Your Fitness Program’s Worst Enemy

Your Fitness Programs Worst Enemy

by Matt Tucker

Inconsistency is a fitness program’s worst enemy. If you are only working out once a week or once a month, my guess is that you are not very happy with the results. Even if you are hitting the gym a few times a week on average, you may be surprised to see the detrimental effects of skipping one or two workouts here and there.

Let’s say your regular fitness routine includes jogging for 30 minutes, three times per week. Let’s assume you are a 175 pound man and you typically run at a 9 minute per mile pace. Each 30 minute jogging session burns about 460 calories.

3,500 calories is equal to about a pound. If you burn 3,500 more than you eat, then you will lose 1 pound. If you consume 3,500 calories more than you burn, you will gain a pound.

Continuing with our example, we can determine the effect that skipping jogs has on our subject:

If he skips one workout each month for a year, he retains 5,520 calories (1.5 pounds)
If he skips one workout every other week for a year, he retains 11,040 calories (3.15 pounds)
If he skips one workout every week for a year, he retains 23,920 calories (6.8 pounds)

Skipping just one workout doesn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but compound it over a year and the calories burned (or NOT burned) can cause a large variance in your weight. Skipping one workout a week can easily be the difference between busting the button off your pants or tightening your belt a notch.

After a long day at the office, the cushions on the couch look much more comfortable than the seat on your exercise bike. Before you melt into the sofa, remind yourself of these two things:

Exercise fights fatigue and boosts energy levels. If you are constantly tired, exercise more, not less.
Skipping workouts will sneak up on you. A few hundred calories may not seem like much, but multiplied by 12 months of missed workouts and you could be plus or minus five pounds by the end of the year.

If you buy a new bathing suit next summer,do you want to buy one that is the same size, larger, or smaller? Consistency plays a major role in determining if you are going to maintain, gain, or lose inches. Commit to yourself and your goals. Don’t let fatigue tie you to the couch. Fight fatigue and fat by sticking to your plan and making each and every workout a priority.

To calculate the number of calories you can burn doing different exercises and activities, go to http://www.internetfitness.com/calculators/calburncalc.htm. Simply enter your bodyweight and average time to see how many calories you will burn by doing each exercise. Use this as a guide to figure out how many calories you DON’T burn when you skip a workout.

For more information about making a making a plan to reach your goals, read my article, “New Years Resolutions Are a Waste of Time.”