by Coach Shawn
- The goal is to not leave every training day exhausted, totally spent feeling like you have nothing left.
Every training day is different.
It is planned that some days you are left having extra in the gas tank. That is intentional.
Some days will be more challenging than others and push up against what we are all capable of.
That is also intentional.
The balance of training variety is important to overall progress as well as health and longevity.
If we didn’t monitor intensity, loading, volume and just went as hard, fast, and heavy everyday every session we’d be on a one way ticket to over training, burnt out, under recovered and some people may even throw in the towel or stop coming all together.
Take-away:
Embrace each training day for what it is that day.
Training intensity is a relative thing.
We train 80-90% of the time and “test” ourselves (in the PUSH zone) 10-20% of the time.
Because we improve the most on the days we train and live in the 70-85% effort and loading range.
2. Lack of Soreness doesn’t mean you didn’t have an effective workout.
Soreness isn’t a measure of whether or not you had a “good” workout or not.
Soreness is muscle breakdown.
At times you’ll be more sore than others due to various reasons.
Loading, volume, frequency, time under tension etc.
Take-away: Soreness isn’t a measure that you had an “effective” workout.
It’s merely a sign there’s more tissue breakdown than normal.
And it’s a call to up your recovery game more than ever.
3. Effects of Poor Sleep –
There was something in the air Tuesday night into Wednesday morning…
Almost two handfuls of the 6:30am people said they experienced poor sleep that night.
Poor sleep affects performance and recovery.
It throws our mind out of whack.
And it messes up our nutrition.
Lack of sleep increases ghrelin levels and lowers leptin levels in the blood.
What does that mean?
Ghrelin is a hormone that signals your brain your stomach is empty and it’s ready to eat.
Leptin is a hormone that helps maintain weight by regulating hunger by providing the sensation of feeling full.
Take-Away:
Poor sleep happens to all of us. When it happens let’s increase our awareness that everything is affected, including our decision making and our hunger levels.
And it’s a call to take action to prioritize our “wind down” routines and our relationship with quality sleep.
4. Want To Be Well Rounded? Embrace Your Weaknesses…
Within Fitness we are going to have areas that come more naturally and we feel we excel in.
Equally we are going to have areas that challenge us more than we’d like.
When you find a weakness in training – that’s a good thing.
Whether it’s a particular area (Ie: cardio, upper body pulling strength, grip strength) or
A workout or training day itself.
You’ve just found a puzzle piece to make massive improvements in and that’s exciting.
Closing that gap only makes us more well rounded fit individuals.
Take away:
Avoid beating yourself up with negative self-talk or skipping workouts that are things you “aren’t good” at.
Instead get excited at finding the areas you can make improvements in and embrace improving your weaknesses.
This is the pathway to filling in your holes and makes fitness even more fulfilling when you see improvement in them.
5. Rest Day = Where the true Gainz happen…
All training is breaking down muscle tissue.
It’s fun.
We feel the progress with the weights and our overall fitness across time and that feels good.
The truth is, all your gains are made away from the gym.
The training represents 1-5 hours a week.
Sleep (the real MVP) Nutrition intake and stress management are where the progress is made.
Sleep is where our tissues recover. Our body heals. 7-8 hours is optimal.
Nutrition, to continually make progress we need strategies. Prioritizing protein at every meal, eating enough, nutrient quality. It all matters to our recovery.
Stress management is undervalued. Walking around a ball of stress, reacting to everything, or over exercising creating more physical stress is putting a massive toll on the body.
Going inward – whether it’s stopping and box breathing throughout the day, meditating daily, journaling, talking with someone or a combination.
Stress is real and we are all struggling with something or a multitude of things.
Outlets beyond physical movement are critical as most of our stress can be found in our thoughts and thinking.
