If you don’t train hard you don’t have to go home!
To often we are continually bombarded with slogans like “Go hard to go home”, “Get fit don’t quit”, “Better sore than sorry”, “If it burns you’re getting closer”, “A good workout is when your dry fit shirt looks like false advertising”, “Good things come to those who sweat” “Unless you faint, puke or die keep going”, “If you still look cute after your workout you didn’t train hard enough”, “You can feel sore today or sorry tomorrow, “Sweat like a pig to look like a fox”, “Pain is just weakness leaving your body,”, Eat meticulous and train ridiculous”, “Sweat is just fat crying, “You shall gain but you will pay with sweat, blood and vomit”.
These slogans convey the message that fitness and health success can only be achieved with hard intense activity and little can be gained by Low intensity Moderate Intensity Intermittent Transitions (L.I.M.I.I.T) even though the greatest gains in health and fitness occur in those people who progress from being unfit to moderately fit.
We now know that being physically inactive is not the same as doing too little exercise. Active gym goers can still be regarded as inactive and have been dubbed “active couch potatoes”. This is supported by the many unique inactivity physical responses that are not overcome by participating in a more intense structured fitness program.
Globally we need to recognise that the current environment has changed so dramatically over the past 40 years that a single 30-60 minutes daily exercise session alone cannot entirely overcome many of the unique problems of an ever-growing sedentary society.
This presentation focuses on the role of Low Intensity Moderate Intensity Intermittent Transitions (L.I.M.I.I.T) as a means of getting people active, healthy and fit without the initial need to “go hard” which often beyond their capabilities.
L.I.M.I.I.T training program focuses on increased standing time, roaming over the day, pushing, pulling, twisting, lifting, carrying, stepping, squatting and lunging using everyday activities in the home, at work, while in transport and during leisure time using the MET minutes concept to monitor intensity and time.
L.I.M.I.I.T supports a more sustainable method of programming that can be used as a substitute or in combination with a formal structured fitness program, as a safety net for those who drop out of the structured fitness program, for those who can’t attend the fitness program on regular basis and for special populations that require more specialist supervision.