How can you incorporate diverse exercises into your routine. What are the benefits of different types of physical activities. How to stay motivated and overcome exercise boredom. How to maximize your workouts through cross-training and varied intensity levels.

Exploring the Spectrum of Aerobic Activities

Aerobic activity is a cornerstone of physical fitness, offering numerous benefits for both body and mind. But what exactly constitutes aerobic exercise? Aerobic activities are those that elevate your heart rate and sustain it for an extended period, enhancing oxygen delivery to your heart and muscles.

The long-term advantages of regular aerobic exercise are substantial:

• Improved cardiovascular health
• Enhanced muscle strength and endurance
• Elevated mood and self-esteem
• Increased energy levels
• Reduced blood pressure and cholesterol
• Better blood sugar control
• Decreased body fat
• Alleviation of anxiety, depression, and fatigue

Moderate vs. Vigorous Intensity: Finding Your Sweet Spot

Experts recommend engaging in regular moderate-intensity and/or vigorous-intensity activities. But how do you distinguish between the two? Moderate-intensity exercises can often be elevated to vigorous levels by increasing speed or effort. Here’s a comparative look at various activities and their intensity levels:

General Exercise

Moderate Intensity:

• Brisk walking
• Light to moderate calisthenics
• Low-impact aerobic dancing
• Jogging on a small trampoline
• Light to moderate workouts on gym equipment

Vigorous Intensity:

• Uphill walking, jogging, or running
• Heavy calisthenics (push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks)
• High-impact aerobic dancing
• Jumping rope
• Using a stair-climber or skiing machine
• Stationary bicycling with vigorous effort

Water Exercises

Moderate Intensity:

• Treading water with moderate effort
• Water aerobics or calisthenics
• Kayaking, canoeing, white-water rafting
• Springboard or platform diving
• Paddle boating

Vigorous Intensity:

• Swimming laps with fast, vigorous effort
• Treading water with fast, vigorous effort
• Water jogging
• Rowing a canoe in competition
• Skin diving and scuba diving

Outdoor Activities: Embracing Nature’s Gym

The great outdoors offers a plethora of opportunities for physical activity, catering to various intensity levels and personal preferences. Engaging in outdoor activities not only provides physical benefits but also allows you to connect with nature, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being.

Moderate Intensity Outdoor Activities

• Fishing and hunting
• Playing with a Frisbee
• Children’s games like hopscotch, 4-square, and dodge ball
• Playing on playground equipment
• Downhill skiing
• Shoveling snow

Vigorous Intensity Outdoor Activities

• Horseback riding (trotting or galloping)
• Competitive sports like rugby, field hockey, and soccer
• Hiking with a backpack
• Mountain biking
• Ice skating quickly (more than 15 kph)
• Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing

Can outdoor activities really provide a comprehensive workout? Absolutely. Many outdoor activities engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, offering a full-body workout. For instance, hiking with a backpack not only provides cardiovascular benefits but also strengthens your leg muscles, core, and back.

Transforming Household Chores into Fitness Opportunities

Who says household chores can’t be a part of your fitness routine? Many everyday tasks can be transformed into effective workouts, helping you maintain a clean home while improving your physical fitness. Here’s how you can turn your house and garden work into exercise sessions:

Moderate Intensity House and Garden Work

• Sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping floors
• Washing the car with vigorous effort
• Sweeping the garage, sidewalk, or patio
• Washing the dog
• Mowing or raking the lawn
• Digging in the garden

Vigorous Intensity House and Garden Work

• Carrying groceries upstairs
• Carrying boxes or furniture
• Baling hay or cleaning the barn with vigorous effort

How can you maximize the fitness benefits of household chores? Try these tips:

1. Increase your pace to elevate your heart rate
2. Use proper form to engage core muscles
3. Alternate between tasks to work different muscle groups
4. Set a timer to challenge yourself to complete tasks more quickly
5. Add in bodyweight exercises between chores (e.g., squats while folding laundry)

Keeping Motivation High: Strategies for a Varied Fitness Program

Maintaining motivation is crucial for long-term fitness success. A monotonous routine can lead to boredom and decreased enthusiasm. How can you keep your fitness program fresh and engaging? Here are some effective strategies:

Vary the Activity

If you find yourself losing interest in your current activity, don’t hesitate to try something new. For example, if walking has become mundane, consider swimming or joining an aerobics class. This not only reignites your enthusiasm but also challenges your body in new ways, promoting overall fitness.

