Is there an end point or are you always doing more?
Lounmoun
Posts: 8,423 Member
Do you feel that you should always strive to increase (time or intensity) whatever activity you do- or just get to a level you feel is fit enough for you and strive to maintain that level of activity? Have you gotten to your fitness happy point?
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"Do you feel that you should always strive to increase..." Yes. There does come a time, however, when that striving is just to maintain time or intensity due to time's passage. But you are always working to improve.0
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My PLAN is to find that fit spot at goal and THEN try other activities that I could possibly enjoy and build onto my happy level. In a way it's staying at my happy and building on at the same time. LOL I probably didn't help at all! I'm no where near my fit place so I'm still in progress. This is an excellent question and I would love to see what other people have to say.1
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Is there an end point or are you always doing more?
There are a number of "end points".
Recently, we built up our cycling distance and did 1000 km in March including two 200 km randonnees (ultra-distance events) and many shorter rides.
Then in April we did 1000 km again, including the event we were working toward ... our "end point". At Easter we did a dual event ... a 300 km randonnee on the Good Friday and a 200 km randonnee on Easter Sunday.
After that we eased off a bit, and we're taking it relatively easy this month.
Soon we'll be building up again for an event in August.
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I get bored, so I don't think I'll ever have an end point, but I think it's okay to reach a level and stay there. Whatever tickles your pickle. With so many ambitious people on this website and other fitness websites, many may feel the need to continue reaching for some goal, but if it makes them unreasonably unhappy, they shouldn't strive to keep doing more.
I'm not at my peak or happy point yet, but I'm content enough for now and am in no rush.0 -
Do you feel that you should always strive to increase (time or intensity) whatever activity you do- or just get to a level you feel is fit enough for you and strive to maintain that level of activity? Have you gotten to your fitness happy point?
do i feel everyone should, no, not at all...
do i feel i should... oh yes... i'm a runner so i am always striving to improve!1 -
Do you feel that you should always strive to increase (time or intensity) whatever activity you do- or just get to a level you feel is fit enough for you and strive to maintain that level of activity? Have you gotten to your fitness happy point?
I am at my fitness happy point in that I enjoy what I am doing and the progress I am making. But I don't see an end point right now. If that ever comes, it is years down the lane.0 -
There is no end to the rails under the gain train...
I think I will always find things to work on to improve, whether it's running or biking farther, lifting more or building more muscle...there's always a point just past where I'm at. It's part of my new lifestyle. 1 -
As Wendler said, "This is a lifelong project"
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Personally, I think one should always strive to improve themselves, physically and otherwise.2
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Death is the end point.4
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Yeah there is no endpoint. I'm still increasing my fitness, at some point that will switch to losing as little as possible as I age. There is no being OK with less.0
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Do you feel that you should always strive to increase (time or intensity) whatever activity you do- or just get to a level you feel is fit enough for you and strive to maintain that level of activity? Have you gotten to your fitness happy point?
There is no end point, but there is a point where less is more. As a distance runner, I don't maintain a fitness happy point; I do training cycles aimed at major events. This involves increasing and decreasing activity in patterns designed to improve performance at a goal race, followed by recovery (which can take a noticeable time after a marathon), then base building, then another training cycle.
So it's not always striving to increase time and intensity, but it's not maintaining at a target point either.
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Any time I'm riding my bike or skiing is my happy point.0
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Interesting responses.
I've been thinking about goals lately.
I don't feel passionate or competitive about any exercise/activity at this time so I do feel I have an end point or level of fitness in mind that is good enough for me.0 -
I don't really have an end point. If i get bored I do a different machine, or like this summer I'm starting fitness classes occasionally!0
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I set new fitness goals every year, so no end point really. I find new things to challenge me. I have done one sprint triathlon every year for the past 5 years...this year I decided I didn't want to do that again this year so I have a new goal of doing a 1.2 mile open water swim. I am terrified. I think finding a goal that has me scared will always happen.0
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Do you feel that you should always strive to increase (time or intensity) whatever activity you do- or just get to a level you feel is fit enough for you and strive to maintain that level of activity? Have you gotten to your fitness happy point?
I'm a cyclist, so let's use that as an example. There are a few different types of goals I have as a cyclist:
(1) I want better equipment. For example the part that holds my handlebars to my stem, I'd like to replace it with a better one. Now that's not a fitness goal, but it'll make me happy, be more comfortable, and improve the aesthetics. A likely side effect is I'll ride more for a while purely out of desire to play with my new toy.
