When we exercise by ourselves or in a group setting, we must “stay in the zone.” If we go too hard too fast, we risk an injury that could set us back both physically and mentally. We should not attempt to do activities that we are uncomfortable with or exceed our physical or mental ability. Nobody will be impressed if you injure yourself. Instead, go at your own pace and take it slow if you need to.
Sit-Ups
I once heard about an “exercise freak” who was doing one thousand sit-ups per day. At the time, I was doing around three sets of 15 or 20 sit-ups, with a minute rest in-between. How could he do a single set of one thousand sit-ups!
I gave myself a few months of training to see how many I could do at my maximum. I started off with four sets of 25. As soon as my body got accustomed to it, I increased to four sets of 30 sit-ups. I kept on going up, gradually, until I could do four sets of 100, then four sets of two hundred. Within a few months, I could do a single set of one thousand.
At the time of writing this article, I would struggle to do four sets of 20. I am simply out of practice and not in that zone at present.
Road Race
I used a similar technique to be able to run a marathon. I had no idea that I could. However, I ran consistently and kept increasing the distance, slowly but surely, until I got there. In January of 2020, I completed 18 marathons in my training sessions. The human body is cable of doing the unimaginable if we take the time to train it to be in the zone.
Push-Ups
I recalled training myself to do one hundred pushups in a single set. I was able to do two sets of 50 and then one set of 60 and another of 40. Never was I able to get to the one set of 100. We are all different, and probably the person who can do one set of 100 pushups would laugh at me. However, that person may not be in the zone to do one thousand sit-ups in one go or to run a marathon.
The dangers of operating outside the zone.
If I am out of practice for a while, I will fall out of my fitness zone. In such a case, I must start over and patiently practice to return to a higher level.
In my first attempt to run competitively in a marathon, I picked up an injury. I had to take one to two weeks off while actively resting as I walked up to about 14 miles per day. When I resumed my running, I continued from where I left off by completing the same number of miles per day. However, I got more injuries because I attempted to operate outside of my fitness zone.
Be patient and stay in the zone.
I say all of this to bring across a crucial point. We all need to stay in our present zone of ability. Do not get overzealous and do too much too soon. Drastic changes in diet or exercise can do us more harm than good. If we make gradual changes over time, we will get there.
We need to take it slow and steady. For example, when participating in groups we should choose to participate with people in our zone. We should not try to impress others by hurting ourselves. Sometimes we may need to be by ourselves in what we are doing before we can join others.
Staying in our fitness zone does not prevent us from meeting with others in the same location, where we can be motivated. Supporting group members frequently operate below their zone level to participate with and encourage others. It should all be about having fun as we train our bodies to take it to the next level.
To continue reading, I suggest going to the why push our body post.
