EXECUTION

4. INTENSITY

Please bear with the site's lack of creative content! The fun stuff are still cooking and they will be unleashed when the time is right >:) 

For now, idea number 4 will be rambled about. When I was still in school, I used to work out in between classes. I found out that it was a productive way to kill time and bridge the gap between my morning and evening classes. 

"Up to this moment, and in terms of both the short and long term benefits of both actions, the daily choice of working out in between classes versus studying for the next class will still be a fairly arguable philosophical stalemate." - Clean N' Mean

There was only one thing that I did not notice. I was spending too much time in the gym. It had its perks though. I was able to do a lot of exercises while balancing reps and weight but I was resting to much in between. I was doing things with a bad pace and without maximum intensity. I will say that if you have all the time in the world, you can still do the same for probably just one day a week to relieve the stress and redundancy, and get some gains in a relaxed manner. There may still be benefits for spreading a whole lot of reps throughout the day. I believe that it is in itself a different approach to the body and could trigger a different growth response and muscle maturity. But to do it that way everyday would be a waste of time. I wasn't getting the most out of every workout. For the body to get stronger, you must challenge it to do better each and every time. Intensity must be present throughout the workout. The pace must be good while some huffing and puffing can be a pat on your back that tells you that you are pushing yourself. It will not always be the case, but some of the things that make you huff and puff now could feel like a warm up activity next time. One thing to consciously work on is the reduction of the rest intervals. Reducing rest time makes you feel more on the go! While you reduce your rest, always remind yourself of the first 3 pointers regarding range of motion, feeling the flex, and involving your core. Those would help your intensity during the active parts of the workout, while reducing rest will improve your overall workout intensity/pace. Reducing rest is not an excuse to do things incorrectly! Another easy fix will be to sneak in a relatively easy exercise that can replace your rest time. I usually do 20 body weight squats (good form with ass to the ground) and or 20 mountain climbers in between dead lifts. Keep in mind however that everything has a price. Even those lighter exercises can drain energy. Always know your goal, and apply the necessary adjustments that will help you reach your goal. Creating these mini circuits of light activities in between your main ones can help increase overall intensity as long as you do them all right. If you want to push your max for a lift, you might want to focus on doing that lift right and do the mini circuits on some other day. Make sure that your adjustments do not compromise the intensity of your main activity. While most examples are related to gym exercises, the same concept applies to sports. Do not play to jog and cruise around. Play to be a better you, with maximum intensity in every game! An hour of  running > 2 hours of walking. Quality over quantity!

SUMMARY

+Consistent intensity will push you more, therefore will improve you more.

+Taking less time to do the same things while maintaining the equal intensity is better!

+Less lifting time = more time for other things! (Such as skills training, sports, or opening your books!)

Clean N' Mean