Some should ask the question periodically. Others should ask the question daily.

But for all, asking the question engaging in the mental process required to produce an answer is more important than the answer itself. That's partially because even the best or the worst answer is a type of compromise, accentuating one element at the expense of another. Yet it's primarily because of something else.The question: How hard should you exercise?The "something else" that makes that question so important yet so difficult to answer comes from one word in the question: "You."While it may be too broad a generalization to say that everything in life is relative, that's not the case when it comes to exercise. A week of very productive cycling workouts for me, for example, would do little to improve your fitness if you're a professional cyclist gearing up to begin the racing season, yet if you're a recreational cyclist getting ready to have your most enjoyable summer of riding ever, they'd be far too much for you.The workouts would require such a dramatic jump in workout volume and intensity that your chance of illness or injury would skyrocket. But let's say you get lucky and avoid both. Now if you follow my workouts for a second week and don't allow your body sufficient time for recovery by actually doing a week of workouts far easier than your usual ones you'll probably feel so run down and lethargic that formerly simple tasks will be a chore.I know I've overdone things when I go to school, write a good bit on the chalkboard, and feel the effort if it can even be called that in my left deltoids, lats, and triceps. Or when walking up to the second floor creates a dull ache in my hamstrings.If you feel similarly during the day, you're certainly not setting a personal best in any sort of workout that night. Attempt to do so, and your body becomes overtrained. It should come as no surprise if you may get sick or hurt that week. Keep exercising at a high intensity, and all the aches and pains magnify, the lethargy intensifies, and you begin to dread working out.This is when the typical person, because he or she does not really understand the situation, gets depressed, stops exercising, and cites the reason as burnout.Luckily, there's a simple formula that can keep you from ever becoming a victim of burnout. The formula calls for a series of weeks where you try to do a bit more volume or intensity than you're currently doing followed by a week where you significantly do less.While it's impossible to quantify a formula to suit all because of the word "you" in the question "How hard should you workout?" the following plan that I call "Plus 10 Times 3, Minus 20" works for just about anybody interested in modest improvement.To use this plan, you need to establish a baseline. To do that, think back a bit and determine what presently constitutes a typical week of workouts.To better explain, let's say you typically run three times a week for three miles and do a full-body weightlifting workout to keep tone rather than build muscles twice a week.Once this is established, decide which element to your regiment will be the point of emphasis. In other words, are you going to gain endurance and speed as a runner or get bigger muscles from lifting?If you decide to strive for a personal best at a local 5k run scheduled three months from now, you'll increase your running efforts and keep your exertion in the gym the same or even cut back a bit when you feel the need.The rate in which you'll increase your running efforts is by approximately 10 percent the first week, 10 percent the second and 10 percent the third. In order to give your body and mind a chance to recover from these increases, the fourth week should be a decrease of 20 percent, in essence the aforementioned title: "Plus 10 Times 3, Minus 20."Now, most recreational exercisers don't want their workouts to get too complicated. Working with these percentages doesn't have to be.In the case of a runner, be sure not to exceed the increases in total mileage. It might be best to time your runs, but if you don't, go by feel and keep the target numbers in mind. Either try to run 10 percent of a given run much faster than normal or do the entire run 10 percent faster.When this increase in mileage and intensity begins to wear on you, reduce the length, the intensity of your gym work, or both. One strategy is to temporarily skip any leg lifting. Another is to focus on the core muscles instead of the chest and the arms.After two months where three weeks of increase is followed by one week of decrease, change the pattern to insure you're fresh for the 5k race. In the month before the race increase efforts by 10 percent for two weeks and then decrease efforts by 20 percent for two weeks.This is what's called a taper, and as long as you incorporate an occasional hard effort inside your reduced runs, you should remain sharp, not lose a bit of fitness, yet allow your body the recovery needed to produce a personal best.