Actual Training

Going flat and coming back.

I go to the gym and I work out or I hit the crag or do a session on my home wall. I do these things five or more days a week and have done so for many years. In fact, I have done this a lot, learned a lot, and I teach people about it. It’s how I pay my mortgage.

One of the things that happens to me when I start to learn from an expert is to make the assumption that they are perfectly optimized in their area of expertise. I’ll think Tim Ferris’s life is totally optimized. That James Clear has perfect habits. Brene Brown is flawless in her courage and empathy. That Kelly Drager’s diet is perfect.

And so it is with shame that I look back on almost every week and realize that I didn’t get my training right. I skipped a session. I stopped another early. Went too hard on one and hurt my finger. How could I, with all I have learned, still not get it right?

Because I am a mess, just like Kelly, Tim, James, and Brene. Because, even in our areas of specialization, other factors come into play. The important part is recognizing that even though I am doing some exercise, it’s not getting me where I need to be. If I am simply getting some movement in, I am likely not getting all I could out of my time in the gym.

This brings two thoughts to mind. First: it’s OK. I can “dollar cost average” my training over time and still come out ahead. I can have good periods and bad periods and just making sure that I punch the clock is going to land me several orders ahead of spending time looking at my phone.

Second, and this is key: Going back to training—not just moving—is a superpower that can spread into everything you do. This is how to do it.

We have to understand what training is. Training is a planned and progressed series of overloads aimed at making a change in behavior potential. I can go to a fitness class three days a week for years and not truly improve anything. I can randomly go run every now and then and get OK, but never see a lifetime best performance.

So when I go flat or fall off track, I strip it down to a single thing I am trying to improve. I’m not talking “endurance” or “power.” I am talking about taking a single exercise and planning to address it regularly. I can still have my crappy and disjointed schedule, but I am committed to, for example, doing single arm presses regularly and progressively for the next 4-6 weeks.

I can still just get by with my other training, but the presses are done with intention. Four sets of four on Monday. Five sets of two on Wednesday. Two sets of five on Friday. Push the loads. Do each set fresh. Consider the session a success if, and only if, I do the presses well that day. And I always do.

And a funny thing happens. I get the sessions in. At first I might just get warm and do my presses and get out of the gym. But even if I am traveling, busy, or climbing that day, I’ll start to get them done every single time I am planning them.

And then I start getting better at some other exercises. And the cascade continues until I am back on track, sleeping better, hitting big numbers, eating with progress in mind, and back in the game.

When I go flat, which we all do, I find that stepping back and attacking just one thing works to get the machine going again. Trying to start an ideal program from scratch is just too big a leap.