Build Condition - Effective methods for beginners

Build up performance

People who have decided to do more sports often fail at the beginning of a bad condition. No sooner have you completed the first few meters in the sprint, made a few push-ups or lifted the first weights, you get out of breath and realized that there is still a long way to go before the competitive athlete. But what can be done to improve one's condition and to last longer in physically demanding situations? Our contribution to the topic provides assistance.

contents

Build up performance
What is condition??
Fitness is more than just endurance
At the beginning there is a good plan
The goal is formulated, the training plan is - and now?
Proper nutrition in condition building
Why rest periods are so important in condition building
What should you pay attention to when conditioning?

What is condition??

In general parlance, physical fitness or endurance capacity for athletic performance is understood to mean fitness. However, if you look at the definition of the term and the word origin a bit closer, you will quickly notice that the condition does not refer exclusively to physical performance. The term "condition" is derived from the Latin word condicio, which describes the determinateness or the condition of a person or thing and thus regards their condition as a whole.

First of all, the physical condition reflects the state of health of a person, whereby the capacity is only a part of his constitution. In addition, the organ health and organ function as well as the mental and psychological condition of a person play an important role in the general condition of a person.

In addition to the physical capacity - as understood in common usage - the organ health and organ function as well as the mental and psychological condition of a person plays an important role in the general condition of a person. (Image: contrastwerkstatt / fotolia.com)

It's not that different when it comes to sports. Because the athletic condition is dependent on more than one performance aspect. In addition to the physical fitness here, for example, the mental attitude to the athletic performance requirement is relevant. People who generally dislike sports are usually less ambitious and harder to motivate when it comes to improving one's condition. On the other hand, those who face the sporting challenges with a positive attitude and strong will will probably find it easier to deal with the first setbacks, to persevere and slowly but steadily grow beyond themselves.

Another point of criticism, which has to be taken into account when setting up conditions, are individual load limits. People who suffer from heart problems, for example, can only up to a certain point increase their condition, as their heart threatens to fail under excessive stress. People with joint problems, on the other hand, have to do without sports that are stressful for their joints, such as jogging or running team sport, which can also restrict certain measures to improve their condition.

Fitness is more than just endurance

Last but not least, a distinction must be made between different forms of performance in athletic conditions. For example, successful marathon runners are not automatically equally powerful when it comes to weightlifting. Conversely, strength athletes can not automatically sprint equally endurance or act fast on the football field. This shows how wrong is the usual equation of condition and endurance in everyday life. In fact, the condition of doing sports involves far more aspects than perseverance. For this reason, a distinction is made between four qualities of condition:

Endurance - Endurance plays an important role especially in running and cycling sports. But other, distance-oriented sports such as swimming, inline skating, skiing or figure skating rely on good stamina.
Agility - Agility is the general extensibility and flexibility of a body. This is particularly important in the field of gymnastics and floor gymnastics. But also run-bound sports, for example, pole jump or long jump as well as some team sports, requires a certain mobility. In addition, a better mobility can contribute to a reduced risk of injury and tighten the body tissue.
Of course, strength - power plays a central role, especially in strength sports such as weightlifting. But also in martial arts such as boxing or wrestling a good condition in the field of muscle strength is needed. In addition, strength is also important to maintain a defined body shape and reduce the risk of injury during sports.
Speed - Apart from running, which of course always sets at a certain pace, speed or rapid response is required especially in team sports such as football and handball. Likewise, sports such as badminton, tennis or even boxing and skiing are not without rapid reaction. Here too, the cognitive abilities of the athlete play an essential role when it comes to swift action.

Depending on the discipline, there are therefore also different requirements in order to be regarded as a conditionally well-positioned athlete in the respective fields. The same applies to the training design, which may include very different exercises depending on the desired improvement in one of the four disciplines. A striking and very clear example here are the extremely different demands on a marathon runner and a weightlifter.

Condition includes endurance, agility, strength and speed - depending on the sport, the focus and the conditional nature of these factors are different. (Image: takoburito / fotolia.com)

A marathon runner will have little success in his sport if he puts his training focus on building muscle mass. This would be more than a hindrance in the marathon because too much mass slows down the body and thus makes it difficult to go through the finish line as fast and as enduring as possible. In return, a weightlifter at bench press will soon reach his limits if instead of lifting weights he would spend his workout time jogging on the treadmill. Because what counts when weightlifting in the first place is muscle power.