Change the Location

A change of scenery can do wonders for your motivation. Explore new routes for walking or biking, or even switch up the room where you do your exercises or stretching. Having multiple options allows you to choose based on your mood or schedule, making your fitness routine more flexible and enjoyable.

Adjust the Timing

Experimenting with different exercise times can help you find your optimal workout window. If your noon walk is becoming tedious, try exercising in the early morning or after work. Additionally, consider breaking up your routine into smaller segments. Instead of one 45-minute session, try three 15-minute sessions throughout the day.

Office Fitness: Incorporating Activity into Your Workday

For those with sedentary jobs, finding ways to incorporate physical activity into the workday is crucial. Here are some innovative ideas to boost your activity levels at the office:

Active Commuting

Transform your daily commute into an opportunity for exercise. Park your car several blocks away from your workplace or get off public transportation a few stops early. This simple change can add significant steps to your day and jumpstart your metabolism.

Stair Challenge

Opt for the stairs instead of the elevator, even if it’s just for a few floors. Stair climbing is an excellent cardiovascular exercise that also strengthens your leg muscles. Challenge yourself to increase the number of floors you climb over time.

Walking Meetings

Suggest holding meetings with colleagues during a walk, either inside or outside the building. This not only incorporates physical activity but can also boost creativity and productivity.

Micro-Movements Throughout the Day

Incorporate small bursts of activity throughout your workday:

• Get your coffee from a floor farther away, using the stairs
• Use the restroom that’s farthest from your office
• Walk to a colleague’s desk instead of sending an email or making a phone call
• Use your breaks for quick 15-minute walks

How effective are these small changes? While they may seem insignificant individually, these micro-movements can accumulate throughout the day, significantly increasing your overall activity level and calorie expenditure.

Reinvigorating Your Passion: Coaching and Teaching

If you find yourself losing interest in a sport or activity you once enjoyed, consider taking on a coaching or teaching role. This new perspective can reignite your passion and provide a sense of fulfillment. Here are some ways to get involved:

Youth Sports Coaching

Many youth leagues for organized sports are constantly seeking dedicated coaches. This role allows you to share your knowledge and experience while staying active and engaged in the sport you love.

Fitness Leadership Certification

Consider taking classes to become a certified fitness leader. This not only enhances your own knowledge but also opens up opportunities to lead classes and inspire others in their fitness journeys.

Community Involvement

Look for opportunities to lead community-based activities:

• Offer to lead a group of schoolchildren on a bike ride to teach bicycle safety
• Organize and lead a walking group in your neighborhood
• Conduct workshops on proper exercise techniques or nutrition

How does teaching benefit your own fitness journey? Teaching others can deepen your understanding of the activity, improve your own form and technique, and provide motivation to stay consistent with your own practice.

Harnessing the Power of Competition

Competition can be a powerful motivator in your fitness journey. It provides concrete goals to work towards and can reignite the excitement in familiar activities. Here’s how you can leverage competition to enhance your fitness routine:

Set Specific Goals

Participating in competitions gives you specific and measurable goals to work toward. For instance, you might aim to complete a 5k or 10k race. These tangible objectives can provide the structure and motivation needed to maintain a consistent training regimen.

Explore New Challenges

Learning the details of a new course or event and then preparing for it can restore the excitement and challenge that may have faded from more familiar competitions. This novelty can reignite your passion and push you to new levels of fitness.

Behind-the-Scenes Involvement

If participating isn’t appealing, consider helping to plan or organize a competitive event. This can provide opportunities for friendship and fun with others who share your interests, while keeping you connected to the activity you enjoy.

How can you find the right competitive event for you? Consider these factors:

1. Your current fitness level
2. Personal interests and preferred activities
3. Time available for training
4. Local events in your area
5. Opportunities for gradual progression (e.g., from 5k to 10k to half-marathon)

Maximizing Fitness Through Cross-Training

Cross-training, the practice of combining various activities to distribute workload among different muscle groups, offers numerous benefits for your fitness regimen. But what makes cross-training so effective?

