Optimizing Your Workout Routine: Finding the Perfect Balance of Exercise Duration, Frequency, and Intensity

Exercise duration, frequency and intensity

Here are some definitions to start us off:

Duration is the length (time required) of a workout.

Frequency is the number of workouts performed in a given period. (I.e. 1x/week or 3x/week etc.)

Intensity is how hard the muscles work.

Why is this important? The reason is when designing a workout program, you must take into consideration these factors to optimize results. If a workout requires a high level of intensity, it cannot be sustained for long (duration) or often (frequency). If the workout is done for a more extended period (duration) and often (frequency), the intensity will be lower.

High intensity = shorter duration & infrequent

Long duration &/or high frequency = low intensity

The reason it is this way is that our bodies are incapable of a high level of intensity for long durations, and if you want to optimize results, you need to allow adequate recovery time for the muscles and supporting structures, which would lead to infrequent workouts.

Is a high level of intensity required for results? No, BUT it is necessary to work a muscle hard enough to stimulate the growth mechanism in our bodies.

How do we work our muscles hard enough to stimulate the growth mechanism? By balancing and adjusting our workout intensity, frequency, duration, and RECOVERY.

The workout is vital to STIMULATE our bodies to change; recovery is necessary to ALLOW our bodies to change. If you don't allow adequate recovery, you are wasting your time and efforts by breaking down your body and not building it back up.