Too Much Too Soon?

Are you trying to do too much at once and too quickly?

It’s great to have training goals and even better if you have more than one. But there’s a limit to how many things you will be able to work on simultaneously. And, it can get to a point where you start spreading yourself too thin.

Firstly, there is a limit to how many exercises you can do in a workout and a week. And secondly, there is a limit to what your body can recover.

Here are some of the most common training goals

1. Increase strength
2. Increase lean muscle mass
3. Increase core strength
4. Increase cardiovascular fitness / endurance
5. Become pain-free

Note: Losing body fat is not a goal that should be directly associated with exercise. Losing body fat requires nutrition and lifestyle interventions, and training only has a small effect.

From a coaching standpoint, the above goals are a little vague so I want to delve a little deeper into some of them and look at additional things you might want to know.

Increasing strength – strength is a fairly broad umbrella term as there are lots of aspects with strength you might want to focus on, this is not an exhaustive list.

1. Absolute/maximal strength – strength that is expressed as an absolute all-out effort. Usually, some sort of 1 repetition max.
2. Strength endurance – the ability to express strength for repeated bouts, usually for a higher numbers of reps.
3. Strength – speed – the ability to lift sub-maximal loads fast.
4. Speed – strength (power) – the ability to move light loads (usually bodyweight) with explosiveness – think jump higher/further or throw further.
5. Reactive / Plyometric strength – the ability to land, dissipate force and rapidly produce force. This type of training builds tendon strength, among other things.

Increasing muscle – requires a level of maximal strength and strength endurance. It would be best if you got strong, but also able to manage loads at higher rep volumes.

Core Strength – this sounds simple. Just do core work, right? Actually, no. There is a bit more to it as there are different aspects to consider.

1. Core stability – the ability to keep the spine rigid with a level of control whilst orientating about a mid-position (neutral spine). These exercises are usually isometric holds like anti-tension core training.
2. Core strength – the ability to withstand a higher level of load and move the spine under load, think loaded carries and hanging leg raises.
3. Core power – you need to be able to move fast and control that motion. So explosive drills for the spine like chops and med ball work are great for performance.

Increase cardiovascular fitness – there are so many different aspects of cardiovascular fitness. For the sake of this blog, I’ll outline the basics. There are three main energy systems you can focus on in your training.

1. Aerobic base – low to moderate intensity and sustained for a medium to long duration as this energy system is based on using oxygen, and you can work for long periods. I use the word “base” more as an idea that you need a good base to build up to the next two levels.
2. Glycolytic (anaerobic lactic) – medium to high intensities in training. At this intensity, you start to accumulate blood lactic acid. Training at this intensity improves your bodies substrate utilisation and allows you to withstand higher levels of lactic acid.
3. Anaerobic capacity (anaerobic alactic – ATP/CP) – short bounds, 10-20 seconds, of all-out effort. This energy system does not use oxygen as you switch to creatine-phosphate. Training at this level improves things like mitochondria density in muscles.

Become pain-free – this is a broad subject. An exercise-based approach, I believe, is centered around the following areas.

1. Adequate joint mobility – being able to express range of motion and control the ranges you possess.
2. A balanced distribution of strength – making sure you train your body evenly and not over developing any one region excessively. Find your weakness and focus attention there.
3. Body awareness – control of your body as you move, and coordination builds a connection, not just in exercise but also in day-to-day life.
4. Efficient breathing – learn to breathe fully and to control your breath to help relax and rest.

So let’s say you want to get fit, but you also want to get stronger and add some muscle whilst building some core strength? That’s not really out of left field as far as training goals go. But if we look back up at the list above, there lies a bit of confusion over what takes priority. How do you get all the exercises you want into a programme, and how do you recover from training stress.

Two things that commonly happen are:

1. We all want to run before we can walk with exercise. Everyone wants to lift heavy, do HIIT and throw med balls into a wall before building some foundational strength, an aerobic base and a stable trunk. Training should be progressed gradually, so your body is ready for the demands of subsequent training.
2. Training with concurrent (more than one) methods is absolutely fine. But if you want to dial into a particular goal, you need to pick one or two. Adding muscle, getting stronger and increasing an anaerobic capacity will have you on your limit of what you can manage. Sorry, CrossFit, I’m picking on you here. You end up not doing a great job at any of them. I know CrossFitters look great, but did you ever stop to ask did they get into shape doing CrossFit or were they in great shape and got bored of regular training and then got into CrossFit? Spoiler alert it’s pretty much always the latter. I’m not saying CrossFit is bad, but for the average person, that style of training is far too advanced

So what’s the answer?

It’s wonderfully straightforward. I think of the list above as qualities you can elicit from training. Each one is a bucket that needs filling. You can’t keep every bucket full all the time. So you rotate through the training qualities as you go through certain phases/months of your training. There’s always a load of things you will, naturally, be neglecting as you dial in your focus onto 1 or 2 goals. Which can form the primary focus in subsequent phases/months. There needs to be some logic applied, basics first and meet your body where it is at with skill and recoverability – if you are doing 3 sessions per week jumping to 5, that’s pretty foolish. Or, if you have always done higher volume reps of 12, jumping to 5 reps of the heavy lifting is also pretty daft. Just try to scale it logically. Each training block is a stepping stone to the next.

You don’t have to be in some mad rush to get stronger, faster and increase muscle. Hopefully, you have bought into the fact that you will be exercising for the rest of your life, so you have plenty of time to scale your training. Over a calendar year, you might touch on all the principles I’ve outlined above. Then you can simply keep rotating, as there will always be something you have not done for a while.

If you need help aligning your training to your goals, get in touch about my online coaching programs.