Preventing Boredom

One of the primary advantages of cross-training is its ability to keep your workouts interesting. By engaging in a variety of activities, you’re less likely to succumb to the monotony that can sometimes accompany a single-focus fitness routine.

Reducing Injury Risk

Cross-training helps prevent overuse injuries by distributing stress across different muscle groups and joints. This varied approach allows certain areas to rest and recover while you continue to work on overall fitness.

Improving Overall Fitness

By incorporating different types of exercises, cross-training helps develop a more well-rounded fitness profile. You can improve various aspects of fitness simultaneously, including cardiovascular endurance, strength, flexibility, and balance.

Enhancing Performance

For athletes focusing on a specific sport, cross-training can lead to improved performance. Complementary activities can strengthen supporting muscles, improve overall conditioning, and prevent burnout.

How can you effectively incorporate cross-training into your routine? Consider these strategies:

1. Alternate between different cardio activities (e.g., running, cycling, swimming)
2. Combine strength training with flexibility work (e.g., weightlifting and yoga)
3. Incorporate both high-impact and low-impact activities
4. Try activities that challenge different energy systems (e.g., sprints for anaerobic and long-distance running for aerobic)
5. Include both indoor and outdoor activities for variety

By embracing a diverse approach to physical activity, you can create a sustainable, enjoyable, and effective fitness routine. Remember, the key to long-term success is finding activities you enjoy and consistently challenging yourself in new ways. Whether you’re exercising at home, in the office, or outdoors, there are countless opportunities to improve your health and fitness. Start exploring different activities today and discover the transformative power of a varied and engaging exercise regimen.

Exercise and Physical Activity Ideas

Topic Contents

• Topic Overview
• Related Information
• References
• Credits

Topic Overview

Aerobic activity raises your heart rate and keeps it up for a while. This increases the amount of oxygen delivered to your heart and muscles. Over time, this kind of activity benefits your heart, your muscles, your mood and self-esteem, and your amount of energy. It can lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, body fat, anxiety and depression, and fatigue.

Finding the right activity

Experts say to do regular moderate activity and/or vigorous-intensity activity.

Here are some ideas for both types of activities. You can boost many of the moderate activities in the left column to a vigorous level by doing them faster or harder. ^{footnote 1}

Adding variety to a fitness program is a good way to keep motivated.

• Vary the activity. If you are getting bored with walking, try swimming or an aerobics class.
• Vary the place. Try a new route for walking or biking or even a different room for your exercises or stretching. By having several options, you can pick one that suits your mood or schedule.
• Vary the time. Do your exercises at different times and for different amounts of time. If you become bored with your noon walk, try exercising in the early morning or after work or school. Instead of doing one 45-minute session, do three 15-minute sessions.

Activity at the office

If your job includes lots of sitting, try adding these short bursts of activity to your day:

• Use your commute to do some extra walking. Park several blocks away, or get off the bus a few stops early.
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator, at least for a few floors.
• Suggest holding meetings with colleagues during a walk inside or outside the building.
• Go the extra distance when possible: Get your coffee on another floor (use the stairs) or use the washroom that’s the farthest from your office.
• If you need to speak to a co-worker, walk to that person’s office or station rather than using e-mail or the phone.
• Use your morning and afternoon breaks to take quick 15-minute walks.

Coaching and teaching

If you are bored with a sport or activity that you once enjoyed, coaching or giving instruction can renew your interest.

• Youth leagues for organized sports are often seeking good coaches.
• Take classes to become a certified fitness leader.
• If you cycle, offer to lead a group of schoolchildren on a bike ride to teach bicycle safety.
• Offer to lead a walking group.

Competition

Competition can be a good motivator because:

• It gives you a specific and measurable goal to work toward, such as walking or running a 5 km or 10 km race.
• Learning the details of a new course or event and then preparing for it can restore the excitement and challenge that’s gone from more familiar competitions.

Helping to plan or organize a competitive event instead of entering it can provide friendship and fun with others interested in the same activity.

