How can you maintain fitness in busy seasons?

Often the goal of training is to improve your overall fitness or work on a specific attribute of your health. We live in a time-crunched, fast-paced world. Most people have to squeeze their exercise around a long list of other commitments if they can get it in at all. And when availability for exercise is limited we typically choose one of two extremes:

Neither of these options truly serve your health and fitness! When your schedule is overloaded, the goal of your training is to maintain fitness rather than make gains.

So, what is the best way to maintain fitness?

A research paper in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning (2021) studied the minimal dose of exercise needed to preserve endurance and strength over time. What this paper found was that intensity above all else was the most important variable in maintaining physical performance. The difficulty with this is that intensity looks very different depending on the sport (short endurance, long endurance, max strength, muscle size). 

Bottom line: if you are time-limited, work harder with the time you have available.  The intensity is what signals to your body that the adaptations you worked so hard on are worth keeping around.

Maintaining Endurance

For endurance athletes this might mean 4×4 minutes of hard work with equal recovery, or a longer steady state run that is moderately effortful. This means the popular “zone 2” training doesn’t hold much water when time is limited. Save it for seasons with more time availability for exercise. 

Maintaining Strength

For strength athletes, you likely need less sessions than you expect, and focusing on one body part at a time may not be worth it. Instead, choose a few compound exercises that involve multiple muscle groups and work them hard. Work to the point of near maximal effort in the final reps. If you have the energy to do >4 more reps or another set entirely, then you are likely not working hard enough and should increase the weight accordingly. 

Physical fitness is so important for a long and thriving life. It is a valuable skill to know how to be flexible with your routine throughout the year. To know when to put your foot on the gas and when to take it off or apply the brake! If you have questions about this information or your own health journey, please reach out to us at Wolfe PT. We are always happy to walk alongside you in your journey.