If You Can Talk While You’re Doing That…
Yesterday was a cardio day for me. I hit the elliptical for a 40-minute, steady-state, moderately high intensity aerobic workout, then mopped off and climbed on the treadmill for a slow, cool down walk. As I paced, a couple of gals on the adjacent treadclimbers caught my eye…or my ear, actually. They were in the middle of an animated conversation…without betraying the slightest hint of exertion…no stopping midsentence to grab a breath, no huffing, not a bead of sweat between ’em. It was pretty obvious that – in spite of the fact that their legs were moving – there was little to no resistance to the motion.
They were burning more oxygen by yakking than working!
This made me think back to an incident from my old training daze. I was doing an ab exercise assigned by the Trainer Guy (Jerry): knee raises on the Roman Chair. To do them, I had to face the row of machines against the wall. Just so happened that someone I knew was occupying the leg extension machine right across from me, so we conversed a bit while I was working.
Jerry strolled in right at that moment – then stopped dead, a couple feet away from me. He just stood there…watching, with “that look” on his face, which meant he was thinking of something evil. Then – without saying a word – he strode over to the dumbbell rack, selected a 15 pounder and set it between my feet to increase the load. Then he flashed his trademark West Virginia Country Boy smirk and quipped: “If you can talk while you’re doing that, you’re not working hard enough!”
Bastard.
But he wuz right, of course. One of the key things missing from so many workouts is intensity. You can’t make progress if you’re only going through the motions…you have to push the limits of what you can do. If you just do the same thing(s) everytime you walk into the gym, your body will adapt…and that’s that. You need to raise the bar – literally, as well as figuratively.
Now – in the early stages of a workout program – I’m all for making the actual work as easy as possible. Why? Because it takes time for habits to become established, and if those early workouts are too grueling and joyless, then it’s easy to start making excuses to avoid them. Before you know it, you’re back to Square One.
But – once the habit is established – it’s time to start turning up the heat. Talking is a distraction: you can’t put in a good, focused effort AND maintain a steady, uninterrupted stream of conversation at the same time. I’m all for training with a friend or partner, but save the conversation for warm-ups/cool downs and rest periods. Your body will thank you for it.
