Functional training, Crossfit, HIIT, bootcamp – an explosion of fitness options, and everyone is going hard. AND fast. AND heavy. Which is awesome! BUT where the problem lies is we are doing this all the time, every time. Looking at elite sporting teams and their strength and conditioning programs, there is no doubt they go hard, but it is planned, recorded and LOAD is monitored. The seriously intense stuff is spread out, and the volume is regulated. Going to fatigue is a great way to cause adaptation and get harder, better, faster, stronger but if you are doing this in EVERY session, EVERY day it is also a great way to get INJURED!! Cells in your body need time to adapt to the demand placed on them – and different cells respond at different rates. If you load tissue at the same level, or higher, before it has recovered you are, at the very least, impacting on your performance, and at worst, increase your risk of injury. Particularly the fast stuff – remember Force = Mass x Acceleration – the faster you move with heavier loads the forces involve blow up massively. So, this doesn’t mean don’t go hard. Just be smart about it. You need to get your head around the fact that a rest day IS training. That is where a switched on trainer/coach is gold. You want them to have some decent strength and conditioning qualifications and be building in plenty of recovery. If you don’t have one and aren’t sure where to go, give us a call, we know all the best trainers in Newcastle. Or book in with me for a Strength and Conditioning session – we can go through your goals/technique and give you the basic tools to get cracking. And if your trainer regularly pushes you to failure point, every day, for no reason, ask them why. If they can’t give you a scientific reason (and if that’s how they run their show, they’re not scientific anyway) – RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! Unless of course you’ve just done legs – then limp off angrily.
Feel free to share this on social media, there is no knowledge that is not power (Mortal Kombat).
Until next time
Dave
