Fitness Myths: Is it too late to get into shape for my summer holidays?
There's lots of variables involved in that question: What shape are you in now? What shape you want to be in for your summer holiday? And how much effort are you prepared to put in?
But the great thing is this - you will start to get stronger and fitter within a few hours of doing some exercise. You won't suddenly look like a model from the cover of Men's Fitness, though. What will happen is that your brain will start to recruit more muscle fibres to contract at the same time to produce a greater force. This increase in strength starts to take effect after a few consecutive workouts, way before you see any growth in those muscles.
After a couple of weeks of intensive strength training, the individual muscle fibres start to get bigger, although it's not really noticeable externally for at least 8 weeks of 3-4 hard workouts per week.
If you don't work out that hard, or that often, then obviously the positive effects on your body, both visibly and underneath the surface will take longer.
When it comes to losing weight, there are even more factors to take into consideration, including your own personal health, your genetics, and obviously your diet. The last is often the easiest to change, and while we don't recommend going 'on a diet', improving your overall diet can have significant benefits, both in the short and long term.
Following on from that, aerobic exercise also starts having a significant positive effect on your health long before you start going out to buy a new pair of jeans. With 6 weeks of aerobic exercise, you will have boosted your cellular energy production by 50-100% - increasing the distance you ran run, the speed you can run at and the amount of fat your muscles burn.
But in the first 48 hours after you do some aerobic exercise your muscles will be burning more energy than usual, and reducing your blood sugar levels, too. So, is it too late to get in shape? The answer is always 'no'. You can start at any time and the benefits will be immediate.
We recommend at least 3-4 workouts a week, with a combination of aerobic and strength exercises. These can be combined into one session, such as in our Boot Camp classes, or you can get more focused on one thing at a time.