Diminishing Returns in Your Workout

At some point, even the things you love the most will not give you as much happiness as they did. This basic statement underlies the law of diminishing returns/utility and applies to your workout. Yes, there can be too much of a good thing – even if that thing is good for you like exercise is.

image: sxc.hu

One example of this law is running. Research shows that the most you should run is 42 minutes because after this time, the run no longer gives your body the benefits you once received and you are therefore inefficiently using both your time and energy.

This rule can be applied to anything in your workout. At some point, you will peak and after that, if you continue exercising, you will see less and less benefit for every minute (or rep) you do.

Diminishing returns gives us another great reason to strive for variety in our training and to also be conscientious of overtraining. You never want to overwork your body, especially when you actually lessen the benefit you get.