What have your results been when you lesson intensity? T

[bjones]

Yes, targeting your goals is very important. For me, the aesthetic appearance is no longer a goal. Its maintaining functional strength, balance, and joint/muscle flexibility/mobility as I age (now age 62). Haven't quite decided what my cardio goal is. Basic fitness of course, but still deciding if Hit is really that important as it tends to make me exhausted and sore. I do need the fast twitch fibers to stay activated so try to do fast feet drills from Cathe that are lowish impact like footballs runs and somewhat hit-ish in intensity for me. Also Jessica's Hit workouts do a lot of fast moves that are low impact. My bone mass is spectacular since I've been on estrogen since age 18!!!! That would certainly be a goal if I were osteopenic.

[kat999]

For me, I've decided that I only like HIIT if I can decide what the high-intensity intervals involve, and so I've completely reconfigured how I approach those kinds of workouts. I dreaded them for so long, then evaluated if I even needed to do them at all, but now I've found a compromise of using only ones that have no dread factor for me but allow me to modify up or down with ease if I decide I want a more or less intense session. I'm slowly weeding things out of my video collection that no longer offer me enough challenge, variety, or benefit, which means that a lot of HIIT that I can't find an easy way to modify is going to be gone soon. I'm also weeding things out in the other direction, ditching a lot of yoga- and pilates-based DVDs that don't seem to do much for either my cardio, strength, or flexibility and instead just seem fussy and dull. Basically, any workout that I can't easily enjoy while I can also tell that it helps me in some concrete fitness modality doesn't need to be in my life. "Enjoy" does not necessarily mean "easy," but if it's both, then cool. If it's enjoyable but hard, that's also cool.

I'm in my early 40s, and my aesthetic to health goal ratio is, if I'm being truly honest, about 50/50. But in my 20s and 30s, it was pretty much 80/20, so I think I'm maturing as a person.

[Marilyn]

I am almost 62 years old and for the past year have been doing swimming and pilates on a reformer. But lately, my regimen is gentle yoga, swimming and walking outside, ranging from 20-45 minutes. I have been working out at home since Jane Fonda put out her first exercise record album when I was in my 20's. I really think I have done almost everything out there-The Firm, Fitprime, Cathe, Barre, Pilates, Beachbody, Prevention, running, walking, hard yoga (even though I probably had not enough yoga experience, but didn't want to start easy), Kathy Smith, etc, etc. In my mid 40's I started to develop chronic headaches, which progressed to chronic joint pain, stomach aches, various joint surgeries (multiple knee meniscus repairs, hip labrum tear repairs, hand surgeries) The only body aware thing I think I ever did was stop getting up at 5am to exercise before getting my kids up off and then going to work. I moved my workouts to later in the day, and no matter if I was spent from the day, I just kept pushing and pushing. Gentle yoga? Phhhh! Nope! A gentle leisurely walk while I take in the nature around me? Nope! I walked with fast music pulsing in my ears to make sure my heart rate was nice and elevated. Lighen my weights, even though I ache all over? Nope! No slowing down for me!! Even my pilates had to be on the more intense side. Then 3 years ago I started working with a holistic health coach, which happened to coincide with a major health issue requiring a 6 hour surgery and leading to a diagnosis of autoimmune disease. These past 3 years have been eye-opening. At the beginning my coach wanted me to cut my swim to no more than a hallf hour. I didn't completely listen at that time. But now I am doing gentle yoga, often with a chair. walking mindfully and enjoying the experience, and swimming about 45 minutes 3 times a week. But if a day comes and I'm tired, I ask myself, what would really be best for my body? And if a nap, or a cup of tea sounds better than a walk or swim, etc. that's what I do. And I wish I had known this in my 20's and luckily my 29 year old daughter doesn't seem to have the issues I had. I always flucuated within a 10 pound range, fretting if it crept up. I rarely weigh myself now and I'm pretty steady at the bottom end of that range. I know this thread is about benefits of lowing intensity, but I thought this speaks to it and a broader, deeper way that affects many exercisers. Lowering the intensity of my exercise has been a game changer for me. I feel so good in general AND after I do it. And isn't that the whole point?

[wendug]

Originally Posted by Marilyn

Lowering the intensity of my exercise has been a game changer for me. I feel so good in general AND after I do it. And isn't that the whole point?

Well said! I'm in my mid 40s and realizing while I can do advanced workouts, I certainly don't recover as quickly these days. I won't give up all advanced workouts, but know I should sprinkle them in with kinder, gentler workouts.

[marki64]

I think it depends how you incorporate intensity with other workouts. As another poster stated, doing fun impact drills/cardio makes a difference. Balance is key for me. And changing up instructors regularly is soooo important. I am not a "program/rotation" person. I love doing whatever as long as its a balance of cardio and toning in my workout week. Less structure, the better the workout.

[daisyduke]

Thank you, everyone, for sharing your experiences. Marilyn- you and I sound very familiar. It’s time to ease up a bit! Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m so glad you found what worked for you.

[horsemom2]

Though I miss the endorphins from working out harder, I do not miss the soreness, exhaustion, and hunger which followed.

Barb S

[buffmama]

I get softer and less defined which I don't like. But more rest days could be a way to do this without changing the workouts too much.

[Pratima]

Well, I lost fitness, gained weight, and got squishy. I'm 46 and realized that while eating makes the biggest difference in weight (calories in and calories out, really), exercise makes a big difference in appearance and fitness.

Life got in the way and I wasn't exercising regularly. Started getting back to it so kept my workouts lower intensity but relatively long (60-90 minutes per day) and just didn't seem to be getting back in shape.

Then I signed up for a free trial at a new bootcamp place that opened nearby. The workouts are only 45 minutes and pretty intense (modifiable somewhat) and they are really making a difference. I'm getting in both weights and cardio and I swear my arms already look better.

So, even though I felt like it would wear me out, I do feel like shorter intense workouts do more for me than longer, easier workouts.

[deineira]

Like Pratima, taking my workouts down in intensity did not improve me life at all. I was hoping I would be one of those folks who took their workouts down some notches and got svelter and less hungry, but that was not the case for me. I gained weight, felt out of shape, lost muscle tone and lost fitness overall. Now I'm back to doing more intense workouts and I feel much better - I prefer to have a higher cardio fitness level and more muscle tone overall, and I find I'm actually more flexible and more agile when doing harder workouts. I also find more benefits mentally in doing more challenging workouts. More challenging for me now is some Cathe, but mostly Lauren Brooks and Les Mills for cardio. I was doing Hamelin, Tracie Long, ART and Leslie before during my lower intensity phase. ART is the most challenging of those for me, but I get bored with them and the constant planking is just not my jam.