Training Load
The Goldilocks principle
When it comes to adaptation and change, it is about getting training just right, not simply as much as possible.
Fitness training works because our brain and body are able to change, adapting to threat, challenge and adversity. This is why fitness training must be relatively challenging in order for us to adapt and improve. The type of challenge used influences the type of adaptations made, whereas the amount of challenge influences the amount of potential adaptation.
If training is too comfortable, then we are already well suited to our environment and therefore there is no need to change. The body is already resilient enough to cope with the challenge so there is no need to waste vital energy making improvements. At the other end of the spectrum, if training is too challenging, then the threat may be too great for the body to actually cope with, potentially causing injury or sickness.
Somewhere in between lies the sweet spot for training stress which is challenging enough to cause improvements but not too challenging to reach breaking point. This “zone of improvement” can vary greatly for each client and it is up to me to get things just right for them. This is why a clients lifestyle is so important because it not only influences the amount of energy they have to spend on training but also their ability to repair, recover and adapt to their training stress. Quality fitness training is about getting training stress just right and must be adapted every session to meet a clients current ability to accept training stress.
I do this by controlling and manipulating three key areas:
Frequency
Frequency refers to how often training stress is applied.
I advise clients to aim for a training frequency they can consistently stick to and which easily fits into their life.
Consistency is more important than perfection, so a chosen training frequency must be sustainable.
Volume
Volume refers to how much overall training stress is applied.
I advise clients to improve the volume of quality work within their weekly training frequency.
More volume does not always require more training time, just more quality work within your chosen training time.
Intensity
Intensity refers to how challenging training stress is, relative to a maximal limit.
I aim to challenge clients with training that is 60-80% of their maximum as this is a safe zone to maintain quality movement but still reaps good rewards without a greater risk of injury or causing too much fatigue that spills over into life.
These three factors combine to give a total dose of overall training stress which must be consistently managed. It is my job to balance consistency with progress by getting a clients training frequency, volume and intensity “just right”.
Intensity of training is what gets the most return on investment, but training hard must be earned with quality movement and quality recovery efforts. I rarely push clients to their limits and always leave something in reserve as a safety buffer for life because training stress is not separate from life stress to the body. I mostly have clients who use fitness to compliment their everyday life, so their training should not run them into the ground, negatively impacting their ability to live well. Remember it is important to work hard and smart with one eye on the big picture outside of fitness.
Important
Not all of our physical components recover at the same rate and so training stress must adapt for this. This is because training stress is both global and local, meaning that it affects the whole system and its individual parts. Even when feeling good globally, we can still build up localised repetitive strain injuries over time which can hinder overall training. It is important to pay attention to the whole system as well as its components when it comes to managing training stress. Continuously going “beast mode” can be a quick way to injury or training stagnation.