Of course, these two examples are more relevant for professional sports and not necessarily for people who want to improve their condition holistically. Here, in terms of a good condition, all core disciplines of athletic performance should be trained as well as possible, if only to avoid health consequences such as joint inflammation, muscle tears or tendon shortening. But every sport also has its own individual requirements, which become important at the latest when one decides on a favored sporting activity.

At the beginning there is a good plan

The question of how best to start building a condition can be answered quite simply: with performance-enhancing training. But if you go into detail, you need a more detailed approach that focuses on three main points:

Objective: Before you start to design a dedicated training plan, you have to define a goal for yourself. Without a goal, it will be difficult in the long run to stay on the ball permanently and keep up with your own motivation. And even the energetic retiree, who goes to Aquatraining once a week, has one goal - he wants to stay fit, not "rusty" and play football with his grandchildren for a while. Basically, athletic goals should be attainable, clearly formulated and controllable. Five possible examples at the beginning of a condition building are here:
1. To be able to walk the stairs to the office without puffing.
2. Create twenty pushups without having to pause.
3. Clamping a certain amount of weight on the weight bench.
4. Successful participation in the urban half marathon.
5. A tighter body / the loss of a certain number of pounds.

Training plan: Once the goal is defined, you can start refining the training plan. When choosing the sport (s), however, the fun and motivation should not be ignored. Without joy in running, the focus quickly falls out of sight and motivation drops. In order to get impulses for motivating training plans, one can turn to sports-loving acquaintances, to trainers in the gym or also to various web pages in the Internet. But there are a number of sports that are particularly suitable for the four disciplines of fitness:

fitness area	sport
endurance	to jog To go biking swim in-line skating
agility	Gymnastics / floor gymnastics Dance trampolining yoga
force	Working out weight training Bodyweight exercises boxing
speed	High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Short runs and sprints Ball sports (for example tennis or football) fartlek

Motivation: The design of the goal, as well as the training plan, is very individual and also dependent on one's own sporting ambitions. Not every athlete is keen to participate in competitions and carry trophies home. It is important that the goals are achievable for the person and motivate them to persevere. The fact that from time to time you have to give a jolt in terms of motivation, should be clear to anyone who begins with the conditioning structure from the outset.

The goal is formulated, the training plan is - and now?

With planned training and focused motivation are already two basic building blocks for a good condition. The next step is: just start. At some point comes the point where, figuratively, "just put on the running shoes and get started" must. However, one should not forget that the body must first be slowly introduced to a more intense training period. Otherwise, the only danger is increased overtraining injuries. Two to three training days a week for 30 to 60 minutes are therefore completely sufficient for the first month. Thereafter, the training units can then be expanded step by step, for example, by a longer training period or the increase of weight units or the training track.

Furthermore, beginners should consider the condition build up, that the body needs sufficient energy and regeneration as well as a condition-promoting diet in addition to sufficient training impulses in order to achieve perceptible successes.

Proper nutrition in condition building

The right nutrition is essential when building muscle. In addition to a balanced and vitamin-rich diet, proteins should be the focus of the daily diet. The protein is needed by the body to build muscle mass. For this reason, a protein-rich diet is a commonly encountered nutritional concept in athletes. Especially recommended in this regard are foods that do not have too much fat despite their high protein content. Examples for this are:

lean fish, meat and poultry,
Magerquark food,
High-protein vegetables (such as peas, beans or potatoes),
nuts,
rice
and whole grains

When time pressure you can of course also turn to a protein shake. In the long term, however, this should not replace a full-fledged meal, since the body otherwise loses too many nutrients that it needs for daily energy production.

Why rest periods are so important in condition building

Sufficient regeneration phases, for example in the form of training-free days, serve to repair any micro-damage that has occurred in the tissue and, above all, to build up muscles and support structures. Only a well built and efficient musculature, as well as robust ligaments and tendons, form a sufficient basic condition, in order to be able to provide conditionally good services in the long run. On the one hand, a daily sleep duration of at least six to eight hours is recommended, so that the body has sufficient time for regeneration during sleep.

