In a sport with an unlimited number of movements and time domains to master, and where the tests are constantly changing, it can feel overwhelming to keep progressing in all the different areas necessary to remain competitive.
Too often, I see athletes falling into the trap of continually adding more and more volume to their training in an effort to “cover all bases” and tick-off all the skills and elements.
Even after over a decade in this sport, I, myself, have also fallen into this trap many times over the years as an athlete and as a coach.
Here are some of my biggest tips for managing your training load:
1. Understand the concept of “Maximum Recoverable Volume” (MRV) and how it applies to you
Long story short, you can train as hard as you want, but there is a limit to how much training you can do and still recover from.
And this will be different for every single athlete.
The process of training places stress on the body and causes it to break down, but it is the process of recovery that builds the body back up again and actually allows it to adapt and get stronger.
Every single person has a different ability to recover, given their own unique circumstances.
Let’s take the example of two athletes who are hypothetically at exactly the same “level” of ability in terms of all their numbers (WOD times, strength maxes etc).
These two athletes could potentially have vastly different MRV’s due to their individual circumstances.
Let’s say “Athlete A” is 25 yrs old, works part time and has a training age of 15 years and “Athlete B” is 33 yrs old, works 9-5 and has a training age of 5 years.
Even though these athletes are equal in terms of competitive ability, their ability to handle high volumes of training will be vastly different because they have different MRV’s based on biological age, lifestyle and training age.
There are many other factors at play, but I have kept it simple for this example.
Consider these things (amongst others) when assessing your own training volume.
2. Beware of that ‘Box-Ticking Mentality’
Sticking to your program is a good thing, but you should also have the flexibility to change things on the fly when needed.
Being dedicated and task-focussed is very important, but these habits can also work against us sometimes.
The sense of accomplishment we get when completing a full training session and recording our results is a big part of the enjoyment.
Unfortunately, this same desire to “tick all the boxes” can sometimes cloud our judgement and make us want to ignore niggling injuries or signs of overtraining.
It’s important to use our discretion as athletes and take some ownership over our training quality and be aware of how our bodies are responding.
Communication with a coach will also help to guide the athlete through any necessary deviations from the program.
3. FOMO Mentality – Don’t Let it Get the Better of You
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) can make us constantly feel like we should be doing more training, especially when we see our friends or people on Instagram doing some epic WOD or new movement that we want to try.
Be disciplined in your practice and don’t let these distractions de-rail your training journey.
There are only so many things that you can recover from before it becomes counter-productive to keep adding more work or introducing random pieces to your training.
4. Quality Control
Generally speaking, let the quality of your sessions be your guide.
If you notice during the week that your sessions are becoming sluggish; for example, you’re having trouble executing skills effectively or producing the desired amount of power, these may be signs that you may be overdoing it or may be due for a recovery day.
You are not necessarily supposed to feel like a million bucks every day, but if you are consistently experiencing sub-optimal performances, this may be cause to re-evaluate your training volume.
A good rule of thumb:
- 1 bad day of training – no cause for concern.
This is normal, as you cant be at 100% every day. - 2 bad days in a row – this will happen occasionally, but is a sign to monitor things.
You are probably due for rest day tomorrow. - 3 bad days in a row – this is a sign that you may be dipping into overreaching or overtraining.
You may be due for a deload week or similar.
5. Apply High and Low Days
Alternating hard days and easier days is a great way of keeping training momentum going but still ensuring adequate recovery between intense efforts.
If you have a particularly hard training day in terms of overall volume and/or intensity, you should generally pull back a little the next day.
It may be written into your training program already – however if it isn’t, it can be something you start applying intuitively (where necessary) as an athlete.
For example, on Sunday night when you are planning your week, you can look at your training program and identify the key days that you want to hit with the most intensity, and which days you might want to take it down a notch. This shouldn’t be an excuse to cherry pick, though – think of it as “choosing your battles wisely”. This concept is particularly useful for Masters Athletes.
6. Consistency is King
Earn the right to build volume over time. The patient athlete who consistently turns up and focusses on quality rather than quantity, day after day, week after week, year after year, will win.
[divider style=”solid” height=”2px” color=”#000000″]
At Starr Strength, the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ is just as important to us as the ‘what’.
We cannot just give our athletes the prescribed exercises and expect them to excel, especially not those on a group template.
Therefore, built into all our memberships, both remote and on-site, are regular consultations with your coach, to help address the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind the programming.
Determining optimal training load and volume is just one element that we can touch on in these consultations.
0 Comments