Cross-training

Cross-training is the combination of various activities to spread the work among various muscle groups. Cross-training has some important advantages:

• It prevents boredom by providing variety. It can help you break out of a slump.
• It helps you maintain balance among your various muscle groups. For instance, runners who have developed powerful leg muscles might cross-train to strengthen the upper body, which does not get a good workout from running.
• It reduces the risk of injuries because the same muscles are not being stressed in the same way during every workout.

Some exercise machines, such as elliptical cross-trainers, can help you cross-train. Or you can use exercise machines that give variety to your program by working muscle groups that aren’t heavily used in your primary activity.

References

Citations

1. Ainsworth BE, et al. (2011). Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide. Columbia, SC: Prevention Research Center, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. Available online: http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/compendium.htm.

Credits

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• Physical Activity Services

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The 10 Most Controversial Topics in Exercise Science in 2023

Want to get attention and engagement on social media? Start an argument about a controversial topic in exercise science.

“Direct core work is dumb. Do squats and deadlifts and the core takes care of itself.”

“Traditional cardio is a waste of time. Just lift faster.”

“Your clients don’t need corrective exercises. Strength training itself is corrective.”

For every follower you lose, you’re likely to gain five more.

Only problem: Few things in exercise science are truly black and white. If it’s worth discussing, it’s worth going into more detail than you can fit on a bumper sticker.

That’s certainly true of the 10 controversial, polarizing, and hotly debated topics I tackle here:

1. Flexibility vs. mobility
2. Corrective exercise vs. “shut up and lift”
3. Compound vs. isolation exercises
4. Bilateral vs. unilateral lower-body training
5. Moderate reps vs. higher and lower reps
6. Full-body lifts vs. direct core work
7. Core stability vs. core flexion and/or rotation
8. Traditional cardio vs. metabolic resistance training
9. Interval training vs. steady-state cardio
10. Advanced monitoring techniques vs. the feel method

1. Flexibility vs. mobility

Our clients don’t need more passive flexibility, the movement gurus tell us. Too much of it might even increase injury risk . What we should focus on instead is mobility—active control over their range of motion.

Are the gurus right?

Kind of. Active range of motion is a physical quality worth pursuing. And too much passive flexibility can predispose that joint to injury.

But a lot of clients enjoy stretching. Combined with conscious breathing, they like how it feels at the end of a workout as they transition back into daily life. Some folks believe it speeds up recovery, too.

Verdict: Incorporate a client-specific mix of active mobility and passive flexibility training based on their personal preferences and the demands of their target activities.

You don’t have to choose between mobility and flexibility work for your clients. Use whatever combination best fits their needs and preferences.

2. Corrective exercise vs. “shut up and lift”

Speaking of movement gurus:

They’ve convinced a generation of personal trainers to use cookie-cutter assessments to identify “movement dysfunctions” and prescribe “corrective exercises” to address them.

They meant well, but as so often happens in the fitness industry, they got ahead of themselves. Not only are there no universally agreed-on standards for movement, but we also now know the way people move doesn’t actually predict injury .

What some call “dysfunctional” may simply fall into the normal range of variability in movement.

On the flip side, some trainers don’t do any sort of assessment, and advocate putting clients under the bar right away—even if it’s their first time in the weight room. This can be problematic if the trainer doesn’t help the client find their optimal exercise setups, or has them use a load they’re not prepared to handle.

Verdict: Haphazardly subjecting a client to heavy lifting can put them at risk. Use exercise-specific assessments to find your client’s best starting point for exercises like squats and deadlifts. Just don’t claim you’re identifying and correcting movement dysfunctions.

3. Compound vs. isolation exercise

Multijoint movements—squats, hinges, presses, rows, lunges—should form the foundation of your training programs. That’s not in any way controversial.

But compound movements aren’t the only choice for every muscle group.

Take the hamstrings and adductors, for instance. These are oft-injured muscles, especially in athletic populations.

While they do get worked in multijoint movements, research has shown that isolating them with Nordic hamstring curls and Copenhagen adductor raises can reduce injuries. As a bonus, clients can also get a nice pump where they aren’t used to having one.

Verdict: Prioritize compound lifts, of course. But there’s no reason to exclude single-joint exercises. Biceps curls and triceps extensions are classic examples of giving clients what they want, while the aforementioned movements for the hamstrings and adductors give some of them what they need.

