Have you ever asked yourself if you have an effective workout routine when looking at your fitness habits? Fitness for moms needs to be efficient. The last thing moms need is extra fluff. However, on the flip side, it’s also common for critical components of exercise to be excluded from a fitness program.
So what makes up an effective workout routine? How can you make sure the time you are putting into your workouts is well spent?
An effective workout routine has several critical components
1. Strength Training
For many women, strength training is an afterthought. Cardio is all too often seen as the holy grail, and strength training is forgotten about altogether, or not heavily focused on. This mentality is all backward.
For moms, whose primary fitness goal is to be healthy, have a certain aesthetic appearance, maintain a healthy weight, feel strong and confident, have energy, and ward off aging and injury, the foundation of their fitness routine should be strength training. This is commonly the aspect of a fitness routine that is often missing or skimped on.
It’s true that cardio burns more calories (during the actual workout), however, strength training has a much larger impact on your metabolic rate and fat-burning potential. In other words, when you strength train, you gain muscle mass, and muscle mass burns more fat. So you may not burn as much during a strength training workout as a cardio session, (though if you’re lifting heavy enough, it's not uncommon for your heart rate to reach an aerobic level) however, your calorie burning throughout the day will be higher.
So when planning an effective workout routine, build it around your strength training. Some individuals will have other goals that change this; however, this should be true for the majority of women. At a minimum, you should strength train twice per week, and likely more depending on your goals.
In terms of strength training, it’s important to take a whole-body approach. Don’t just hyper-focus on the areas of your body that you are trying to elicit change. You cannot spot reduce fat, and you may unintentionally create a muscle imbalance if you are only focusing on certain muscle groups. Effective workout routines include strength training for the whole body.
The body can be broken up into different chains. This includes the posterior chain, or back of the body, the anterior chain, or front of the body, and the lateral chain, or side of the body.
Of course, many exercises work the various chains of the body at the same time. The main point is to be sure you aren’t excluding anything.
Posterior Chain: Below are some examples of exercises that are using mainly the muscles of the posterior chain.
Anterior Chain: Below are some examples of exercises that are using mainly the muscles of the anterior chain.
Lateral Chain: Below are some examples of exercises that are using mainly the muscles of the anterior chain.
2. Cardiovascular Training
Cardiovascular training should be part of everyone’s fitness routine in some capacity. Cardio is great for heart health, endurance, lung capacity, blood pressure, and weight management. Cardio comes in many different forms.
Steady-state cardio includes running/jogging, walking, or anything you are doing at a steady pace. Generally, your heart rate will be in a 120-150 beat per minute range during a steady-state cardio workout.
HIIT cardio, or high-intensity interval training, is a combination of short intense bursts of work that get your heart rate up to 80-95% of your maximum heart rate. These bursts are then followed by recovery periods of work where you should target a recovery heart rate of 55-65% maximum heart rate.
Check out some of our recent cardio workouts featured on our Insta!
3. Stretching and Mobility
Stretching and mobility should be a focus in every effective fitness routine. Stretching and mobility work helps correct muscle imbalances, can improve joint function, and reduce the risk of injury. Mobility can also increase muscle response during exercise allowing your workouts to be more effective. Try and perform stretching and mobility exercises before and after the main part of your workout each day.
Stretching and mobility should be a focus in every effective fitness routine. Stretching and mobility work helps correct muscle imbalances, can improve joint function, and reduce the risk of injury. Mobility can also increase muscle response during exercise allowing your workouts to be more effective. Try and perform stretching and mobility exercises before and after the main part of your workout each day.
Check out some of our recent mobility workouts featured on our Insta!
4. Proper Nutrition
Any exercise routine is not going to give you the results you are looking for without the balance of proper nutrition. You cannot out-exercise a bad diet. An effective fitness routine also includes focusing on nutrition and balanced foods. Ensure you are eating adequate amounts of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Remember that this number will be specific to your body, activity level, and goals.
5. Rest and Recovery
Yes, I’m going there! No fitness routine is complete without proper amounts of rest and recovery. Without rest and recovery, your body will lack the necessary resources to change. In addition, your hormones and metabolism are largely impacted by rest and recovery. Prioritizing rest and recovery will allow your body to work for you and get the most out of your workout. So if you’re going to bed late and then waking up early in an attempt to get that workout in, you very well could be undoing all your hard efforts.
An effective workout routine can come in many different forms
Remember that even though your fitness routine should include all these components, it might look a little different for everyone depending on their goals. If your goals are to run faster, you may have a heavier emphasis on cardio versus someone whose goal is to simply burn fat and “tone up”. Regardless of your goals and how you break your workouts up, the biggest factor is ensuring all the components are there. You may choose to incorporate cardio throughout your strength workouts, or you may choose to keep them separate, again the strategy is all dependent on what your goals are and the amount of time you have to dedicate to exercise.
If you feel lost in your fitness routine, try our 8-week coaching program and allow us to plan it out for you!