They say variety is the spice of life. It may be true of food and maybe even fashion, but what about fitness?
Like delicious desserts or cool items of clothing, there are so many modes of exercise out there to choose from. When it comes to effective fitness, I’ve always been a fan of playing the field.
Just as we are advised by nutritionists to vary the types and colours of fruits and vegetables we consume to increase the chances of obtaining a wider range of vitamins and minerals, the same can be said in the recreational world of exercise and fitness.
Total fitness can be broken down into components and as fitness enthusiasts, the more activities we engage in, the better our chances of developing the complete range.
Total fitness means better health, better immunity and lower risk of sustaining injury. It will also result in a better-looking body most of the time too, which is also of great interest to the average gym user or outdoor activity enthusiast.
Some of the main components of fitness are speed, stamina, strength and suppleness (flexibility). If the activities we engage in can challenge us across this complete spectrum, then the more we can achieve, or the better we can prepare for the functional physical requirements of everyday living and even the sporting arenas.
Even the specialists will benefit from bringing up their weaker components, but for those of us who need not specialise, the benefits of variety are even more dramatic.
Yes, when it comes to exercise and fitness, the old adage holds truer than ever. To coin a new phrase of funky fitness jargon, it’s called ‘multidimensional exercise’. Sounds fancy enough, but it basically means variety is indeed the spice of an active life.
I perused with interest a recent paper published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. The phrase was used by Paul Arciero, an exercise scientist who wanted to find out if performing a larger range of physical activities was more productive for weight loss and general health than simply sticking to the same type of training all the time.
The participants in his study were split into groups, all of whom followed a diet rich in protein, but the distinguishing factor between them was the type of exercise they were prescribed.
One of the groups simply ate healthier and didn’t exercise at all, while the others ate healthily and exercised in a number of different ways. In a nutshell, by the end of the research, the group that performed a range of varied activities lost more weight and gained more lean muscle than the groups that did nothing or stuck to only one type of exercise.
It is worth mentioning that the participants were mostly overweight and obese and unaccustomed to physical exercise. The better shape you find yourself in, the harder it becomes to achieve such dramatic results, so the participants in this study were more receptive to all types of regimen, but we cannot deny that Arciero’s Prise theory seems to have some potential. It stands for protein, resistance training, interval training, stretching and endurance. This pretty much sums up the variety of exercises his participants indulged in. Their waists got smaller and even their blood glucose levels dropped; very good news for diabetics or pre-diabetics.
Variety is indeed the spice of an active life
The study was also used to illustrate the idea that a good training programme should be based on quality, not quantity. A well-thought-out regimen targeting a broader range of fitness components will yield better results than a system based simply on more of the same.
If you’re performing the same type of training and decide to do more and more of it, then you will eventually reach the stage of diminishing returns. Don’t just increase, diversify. Alternate movements and types of exercises target different muscles in different ways, giving you more all-round development and a greater challenge. Using the same muscles in the same way means your body will eventually become extremely efficient in that specific way, reducing the challenge element.
So for a multi-dimensionally fitter you, try out the programme for yourself and see if you can replicate the same positive results. The participants increased the proportion of foods in their diets that were rich in natural protein and performed resistance training with weights once a week.
They also performed sprint interval training on one day, which consisted of alternating sprints with recovery periods of activities like running, cycling, indoor rowing and other popular cardiovascular-based movements. On a separate day, they performed plain steady-pace endurance training. Finally, they engaged in an intensive stretching session once a week, led by yoga or pilates instructors.
Even if you don’t follow such a programme by the letter, be inspired to try something new. Perhaps you’re bored with your training or have hit a plateau. When your results grind to a halt and you feel you’re in a rut, a little variety could be all you need to stimulate adaptive change in your body and kickstart your progress again.
Training is all about producing an overloading stress on your body systems, a stress to which adaptation must take place. This wonderful system no longer works if your training is something your body is already well used to.
So whatever your situation or goals, in Arciero’s own words: “Keep your eye on the Prise.”
matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt