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Don’t Get Greedy In The Gym
It’s common for people to become a little over ambitious as to what they are trying to achieve.
I’m no different sometimes.
If, like all of us (!), your goal is to get faster, leaner, stronger, bigger and more powerful, all at the same time, perhaps you need to rein it in slightly and prioritise.
Because to positively influence all of that via training is so delicately balanced, it’s like walking a tight rope after a bottle of whisky.
It might seem like fun, but it’s not the way to do things properly.
The smarter approach would be to assess your biggest weaknesses and focus on a block of training specifically geared towards improving that aspect of fitness.
Focus on one thing at a time.
The best analogy I have heard to describe this involves rabbits.
Stay with me…
If you chase two rabbits and try to catch them both the likelihood is that you will catch neither. However, if you just chase one rabbit you are far more likely to catch it.
My rabbit is my conditioning.
After being on a powerlifting template for roughly four months my conditioning had taken a hit.
My goal was to get stronger, which I did.
But having neglected conditioning for so long it was time to do something about it, so I have started including 10-15 minute EDT sessions at the end of my strength sessions.
I’ve also included a couple of rowing interval sessions a week and one steady state run a week, so that I can more rapidly get my fitness up.
This is my current focus, remember.
Once my conditioning has become measurably better, I will decrease the volume slightly, to say three EDT sessions a week, which should be enough for maintenance.
Strength will always be my priority, as it is the platform upon which power, size and conditioning is built.
It also has the longest training residual, which means you will maintain strength levels on a lower volume of training, for a longer period of time, compared to other components of fitness, such as anaerobic fitness and strength endurance for example.
Good news for me.
It means that when I need to get other areas of my overall fitness up, in this case my conditioning, I can maintain my strength, whilst focussing my efforts on this other aspect.
In other words, I’ll maintain my strength, or most of it, whilst I get my conditioning up.
Don’t get greedy
Set achievable goals, tick them off and then move onto the next one.
You can’t do it all at once.
We help our members with a nutritional programme that works for them, if you’re struggling, give us a shout at our gym in Vauxhall or try out our personal training and we’ll help you work out a plan that suits you.
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