In addition, training should not be required on a daily basis. The most common change in the fitness area between training day and non-training day, as a good mediocrity between stress and recovery. Beginners, as mentioned above, should only slowly approach this natural change in order not to strain the initially weak body and to provoke no overloading reactions.

Another pitfall in terms of lack of rest periods in condition building is clear, if you take a deeper look into the hormonal regulation of the body. In stress situations, the adrenal glands release a great deal of the hormone cortisol, which is also known as stress hormone. However, the body does not distinguish between different stressors. Stress is stress, whether based on physical or mental stress. Therefore, cortisol is also needed and released in sports in order to provide as much energy as possible as quickly as possible, because the hormone has a stimulating effect on the fat, carbohydrate and protein metabolism. However, a permanently elevated cortisol level, as occurs in prolonged stress without regeneration phase, also leads to:

Increased susceptibility to infection,
Tendency to hypertension and heart disease,
Overweight and muscle loss,
Concentration weakness and brain power limitations
and mood swings, anxiety and depression.

Those who do not take seriously the importance of protective periods in sports, not only inevitably worsen their condition balance, but also promotes health complaints.

What should you pay attention to when conditioning?

There are a number of factors that can cause motivation and training to fail after a while of initial training. In addition, certain guidelines should be followed during the training, so that even sets a training success. For this reason, here are a few pointers:

Carrying out exercises: Many beginners who are striving to build up a condition fail because they only do their training exercises with half-heartedness. However, it is important to cleanly complete exercise-related movements, otherwise the load requirement may not really work. In addition, improperly executed exercises also increase the risk of injuries.

Diversity in the training plan: It is important in all sports, that one gets the tightrope walk between loading and overloading. Of course, the body has to be loaded to some point and receive appropriate impulses to record an increase in performance. After all, the body does not cause any muscle to grow if it is not used anyway. However, the necessary degree of variety should be considered. Because in the sense of adaptability, the body gets used to monotonous stress very quickly. As a result, the training impulses essential for the increase in performance are missing, and all paths are paved for the dreaded performance low.

Do not exaggerate: A varied training plan certainly maintains the motivation. Excessive exercise, however, there is also the danger of overloading. If you train too much, run too fast or too long, or lift too high weights, without allowing the body appropriate regeneration phases, this congestion can quickly lead to counterproductive consequences. For example, loss of concentration during exercise may result in sports injuries due to carelessness. Also, a performance and motivation low is much more likely, if you overburden the body permanently. Incidentally, the unwanted state can also spread to other areas of life. Furthermore, in case of overload also a reduced muscle growth threatens due to constant tissue exhaustion. Instead of building muscle in such cases, then usually a lengthy soreness, which makes further training torture.

Everyday and private life take precedence: It should also not be neglected when focusing on performance-enhancing training to adapt exercise to the individual demands of everyday life. For anyone who is not traveling as a professional athlete, there should be clear priorities in everyday life, and these are: family, friends and work. On the other hand, one should not force oneself to daily training and here simply accept the natural high and low phases of their own motivational limits. Sometimes there are just days, when we run to peak performance, while on other days, the motivation for the smallest everyday tasks missing. For example, even after a hard day at work with many overtime hours, only a few still make their way to the gym. There are also phases in life in which our mental limits of the tolerable dictate that we prefer to relax rather than to "bite". This is the case, for example, with regard to the family care of relatives in need of care, the loss of a loved one or another stroke of fate. That here also the sportive performance decreases, is completely normal, why one must make oneself clear from the beginning that low points from time to time are completely natural and hardly anyone will manage, in all areas of the life over a longer period without interruption to provide high performance all the time.

Realistic objectives and acceptance of setbacks: One should always adapt to the fluctuations of one's own performance as described above and possibly deal with possible solution strategies. However, these strategies are very often not in physical, but rather in mental coping. So if a targeted training success does not set fast enough, you should not frustrated the shotgun in the grain, but to look at the situation realistic and check what went wrong. Did the exercises really work properly? Were the goals initially perhaps too high? Was it already very successful at the beginning with the condition building, so that it is now difficult to outperform initial successes in a similar short time? Or was the body perhaps too much at first, so that it flounders now and needs a longer recovery period? Has one neglected the important nutritional aspect? All of these issues need to be considered honestly and carefully during setbacks during condition building.

« Buying condoms is still uncomfortable for many people Compression tights do not help to run faster »