by Kaiser Johnson
The fundamentals of fitness with endurance has, in my experience, aided me more in integration of body and soul than any other type of training. I should probably do it more often.
So what is this fitness fundamental — and why does it wield such power to integrate our bodies and souls? To my mind, endurance (the practice of exercising discipline and enduring suffering over the long haul) most clearly mirrors the Christian life. G.K. Chesterton says, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”
While many of us may go through bouts of intense pain and heartache in this life, all of us will endure the regular trials of the day-to-day far more and far longer. It is our living true to Christ all the way to our last breath that counts. With endurance training, we can change the way we perceive our sufferings and our trials, consciously offer hours out of our days to God, and grow closer to him and more faithful as a result. Sacred Scripture says:
Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
(James 1:2-4)
If we heed his words, if we gratefully accept trials and offer our sufferings to God, we soon see that those things that would have taxed us body and soul before we can now consider nothing but joy.
THE WORKOUT
Unlike our last several workouts, where we’ve focused on doing very hard things for a very short time, here we focus on doing a less intense thing for a much longer period of time. When it comes to the cardiovascular portion of our workout, we need to find our “endurance heart rate.” (This is an idea I encountered in the writings of Dr. Phil Maffetone. If you’re serious about endurance training, I highly recommend his work.) It’s a fairly simple formula: Take 180 beats per minute (bpm) and subtract your age. As of this writing, I’m 34, so my target heart rate is 146.
If you haven’t exercised regularly for the last year or longer, or are recovering from a major injury or illness, subtract an additional 10 bpm. If you are recovering from a minor injury or have chronic sinus or respiratory issues, subtract another 5 bpm. I have bad allergies and have had regular sinus infections for years, so I fall into that category and end up with an endurance heart rate of 141. Since humans don’t have cruise control, it’s very challenging to keep an exactly consistent heart rate, so I’ll tend to let that be the maximum in a range, and I’ll train endurance from about 130 to 141 bpm. If you don’t have some type of heart rate monitor, just take your pulse for 10 seconds every five to 10 minutes and be sure you’re in the zone!
What about the prayer portion? Well, again unlike our previous workouts, where I’ve mentioned I don’t tend to pray during my workout, when training endurance, I absolutely do. If I’m running, I’ll let the rhythm of the road help me in praying my Rosary. If I’m struggling to put one foot in front of the other or get another rep, my prayer simply becomes, “Jesus, I offer this to you,” over and over and over again. I encourage you to find whatever method of prayer helps you open yourself to God’s grace in this endurance. And before you start your workout, feel free to offer this prayer:
God, grant me in all things to practice the endurance of carrying my cross every day, the humility of asking your constant help, and gratitude for the daily opportunities to turn my life to you. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Pick at least one day this week to train endurance, and do more if you feel so inclined. But if you do more, be sure to give yourself a day of active recovery in between. Don’t do it two days in a row.
BEGINNER WORKOUT
Pick a cardiovascular exercise to perform at your endurance heart rate for 16 to 20 minutes. I recommend jogging, walking uphill, or biking. Just be sure you’re hitting your target heart rate. We’re also incorporating muscular endurance here, so before you start, do slow air squats uninterrupted for 1 to 2 minutes, preferably until you can’t complete any more. (I recommend counting out 4 seconds to squat, 2 seconds to stand up slowly, to complete one rep.)
Halfway through your workout (8 to 10 minutes in), pause and do as many slow pushups from your knees (same speed as above) for 1 to 2 minutes, preferably until you can’t complete any more. If you’re reaching that point before 1 minute, put your feet on the ground, but put your hands against a wall, so your body is up at an angle, and do slow incline pushups instead.
Continue your cardiovascular workout, and then when you’ve finished your allotted time, do slow towel rows to failure (many demonstration videos are available online), and position your feet so that you can perform them for at least 1 minute. Then stretch and you’re done! The whole thing shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes. Here’s a clear-cut breakdown:
Slow squats (4 seconds down, 2 seconds up) until failure
Cardiovascular exercise (jog, walk, bike, etc.) for 8 to 10 minutes
Slow knee or incline pushups until failure
Cardiovascular exercise (jog, walk, bike, etc.) for 8 to 10 minutes
Slow towel rows until failure
Stretch
INTERMEDIATE WORKOUT
Your workout is very similar to the above workout, but you’ll be doing more than double the time in cardiovascular exercise, and double the sets of muscular endurance. We’re aiming for 48 to 60 minutes of cardio, and 2 sets each of the exercises.
Slow squats to failure
Cardiovascular exercise for 8 to 10 minutes
Slow pushups (or knee or incline pushups if you can’t complete 1 minute of slow pushups)
Cardiovascular exercise for 8 to 10 minutes
Slow pull-ups (or towel rows if you can’t complete 1 minute of slow pull-ups)
Cardiovascular exercise for 8 to 10 minutes
Repeat steps 1 through 6
Stretch
EXPERT WORKOUT:
More time, more sets! Aiming for 60 to 90 minutes of cardio, 3 sets each of the exercises
Slow squats to failure
Cardiovascular exercise for 7 to 10 minutes
Slow pushups (or knee or incline pushups if you can’t complete 1 minute of slow pushups)
Cardiovascular exercise for 7 to 10 minutes
Slow pull-ups (or towel rows if you can’t complete 1 minute of slow pull-ups)
Cardiovascular exercise for 7 to 10 minutes
Repeat steps 1 through 6 two more times
Stretch
