From Basic Training to Fashion Fitness: Finding an Effective Workout

When I worked for the British military, I could look out my window and see the training exercises. The troops would be running in their boots with loaded backpacks in the rain or crawling through the mud while a sergeant barked (not necessarily encouraging) words at them. These drills came to mind when I saw someone wearing a Tough Mudder T-shirt, and it made me think that in some ways we're trending back-to-basics in our exercise regimens even as high-tech fitness options are mainstream.

Low-tech workouts have exploded in popularity. Take CrossFit: With its farmer's and yoke carry exercises, it's a throwback to an earlier time when our agricultural ancestors did those too. The difference is that they didn't do yoke carries in a CrossFit "box" to get in shape -- but in the fields, because it was part of their job. You don't get much more low-tech than working out in a warehouse using mostly body weight. On the other end of the spectrum is the trend toward high-tech equipment to aid our workouts. As a popular holiday gift, a lot more people are wearing fitness trackers with sophisticated movement technology on their wrists. Gyms have high-tech weight machines that set up your workout, record your weight, reps, sets and more and then upload it to your virtual workout log in the cloud.

From the workout de jour to basic calisthenics, we have a plethora of choices on how we can break a sweat, but I'm not going make a judgment on all these types of exercises. As far as I'm concerned, they're all a slice from the same cake. My personal definition for exercise is very basic: Move in a challenging way on a regular basis, and do it safely. Simple.

Here are some guidelines I give to my clients that can help you navigate your workout options:

-- What I preach to my clients -- as well as the hundreds of people I talk with at conferences and speaking engagements -- is safety, effectiveness and efficiency. Safety is always first: Before you even lace up your shoes, check in with your physician. Based on your medical history, your physician will qualify what type of exercise is OK and what you should avoid. When a client comes to me, the first question I ask is if they've been cleared for an exercise program, so make sure an exercise professional screens your health and fitness status and history. When I know how much exercise you've done in the past six months and any medical conditions, it gives me parameters on the dose and type of program I'll prescribe for your fitness level and age. My life work is motivating people to exercise, so I applaud enthusiasm for jumping into exercise, but I want it to be sustainable. If you've been channel surfing for the past year, it's not recommended that you jump off the couch and run a 10K, no matter how good the cause. Progression should come with time. If your goal is a 10K, find online or in-person resources to help you to work your way up to that distance so you don't get hurt or burned out from too much too soon. A key to working out safely is guidance and correct form, so keep that in mind if you opt for a fitness app or video. On the Official 7-Minute Workout, you'll hear my voice walking the user through the exercises and explaining proper form. You'll also rate your fitness and motivation levels in order to select the exercises and rest time for an appropriate workout. Granted, it's not the same as a live person, but as a virtual personal trainer, it works quite well.

-- Once you've determined your workout is safe for you, the next step is making sure it's effective. By effective, I mean challenging in intensity for your level. If you go for a leisurely walk, it's exercise, but it may not necessarily increase your fitness level. You need to challenge your body to become more physically fit. Physically we operate in four zones: rest, comfort, discomfort and pain. The first, rest, includes sleep and is critical for recovery. The comfort zone might be walking at a moderate pace. The discomfort zone means you're challenging yourself, and pain is when you're doing too much and it literally hurts. The upper and lower ends are easier to decipher, but you need to gauge individually your comfort and discomfort zones. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is sleep and 10 is pain, 5 to 6 is moderate discomfort, 7 to 8 is vigorous and 9 is pushing the limit of discomfort. The talk test is a valid assessment of where you are in the zone. If you can talk comfortably, such as when you're on a brisk walk, you're likely exercising at a moderate level (5 to 6). If you can talk, but need to pause for a breath every few words, you're likely operating in a vigorous (7 to 8) zone.

-- The efficiency component is simply the "bang for your buck." At Johnson & Johnson's Human Performance Institute, we work with many executives and other time-crunched individuals, and the biggest barrier to regular exercise is time. What we tell them is they can save workout time by exercising harder for a shorter duration because the value of a high intensity workout is its efficiency. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recommended amount of moderate activity is 150 minutes per week, but that can drop to 75 minutes per week with a vigorous workout. You might be breathing harder and out of your comfort zone, but the reward is a shorter workout with similar health and fitness benefits as a longer, moderate workout.

Like all good things, a little intensity will yield results. Whether you choose to strap on your fitness tracker while using technological savvy weight machines in a gym or run in the rain through an obstacle course, what's important is that you're moving on a regular basis, and in a way that's challenging to you.

Chris Jordan, MS, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, ACSM HFI/APT, is the Director of Exercise Physiology at Johnson & Johnson's Human Performance Institute. He designed and implemented the movement/exercise components of the Corporate Athlete Course, including the widely-known 7-minute workout, and is responsible for the development and execution of all corporate fitness programming. As an experienced international keynote speaker and performance coach, he trains hundreds of corporate executives of FORTUNE 500 companies each year. Chris is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and a Certified Health Fitness Specialist and Advanced Personal Trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine, and a Certified Performance Enhancement Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He co-authored the peer-reviewed article "High-Intensity Circuit Training Using Body Weight" in the American College of Sports Medicine's Health & Fitness Journal, which led to the Gretchen Reynolds' blog "The Scientific 7-Minute Workout" in The New York Times and generated significant media coverage. Chris has been interviewed about the workout by ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, NPR, CNN, Sirius XM's Doctor Show, The Laura Ingraham Show, Men's Journal, Women's Health, Shape, and more.