The name of the game might be constant forward progress.
But progress hinges on a few things, lets have a quick look at some of them:
1: Progressive Resistance Be that:
More weight
More reps
more sets
Less rest
faster
further
and so on….
Gradually Adding Load
There are many many ways to progress, if one isn’t working, use another. If you can’t manage more reps in the same number of sets, maybe add an extra set instead. If you can’t manage more weight, do more reps instead. And so on.
2: Adequate recovery. The following text is lifted from text I wrote for www.liftBJJ.com, an online training company I’m working with:
Readiness & OvertrainingThere is a saying that “you can only train as hard as you can recover” And this is as true as it gets.While pushing on through fatigue and being the old soldier may be good for the ego, it’s a short cut to burn out, overtraining and potentially injuring yourself or your training partners.So must monitor ourselves to ensure we are able to train well and make long term gains in our ability. Here are some questions to ask yourself each day before training, give each one a score between 1-5, one being poor, 5 being excellent:Sleep Quality Mood Energy Levels Stress Levels SorenessAdd up the scores and divide it by 5, this is your “readiness score”A score of 5 means go all out, a score of 1 means leave it till tomorrowFor example: Sleep Quality 3 (might only have had 6 hours) Mood 3 (neither excited/happy nor dour) Energy Levels 4 (Feeling pretty good) Stress Levels 4 (no real stress) Soreness 2 (kind of sore from yesterdays training) Score 3.2 (3+3+4+4+2 = 16, 16/5= 3.2)3.2 out of 5 is ok, but not great, so today I’ll work hard but not my hardest.This is a very simple way to gauge your level of recovery and therefore your readiness to train again.A more accurate check is to keep track of your Heart Rate Variability (not to be confused with heart rate) Heart Rate Variability (HRV) requires you to put on a heart rate monitor each morning (or at the same time each day) and take a 3 minute reading using one of the HRV apps available. This measures the variance between the “R-Intervals” of your heart beat and gives you a fairly accurate look at how your central nervous system is acting. Most apps give you a traffic light colour and a score out of ten for the day. These work best if you take at least 3 readings per week, ideally first thing in the morning before you do anything.
Elements that factor into recovery are: Sleep, Nutrition, Hydration and Stress management. Secondary are practices such as stretching, sauna’s, cold therapy, massage.
Get your recovery in order, or progress will falter.
3: Consistency Time and again programs and methods are advertised with “guaranteed results” Well, here’s some new for you….
ANY program will give you results if done with consistency and effort.
Yes, that’s right, ANY PROGRAM.
But you have to get on with it. If you don’t do it, no program works!
And yes, before you ask, different programs work better for different outcomes, lets not get pedantic…
Well, maybe not ANY program…
4: Have a Plan.
Random training is all well and good, but it should still follow an over arching plan. (So it’s not really that random….)
But we should also accept Mike Tyson’s truth:
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face
Which is a paraphrase of the line in the Infantry handbook that says:
The first casualty in any contact is the plan.
My good mate Steve, former Royal Marine is a big fan of yelling “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome” at random intervals of the day. But he’s right, as soon as the plan fails, and it will, you improvise, you adapt and you overcome, which means you get back onto mission as soon as possible.
Steve on the right, Mark on the left.
But you MUST have a plan. It’s very difficult to stay motivated if you don’t have a plan, so what’s yours?
5: Listen to my in car podcasts…. They’re here: https://www.patreon.com/davehedges
That’s all for today, I’ll chat soon
Dave
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