Training Effectively: Context Matters Most

How long should my workouts be?
How many repetitions of my exercises should I be doing?
What exercises should I be performing in my workouts?
How many days a week should I be exercising?
Is running bad for my joints?

These are examples of some very common questions people have regarding exercise, and rightly so. There is a lot of confusing, contradictory and convoluted information floating around the worldwide web when it comes to working out.

The truth is, it all depends on context.

Context is defined as the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and taking the necessary considerations so it can be fully understood and assessed. We’ll describe a few different contexts which would determine the training that would be appropriate for these scenarios.

Let’s consider a post-natal woman who is caring for a 4 month-old child. She likely does not have the luxury of exercising for an uninterrupted hour or longer, nor perhaps the energy. Her workouts will need to be adapted for a shorter duration with low to moderate intensity level and specially selected exercises while she adapts to her new role and schedule. If her goal is to find consistency in her exercise time, then shorter workouts at a manageable intensity are going to be keys to success. She’ll also likely have specific exercise requirements based on how the pregnancy went and how her body feels. For example, pelvic floor exercises, low impact exercises, postural exercises, relative strength-based exercises and recovery exercises should all be incorporated into her specific program.

Now let’s think about a 14-year-old male basketball athlete. This person is in a phase of life where they are experiencing a lot of change. Change in their bodies as they may be undergoing puberty and continuing to grow; changes in potentially starting at a new school and adapting to the new social and academic scene. They likely have not had much experience working out. It would be important that their exercise regimen focus on learning proper and safe technique to develop good motor patterns at an early age. It would also be important that resistance training be introduced slowly and steadily so as not to overload the body and should be complimentary to their sport(s) of choice. Basketball involves lots of running and jumping, so exercises designed to work on absorbing impact and producing force would be helpful, unilateral exercises, along with core exercises that would transfer over to athletics.

Next we will consider a person with early onset Parkinson’s. The exercise progressions would be based upon how functional the person is in terms of how the condition is affecting their body. The ultimate goal of the training program would be to slow the progression of the disease and preserve basic human movements and mobility. Single leg exercises, coordinated exercises, postural and joint mobility exercises particularly in the shoulders, hips and thoracic spine areas as gait is usually affected and these areas tend to stiffen over time.

Construction workers have a very physical, labour-intensive job. Their daily demands would likely render them pretty physically fatigued. They need to be strong, mobile and injury-free to make a living. Their training program should be based around the movement needs of their profession: having to hold things in awkward positions including overhead, sometimes for a long time; moving heavy objects; potentially having to crouch in small spaces etc. The exercises selected for this individual would be best focused on some strength, lots of mobility, core and joint stabilization, and decompression and down-regulation of the nervous system as they may be under load for many hours each day.

We could go on all day with different context examples, but let’s end with a lawyer who has high-stress job demands and long working hours. This person might sit for most of the day. Their brain is working overtime consulting with clients and working on documents and cases. They may feel drained mentally by the end of the day, leaving them with little energy to a) even consider exercising or b) to figure out what to do for exercise, leaving them with either doing nothing, or choosing a seemingly easy option of running or something of the like even though they are dealing with back and neck pain. This person would benefit more from some anti-sitting exercises that emphasize hip and hamstring length and strength as well as posture, core, and low impact cardiovascular exercises.

Now, of course layered within each of these cases is individual variation, which is why we really can’t cookie-cutter a training plan for each of these examples, because one lawyer might be an avid marathon runner, while another may be completely sedentary. The point is, it’s worth consulting with a movement specialist who can help you determine the right exercise program for you in considering the context of your life.

So to answer the above questions:

How long should my workouts be? It depends.
How many repetitions of my exercises should I be doing? It depends.
What exercises should I be performing in my workouts? It depends.
How many days a week should I be exercising? It depends.
Is running bad for my joints? It depends.

Looking for answers? We can help bring some clarity into your life, and take the lead on your training so you don’t have to.