4. Bilateral vs. unilateral lower-body training

Unilateral lower-body exercises offer similar strength and hypertrophy benefits as their bilateral counterparts , along with two distinct advantages:

• Lower compressive forces on the spine
• Higher stability requirement

And you’ll probably increase the overall training volume if you work one leg at a time, which could improve your client’s conditioning.

But traditional bilateral squats and deadlifts aren’t pointless, as some coaches have argued.

I can think of three reasons to use them:

• For clients who aspire to compete in powerlifting, they’re a must.
• For contact-sport athletes, training ought to prepare them for the high loads they’ll face on the field.
• Some clients just prefer them, either because they like the feeling of a heavy barbell in their hands or on their back, or because they want to measure their strength against well-known benchmarks.

Verdict: A mix of unilateral and bilateral lower body training works well for most clients. One simple, time-saving strategy is to include a bilateral knee-dominant exercise and a unilateral hip-dominant exercise in one session, then flip-flop for the next session.

For example, you might do a bilateral squat and single-leg Romanian deadlift in the first session, and in the next one do a bilateral deadlift combined with a rear-foot-elevated split squat.

Most clients will get the best results with a combination of bilateral and unilateral lower-body exercises.

5. Moderate reps vs. higher and lower reps

Classic training wisdom tells us that six to 12 reps is the optimal range for hypertrophy. Any lower and you’re primarily building strength. Any higher and you’re increasing endurance.

Those guidelines work well enough as shorthand, but they don’t tell the whole story. The latest research shows that any rep range can produce hypertrophy, as long as the volume is high enough and the sets are taken close enough to failure .

That said, the moderate rep range remains a convenient sweet spot for most clients.

Lower-rep training requires more recovery between sets, which either lengthens your training sessions or reduces the amount of work you can do in the allotted time. Meanwhile, high-rep sets taken to failure aren’t anyone’s idea of a fun way to train, and clients may object to the discomfort they induce.

Verdict: If a client’s primary goal is hypertrophy, six to 12 reps will always be the most convenient range. But if a client wants to maximize their muscular potential, some evidence suggests you should use a variety of rep ranges .

6. Full-body lifts vs. direct core work

Coaches who believe direct core work is unnecessary have a point: Full-body barbell lifts do, in fact, elicit high levels of activation in the trunk muscles .

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever train the core directly.

For untrained clients, or those returning from an injury or illness, the midsection is often a weak link. They’ll do well with a few sets of direct core work toward the end of the session. On the opposite end of the spectrum, for clients with exceptionally strong core muscles, direct work is the best way to provide a significant training stimulus.

And lots of people in between those extremes simply enjoy feeling the burn in their abs, as with other “mirror muscles.”

Verdict: To supplement full-body lifts, select a handful of exercises that work the core directly and address the client’s needs and goals.

Even your strongest clients can benefit from direct core training.

7. Core stability vs. core flexion and/or rotation

On one side, you’ll find biomechanics experts (along with internet “experts”) who argue that the purpose of the core is to prevent motion, not create it . They advocate for anti-movement core exercises like dead bugs, bird dogs, and side planks.

Yet anecdotally, we hear about elite athletes who regularly do hundreds or even thousands of crunches and not only perform well but remain free of back pain.

The truth is, high-volume lumbar flexion and rotation exercises may be a bad idea for a client who’s deconditioned or has a history of back pain. But that’s hardly unique to core training. Any exercise can be counterproductive if we prescribe too much, too soon.

For clients who enjoy them and are prepared for them, it’s perfectly safe to include a few sets of sit-ups, crunches, or Russian twists in their program. Heck, they may even provide some functional benefits along with their aesthetic value .

Verdict: Train the core statically and dynamically for clients who can tolerate it. Just be smart about it. Build volume slowly and cautiously, as you would with any other part of your training program.

8. Traditional cardio vs. metabolic resistance training

Metabolic resistance training, in theory, allows you to increase cardiovascular fitness while also building muscle. Which, understandably, makes some coaches wonder why they would ever want their clients to do traditional cardio.

