Go big, or go home?
Given my role as a strength coach, a lot of my time is dedicated towards motivating my athletes to train harder, go faster, reach new levels of intensity in their training. My job is to bring the best out of my athletes in a way that pushes them towards their goals in the most efficient and effective way possible. Now those familiar with my ideals as it relates to overtraining and intensity will know that in most cases you will not get a pass from me just because you’re feeling a little delicate today. I vehemently disagree with the pussification of both society AND gym/training culture, and the gym environment that I have created within PTC Rowville reflects this.
One thing that I do encounter, given the type of athletes that this environment attracts, is that sometimes I need to pull the reins on my overly enthusiastic and ambitious athletes. I have had quite a few disagreements with athletes over the years for making adjustments to their sessions or programming that require them to do LESS, rather than more. My athlete wants to train like a fucking savage, but coach says no, not today. Given my love of training intensity and my belief that most people train like pussies, I figured I owe my athletes an explanation for some of the times I say no.
Injury:
Most of the time, this is the big one. Now I’ve got many injuries that I’ve accumulated over a lifetime, and while I still train 20+ hours a week at a high intensity, a lot of the sessions need to be modified to suit my body. Injuries need to be recovered, if that means you need to choose different exercises today, or lower the volume slightly, I’m not saying you shouldn’t train with intensity, but do it in a way that it won't extend your time on the shelf. Training is for a lifetime, but flaring up your injuries for the sake of stubbornness will only mean you spend longer training in a modified way to accommodate.
I train a 60+ year old lifetime powerlifter. He has the body which shows all of the wear and tear, but has the enthusiasm of a playful puppy. If I’m not carefully managing the load, he’s gonna flare up a hamstring or pec before he even makes it to the next competition.
It’s not a bad problem to have, lifters that are constantly chomping at the bit, but sometimes a little bit of my objectivity protects them in the long run.
Stress:
Ok, the classifier here is that you should almost always train. We all know the mental and emotional benefits of being in the gym, and I maintain that your training regime should be pretty close to non-negotiable. There are times, however, that you need to make sure that your training suits your lifestyle. If you have worked a huge few days at work, or are carrying significantly more stress than normal, you might not necessarily be benefitting from a 3 hour marathon session of deadlifts. In order to cope with the demands that your lifestyle is placing on your recovery system, you should make sure that the training stress does not set you back further than you’re able to recover from. Sure, you get through everything you need to today, but at what cost? Are you able to back it up tomorrow, the next day, the day after that? This is a long term endeavour, a marathon not a sprint. Keep your session short and sharp today, then come back and smash it tomorrow, or you can choose to blow yourself to smithereens now, and compromise the next 2 weeks of training while your body slowly fights back. Now I’m definitely not saying that you need to train half-heartedly, but what I might encourage is to keep the intensity high, but keep the volume low and the session shorter than normal. Quality over quantity. Train only for as long as your energy and focus can sustain it, and don’t compromise your movement quality for the sake of getting in a heap of volume that will potentially set back your recovery for not a lot of benefit. Pick your battles and live to fight another day.
Timing:
This one is particularly important pre-competition, in particular the last couple of weeks before a meet or event. The way you approach the last fortnight before a comp can make or break your entire prep, and this time should be spent making sure that your recovery strategies are up to scratch. The goal here isn’t to prove how much you can lift in the gym, but on maximizing the supercompensation effect of tapering down your volume after a long period of hard work during the prep phase. I have many athletes at this time wanting test their lifts to the limit, just to ‘make sure’ they can do it. Sure, there is the mental component of limit lifts, but the goal is to hit it on the platform, not in the gym, so don’t compromise your tapering period. This is especially important if you are also cutting weight, which makes all of your energy expenditure even more crucial.
The other end of the scale is the athlete who tries to cram. I’ll give you a heads up...if you haven't done the work in the months leading up to your event, you’re not gonna get any stronger or fitter in the last two weeks. You can’t polish a turd, so if you haven’t done the prep, don’t expect to change the result. I’ve seen this so many times from both lifters and fighters, and it never works. So just take your medicine, and learn for next time.
So here’s the TL:DR
Train your ass off all the time, but listen to coach. He’s seen enough people blow themselves up over the last 30 years and he wants to make sure that you’re not one of them.
Yours in strength
Dan