(2) I want to raise my FTP and VO2max. These are fitness goals. I'll achieve them by exercising a lot.
(3) I want to ride in new and beautiful places. Across the North Cascades Highway, from the valley floor to the summit of Slate Peak, the Angels Staircase loop on MTB.
It's the last ones that are responsible for the most and the most profound happiness.0 -
I've been at this (weight loss/maintenance) for 5 1/2 years now and I'm super happy with my body, body composition and progress.
But I push myself to do more, wanting to try new things/activities and to grow and get even better.
I'm always working on a fitness goal and I tend rotate my favorite exercise to do every few weeks. It seems to help keeping me from getting bored.
I love fitness and although I might have to make adjustments from time to time, I will never be completely done.1 -
Do you feel that you should always strive to increase (time or intensity) whatever activity you do- or just get to a level you feel is fit enough for you and strive to maintain that level of activity? Have you gotten to your fitness happy point?
I'm at a level of activity that doesn't interfere with my other obligations, family, other interests, etc. I'm pretty active, and doing more would likely start to interfere with other things in my life. I do participate in a couple of events annually and in training for those, I do up my activity/miles, but it's temporary while I'm training for that specific event and then it comes back to base line. This year, I've actually taken a little step back with my cycling...in prior years, I was really basically obsessed with a ride having to be at least an hour...most of my rides during the week are 30-45 minutes now depending on what I'm doing and I try to get a longer ride in on the weekend...it's a little more balanced than what I was previously doing and I've added in more "free play" like going for hikes, rock climbing gym, etc.
I do like trying new things here and there. My kids do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and it looked fun, so I'm giving that a whirl for at least a month to see where it sits with me...this means I've had to back off some other things.
Mostly I strive to maintain a good base line of fitness and balance in my life.0 -
From a cardio standpoint, I've increased my time from 25 to 55 minutes over a six-month period. I think I'll stop at 60. But then there's strength-training, which isn't just lifting. I'm uncoordinated and used to shy away from anything fitness-related because it was "hard". Because I was sure I looked ludicrous. Well, I'm discovering that there are core-strengthening exercises that improve balance and posture. There are exercises that increase flexibility. There are things I can do to improve coordination. There's always going to be something to work on; it just won't always be the same thing.0
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Do you feel that you should always strive to increase (time or intensity) whatever activity you do- or just get to a level you feel is fit enough for you and strive to maintain that level of activity? Have you gotten to your fitness happy point?
When I was younger, it was the former. Now that I'm older, it's the latter. Frankly, unless you're in some form of competition, it's not necessary to always strive to lift heavier weights or to run faster/longer.
If your objective is just to lose weight, gain strength and/or improve your physique, there will come a time when you will plateau and/or achieve your goals. At that point, all that is "necessary" is to maintain what you worked so hard to achieve.
In my case, I lost 36# over 6 months from 196 to 160, reduced my BF from +25% down to 10% and have been maintaining right about 158# over the past 5 months by just eating "right" (still counting cals) and doing the basic strength and cardio exercises that got me here w/o "pushing" the weights up much (if any) more or increasing the intensity/duration of the cardio too much (if at all).
I still do "something" everyday. Lifting (just the Big 4 compound lifts), rowing (my form of cardio) and a pushup/pullup & dip routine. Usually also do 30 mins on a stairmaster 1x a week at the gym and now that the weather is better, going to start doing some crossfit activities (tire flip, sled push/pull and battle ropes) again in my back yard once or twice a week.
Nothing too long or too intensive. Mostly in split routines for no more than 30 mins to 1 hr at a time. Just enough to build up some sweat and keep me looking fit and trim.
Works for me and I'm happy with the results.0 -
It's human nature to never be happy, so most people tend to keep pushing limits for pretty much forever (or as long as they are able).0
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Not always more but I'm always working to a new goal or challenge.
Like training for a certain time, or a certain gradient whilst hill running. Then training for a further distance or adding in another thing to learn. (I'm thinking snow boarding at Sunderland might be my next challenge
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My fitness happy place seems to be a moving target. Perhaps it's because i didn't start running until I was in my fifties but I'm still seeing improvements in both speed and endurance. Not that many years ago a 5K was daunting, now I'm pushing for a 2 hr half-marathon and have entered my first Olympic distance triathlon.
I do think there will be a point where I'm going to push for more, I just don't know where that is yet.1
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