If you’ve read the previous items, you can guess the number-one reason: Some clients simply enjoy walking, running, swimming, or cycling in between personal training sessions, and there’s no reason to talk them out of it.

You also need to be cautious about pushing clients into metabolic resistance training before they’re ready for it. That’s especially true of CrossFit-type workouts, where you do heavy, technical lifts for time in a fatigued state. For clients who aren’t well prepared, the risk far outweighs any potential reward .

Verdict: Metabolic resistance training, with appropriate exercise selection, can be both fun and beneficial for clients who’re ready for it.

But don’t forget that traditional cardio also offers health and conditioning benefits. If a client wants to do it, in or out of the gym, include it in their program.

Metabolic resistance training can produce fast improvements in body composition and aerobic fitness. But traditional cardio is still beneficial for health and recovery from more intense workouts.

This argument is similar to the previous one, and even predates it by a decade or two. The only difference is that we’re talking about two different ways to do more or less the same thing—increase endurance and burn fat—without resistance training thrown into the mix.

Proponents of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are quick to boast about the superior calorie-burning efficiency of their methods, compared to steady-state cardio .

They’re right, if we’re comparing genuine HIIT to someone pedaling at a snail’s pace on a stationary bike while watching Netflix, which probably isn’t providing much of a training effect. At most, it potentially promotes recovery from intense training .

But there’s an easy fix: Encourage the client to bump up the intensity slightly.

By holding their heart rate in the neighborhood of 110 to 130 beats per minute for 20 to 30 minutes, they’ll see steady increases in cardiovascular fitness. And unlike HIIT, which offers quick increases in VO2 max, the client won’t quickly reach a plateau .

Verdict: Interval training and steady-state cardio both burn calories and increase cardiovascular fitness. Ideally, clients will do some of both, but if they prefer one over the other, encourage them to increase the intensity and/or duration in a progressive way.

And from time to time, remind them that the fat-burning effect of any type of training is highly overrated.

10. Advanced monitoring techniques vs. the feel method

Activity-tracker technology allows us to monitor every step, heartbeat, minute of sleep, and calorie consumed or expended.

But just because our clients can track fancy readiness metrics like heart-rate variability, does that mean they should? Or should we ditch the expensive gadgets and just base training decisions on how clients feel?

For elite athletes, high-tech monitoring strategies can provide a competitive edge. But for the average gymgoer, these devices may paradoxically provide too much data.

Verdict: A simple device that counts steps and measures heart rate is a happy medium for most of the general population.

Final thoughts

Never forego an entire training methodology simply because one expert, in an effort to get attention, insists on its uselessness. Avoid such polarizing stances on fitness topics. When you keep an open mind, you’ll find that the middle of the road is the most defensible position on most issues.

By exposing your clients to a full range of training stimuli, you improve their health and fitness in multiple ways—and give them more reasons to look forward to your training sessions.

References

  J. L. Nuzzo, “The case for retiring flexibility as a major component of physical fitness,” Sports Medicine, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 853–870, 2020.

  R. Bahr, “Why screening tests to predict injury do not work, and probably never will: A critical review,” British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 50, pp. 776–780, 2016.

  N. Van Dyk, F. P. Behan, and R. Whiteley, “Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programs halves the rate of hamstring injuries: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 8,459 athletes,” British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 53, no. 21, pp. 1362–1370, 2019.

  J. Harøy et al., “The Adductor Strengthening Program prevents groin problems among male football players: A cluster-randomized controlled trial,” British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 145–152, 2019.

  M. Jones, J. Ambegaonkar, B. C. Nindl, J. A. Smith, and S. A. Headley, “Effects of unilateral and bilateral lower-body heavy resistance exercise on muscle activity and testosterone responses,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 1094–1100, 2012.

  B. J. Schoenfeld, J. Grgic, D. Ogborn, and J. W. Krieger, “Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs. high-load resistance training: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 31, no. 12. pp. 3508–3523, 2017.

  B. Schoenfeld and J. Grgic, “Evidence-based guidelines for resistance training volume to maximize muscle hypertrophy,” Strength and Conditioning Journal, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 107–112, 2018.

