If you work out harder or longer or more often, you will get faster results, right?
While this may seem rational, increasing your exercise intensity and volume might overwhelm your capacity for recovery, resulting in injury or burnout. By understanding the law of diminishing returns and applying the concept of the lowest effective dose into your workout routine, you may strike a healthy balance and assure long-term consistency of progress. Do check out my other post about whether or not you should workout every day.
What Is MED (Minimal Effective Dose)?
The term "minimum effective dosage" refers to the smallest dose required to achieve the intended effect. In terms of fitness, the minimum effective dosage is the least amount of effort required to get your desired outcomes.
When it comes to exercise, the mainstream media or various "fitness influencers" may have led you to believe in phrases such as, "work harder or go home, or no pain, no gain." Of course, certain individuals may require more practice. But, a majority of people only need to identify their MED and let the rest take care of themselves.
Keep in mind that anything beyond the MED will not give you any substantial results.
Why Do You Need To Work Out Smarter, Not Harder?
More is not always better; working out smart is the best way to go. In health and fitness, quality always trumps quantity.
The mentality of "more is better" is unsustainable. At some point, increasing the intensity of your exercise will likely push you further away from your goals. Or, even worse, cause you to give up.
The most critical lesson to remember is that you do not see results at the gym. You see results based on how you recover from your workouts. Therefore, your mantra should be, "work hard, recuperate harder. Also, exercise should not be a punishment and here are some things you should consider.
When Exercising, It Is Critical To Understand The Law Of Decreasing Returns.
Exercise has a "bell curve" effect, so up to 3 or 4 sessions a week you are increasing the results and these results start to level out as you add more sessions until you get less results than if you just did LESS! So make sure that unless a marathon or ultra-marathon is your goal, you aren’t overdoing the exercise!
Bottom Line
Because the MED dosage and the bell curve effect vary by individual, it will take some trial and error to figure out. However, once you do, your exercise routine will change. You can contact us if you have any queries or want assistance determining your minimally effective dose, we love all things health!
If you still need a little bit of guidance on fitting exercise into your busy schedule, I am here to help!
If you’re new here, welcome to my blog, and thank you for visiting! I am Suz Baxter. And I’m a veteran holistic coach with over 17 years of experience in health and fitness.
Whether you aim to lose weight or gain a few muscles, I can help identify the correct workout and make realistic session plans suitable to your body type and physical capability.
Book your consultation now here, you can also message us on Facebook or Instagram. I look forward to chatting with you!
You can also check our other blogs!
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