large study which followed 204,542 adults, over the age of 45 for over six years in the Australian state of New South Wales, researchers found that those engaged in physical activity vigorous enough to elevate the heart rate and make participants puff and sweat was significant in avoiding an early death. So, if you have time, and the ability, and the will, try to push yourself a little more, and opt for activities like jogging, running, aerobic or competitive team sports over moderate activity like gentle swimming and walking. [5] Push your edge, can you go a little harder, farther, faster? What about a high intensity interval training session? Take a friend with you and challenge one another!

So there you go! Be consistent, move more and add intensity where possible. If you’re having trouble getting started then head over to Samahita Retreat for YogaCoreCycle to begin a healthy routine with our experts!

1. Leah M. Schumacher, J. Graham Thomas, Hollie A. Raynor, Ryan E. Rhodes, Kevin C. O’Leary, Rena R. Wing, Dale S. Bond. Relationship of Consistency in Timing of Exercise Performance and ExerCite

2. “Timing of exercise may be key to successful weight loss.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 July 2019. .

3. Ulf Ekelund, Jakob Tarp, Jostein Steene-Johannessen, Bjørge H Hansen, Barbara Jefferis, Morten W Fagerland, Peter Whincup, Keith M Diaz, Steven P Hooker, Ariel Chernofsky, Martin G Larson, Nicole Spartano, Ramachandran S Vasan, Ing-Mari Dohrn, Maria Hagströmer, Charlotte Edwardson, Thomas Yates, Eric Shiroma, Sigmund A Anderssen, I-Min Lee. Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality: systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis. BMJ, 2019; l4570 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l4570 https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/366/bmj.l4570.full.pdf

4. BMJ. “Physical activity at any intensity linked to lower risk of early death: But being sedentary for several hours a day linked to increased risk.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 August 2019. .

5. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150406121015.htm

Learn More About Samahita

More from the Samahita Blog