  N. Hamlyn, D. Behm, and W. Young, “Trunk muscle activation during dynamic weight-training exercises and isometric instability activities,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 1108–1112, 2007.

  S. McGill, “Core training: Evidence translating to better performance and injury prevention,” Strength and Conditioning Journal, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 33–46, 2010.

  B. Contreras, B. Schoenfeld, N. Zealand, and G. F. Services, “To crunch or not to crunch: an evidence-based examination of spinal flexion exercises, their potential risks, and their applicability to program design,” Strength and Conditioning Journal, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 8–18, 2011.

  P. T. Hak, E. Hodzovic, and B. Hickey, “The nature and prevalence of injury during CrossFit training,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Nov. 2013.

  M. Gibala and S. McGee, “Metabolic adaptations to short-term high-intensity interval training: a little pain for a lot of gain?,” Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 58–63, 2008.

  R. Ortiz, A. Sinclair Elder, C. Elder, and J. Dawes, “A systematic review on the effectiveness of active recovery interventions on athletic performance of professional-, collegiate-, and competitive-level adult athletes,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 33, no. 8, pp. 2275–2287, 2019.

  S. Seiler and E. Tønnessen, “Intervals, thresholds, and long slow distance: the role of intensity and duration in endurance training,” Sportscience, vol. 13, pp. 32–53, 2009.

5 exercises that will teach you how to improvise in any situation

Life

Column

June 23

After practice, you will be able to talk as much as you like about the simplest subject and compose fascinating stories on any topic.

Galina Grigoryan

Public speaking and business presentation coach, expert in public speaking. Worked with Alfa-Bank, Sberbank, the Ministry of Economy, the Gila Petersil Speaker Bureau and ImpactHub.

You can listen to the article. If it’s more convenient for you, turn on the podcast.

The skill of improvisation will help you navigate in any situation and with any people. Especially if you’re speaking in front of an audience or need to fill an awkward pause.

These are the very moments when:

• “Vasya, say a toast, you are doing well.”
• “And Elena will tell us about this project.”
• “Vyacheslav, what do you think about this?”

And many other situations that are difficult to prepare for and when you need to quickly think of what to say. This article contains some useful exercises that will loosen your tongue.

Important: to feel the effect, implement them in your daily life, take advantage of the moment – when you are walking with a friend in the park, sitting in a cafe or waiting for something.

So let’s go!

1. The king speaks

This exercise is great for improving your ability to invent and speak as much as it takes to fill a pause.

You will need a partner. One person calls any word, while the second must begin to improvise on a given topic – to say everything that comes to mind. And so on until the first one claps his hands, stopping the second on the word and thus setting a new topic for improvisation. So you can play indefinitely. My advice is to talk for 2 minutes and then switch roles.

Some find this exercise very difficult. If a person is used to thinking in structures, classifications and schemes, then by the word “apple” he will speak something like this: “An apple is a fruit that grows, including in Russia. Apples are different: red, yellow, green. You can make charlotte, pies, compote, jam from them … Apples come in different varieties: ranetki, seasonal, gold … ”Probably, after this a person will come to a standstill – and not because he is not an expert on apples, but because he constantly listed.

Starting from classifications seems like an easy solution, but it only ends up getting you confused when you finish naming known items.

To prevent this from happening, there is a little trick: you need to improvise through associations. And spin the story: “Apples. With this word, every time I remember my beloved grandmother, to whom I went to the village in the summer. She cooked an amazing charlotte … ”With this approach, you can talk indefinitely, because through associations, remember how you picked apples in a neighbor’s garden, the compote that you cooked with your mother, and so on.

2. An hour’s story

A professional orator can be considered someone who can talk about the most ordinary subject for hours without ceasing.

Let’s take a marker as an example. What can we tell about it?

• Physical properties and characteristics (shape, color, material, etc.).
• Functions (as intended – to draw, not as intended – to use as a prop for tomatoes).
• Who will benefit from this item.
• Personal stories associated with the marker.
• The history of the marker (where it is produced, how it is produced, who invented it).
• Comparison with other similar items (with pen, pencil, marker).
• How does the marker affect the environment (how long does it take to decompose and what does it release).
• How does it affect animals (for example, if a dog licks a marker, what will happen to it?).
• Storage, shelf life, disposal.
• Which famous people use markers and for what purposes (for example, signing their books and posters).
• Price segment and so on.

