I have been very light on time lately with the business, employing a new trainer, training him and losing 2 trainers in 2 weeks as well as the wife taking 3 days off from work but I am now back.
What follows is a little rant I suppose of just training in general, not Aussie Rules Football training in particular.
#1 – “…I do it because it works for me…”
This statement sounds fair enough on the outside but in the inside it’s a “put it the too hard basket”, or at least that’s what it seems to me.
There are always plenty of suggestions to find “what is right for you” on various forums but the reality is, most of us here haven’t tried more then 5 ways to train but a lot of us claim to know “what works for us.”
The time you start to think that you don’t have to learn anything new is the time you start to go backwards.
Remember, everything works but nothing works forever.
#2 – “…what type of cardio should I do?…”
In response to your fat loss efforts, this is always the 1st question asked. Yes, cardio is needed in most cases but what constitutes “cardio”? Cardio is short for cardiorespiratory exercise (heart and lungs), so isn’t any exercise effectively “cardio”? Quick answer yes, long answer no. I like the term energy systems work made popular by Christian Thibaudeau which refers to exercise performed in the 3 basic training zones.
1 – Anaerobic System
2 – Lactic Acid System
3 – Aerobic System
Now I don’t want to go into these too much as basic research will give you that answer pretty quickly, but “cardio” needs to be specific, much like the term “I want to get fit”. Get fit for what? I myself would struggle to run a quicker 2km time then any of you for plenty of reasons I won’t go into here, but does that mean that I’m not “fit”? Give me a resistance circuit and I’m golden because that’s what I train for, not to run, swim, bicycle etc.
So the answer really should be, “what do you want the cardio to do for you?” If it’s fat loss then do intervals, if it’s for football then sprints and agility work will be required, for marathon running, well run marathons.
The point is, it needs to be specific to your goal, and 30mins on the treadmill 3 times a week is not really specific to anything except for running 30mins on the treadmill 3 times a week.
#3 – Fatigue vs Intensity
This is a big one that even most trainers will miss. Fatigue is the point where work quality (weight lifted, tempo, technique etc) is decreasing within a given workout. Intensity is the level or weight at which you are performing your set with. Doing 1 set of bicep curls then finishing off the set with 2 or 3 drop sets isn’t increasing intensity, its increasing fatigue. Increasing the weight over a session, weeks or months is increasing intensity.
100 times out of 100 I would rather increase intensity over fatigue. I think we all know how hard it is to train under fatigue and how slowly, if ever, results show themselves which leads me to point 4…
#4 – Manage Fatigue, Don’t Seek It
I need to add in here that for muscle growth you do need a certain amount of fatigue with a certain amount of intensity which is what a lot of Chad Waterbury’s programs are all about. You choose a weight that allows all the reps of every set to be achieved for example using a 5 – 6 rep max for 10 sets of 3 as opposed to trying to get 10 sets of 3 with your 3RM which will ever happen. This set up manages your fatigue by choosing the correct load (weight) used but it also keeps the intensity high (5 rep max or 80 – 85%). It’s important to reach your sets and reps for most of your sessions or what are they there for?
Basically you need to set up your program long term to monitor this.
Eric Cressey follows a high, medium, very high, deload format each month.
High – new lifts are introduced with moderate to high volume and intensity to set a baseline for the next 3 weeks. A surprisingly fair amount of fatigue is induced while intensity is fairly high too.
Medium – weight is added to all exercises but volume (sets and reps) drop slightly compared to week 1 leading into “peak” week 3. Not a lot of fatigue is induced but intensity is increased.
Very High – weight and volume are added to higher level then week 1 and is the week to go for personal bests. Lots of fatigue induced at a high intensity. Most people will try and stay at this level for weeks and months on end but remember, “you can train hard, but you can’t train hard for long.”
Deload – intensity and volume is decreased by 20 – 40% depending on the lift giving your body a chance to recover good and proper from the previous week where you should have pushed your body to the point it hasn’t been before (hopefully!) and refreshing you for the next phase.
This is just 1 example but you can see that it isn’t simply “balls to the wall” all the time as it simply can’t be done.
Tomorrow I'll be back with part 2.
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