We all know that continual exercise and training is beneficial for your body, both physically and physiologically. The physical adaptations are almost common-sense these days:
-Decreased body fat
-Increased lean muscle mass
-Increased strength
The physiological adaptations are a little more complex but ultimately lead to a many beneficial outcomes:
-Increased aerobic capacity (endurance)
-Quicker recovery
-Decreased heart rate
-Increased fat utilization for energy
-More efficient thermoregulation
You can imagine how all these adaptations can improve your health, fitness, and overall life. But, the truth is, they are more difficult to accomplish then one may think.
Sadly, these adaptations don't happen over night. Both physical and physiological adaptation must go through a sequential process in order to develop. For example, lets look at strength. Strength is constantly improving throughout your training, but what if I were to tell you that substantial muscular hypertrophy doesn't occur till after 3-5 weeks of training.
3-5 WEEKS! I realize this sounds like a long time but it is true. Your muscles can't grow without a series of preceding events occurring.
This cascade starts with proper motor recruitment for the skill being performed. This means that for the first 3 weeks or so your body is primarily developing a more efficient and effective neural pathway to your musculature. And, in doing so, you get stronger by a more efficient motor pathway and by recruiting more motor units (muscle) for the task being performed. |
Finally, now that we have proper neural and cardiovascular support, our muscles can hypertrophy. Again, it isn't till roughly 3-5 of training till your muscles truly begin to hypertrophy and greatly contribute to your strength gains. At this point your muscle fibers are being modified, increasing their mitochondrial capacities and size, which results in physical hypertrophy. |
The take home message to all this is that fitness is a process, and the best way to reach your fitness goals are through habitual practice. The more time you take off, the more you will regress in your fitness and have to work through the process again. There are no shortcuts. You must progress through each mechanism sequentially since one causes the other. Therefore, it is important to continue training in order to keep your body in a muscle building, hypertrophic, state.
How?
The best training advice we can give you to stay consistent is to make it habit. Habits are encouraged through repetition, so it is important to utilize the same time for training each day. Even on off-days, it is important to do some workout-related activity during your isolated workout time, like stretching or cardio. This way your body will become accustomed to your workout time and will, therefore, be mentally and physically prepared to train. |