We could invent almost indefinitely. And if we remove the word “marker”, we will see that all these points can be attributed to absolutely any subject.

You might object, “I don’t know all these marker facts and can’t tell you much.” But you don’t need to know everything. It is enough that such a list will help not to get lost in the event of a pause or technical hitch during a speech. You will be able to remember the information that flew out of your head and continue your report or presentation.

This exercise will help you understand that you will always find something to say on any topic, even for one minute.

You can modify the exercise: for example, imagine that you need not only to talk about the subject, but also to sell it. Or expand one of the points (say, “Functions”) and talk on this topic for 5 or 10 minutes – as far as knowledge is enough.

3. Story Master

The following two techniques are based on storytelling and can be transferred to public speaking.

First move: “suddenly”

You will need an assistant to practice. One person proposes to another an idea for a story, such as “a little dwarf who lives in a dungeon.” The second one starts thinking about where this dwarf could go and what to do, and composes until the partner says the word “suddenly”. Now the first participant needs to change the course of the tale and tell what could suddenly happen to the main character.

Why does it work? The word “suddenly” forces us to come up with something new, add plot twists, and so the story becomes more interesting.

This technique is great for training creativity and imagination. Having practiced in such a game, you will upgrade your storytelling skill.

Second technique: “by the way”

You take any text or start telling a well-known story from memory, for example, the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Your task is to add the word “by the way” from time to time: “Once upon a time there was Little Red Riding Hood. By the way, she had an incredibly beautiful dress and golden curls. Once her mother – by the way, she was a middle-aged woman with a sweet smile – told Riding Hood that she should take pies to her grandmother. By the way, these pies were unusual…”

As you can see, each time we added the word “by the way”, we got a more detailed description of the character or item. “By the way” stops us and forces us to implement more details. This technique will teach you to “color” your story if you notice that the listeners are not immersed in it enough.

Tip: Of course, you don’t have to say “by the way” out loud every time. If you say the word to yourself, it will simply remind you to add a descriptive element: “Once upon a time there was Little Red Riding Hood. She had an incredibly beautiful dress and golden curls.

4. Silent film

If you want to maximize your improvisation skills, be sure to try this exercise. All you need is a YouTube video.

Start any video, turn off the sound and start making up dialogues for the characters. If you choose a video of an advanced blogger, it will be more interesting, because he probably knows how to actively interact with the audience non-verbally, using facial expressions and gestures. Then you can turn on the sound and check how accurately you recognized the emotions and guessed what the person on the screen is talking about.

Of course, this exercise also works on any movie or cartoon clip. You can train anywhere: in the park, cafe, public transport. If you notice how people in the distance are discussing something animatedly, assume that they are talking to each other.

5. Theater of one actor

The improvisation skill is best developed in the theatre. I suggest trying a simplified version of one of the most popular exercises for actors.

For him, you also need a partner. One of you comes up with a role and situation for the other to act out. To develop the story, the first participant can take on the roles of other characters or throw new situations at the opponent.

Let’s take an example.

Participant 1 sets the role and situation: “The fashion stylist is late for the train.”

Participant 2 thinks about how this character could behave in such a situation: “Oh my God, how could I even agree to this adventure? I am the chief stylist of European fashion houses and now I have to go to some village! My manager has gone crazy…”

Participant 1 can join the story, for example, as a strict manager of this same stylist: “So, Nicolas, calm down. You know perfectly well that you need to engage in social activities. It’s good for your career.”

Participant 2: “But why should I dress up pigs for a rural beauty pageant? How could you even sign such a contract?!”

You can take the situation to the point of absurdity, and the most interesting thing is that you do not know where your opponent will turn the plot. Another variation of the exercise is to take turns imitating acquaintances and guessing who your partner is portraying.

The skill of improvisation develops only through practice. Train, do not be afraid to speak in front of the public and pump over your oratory skills. Good luck!

Read also 🧐

• 5 acting skills everyone can use0020
• Why it is important to develop communication skills

500 Russian language exercises: all topics and tasks for elementary school (Philip Alekseev)

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