Doing Less to Do More
Effort and exhaustion are not one in the same.
Prior to 2021, I trained hard all the time. I lifted as heavy and ran as fast as I could–sometimes back-to-back–throughout each week. I did this in college while also spending a lot of time partying, and I did it in the Army when it wasn’t uncommon to spend 60 or more hours per week at work. I did make some progress in spite of myself–probably because I was in my early twenties–but I also injured myself at least once or twice per year and took several unnecessary steps back in my training.
The more I’ve learned about training over the past few years, the more I’ve realized that effort and exhaustion are not the same thing. In fact, I would argue that it takes more discipline, especially for a hard-nosed young athlete, to pull back the intensity in favor of prioritizing rest and recovery. Pushing oneself to the limit in most if not all training sessions is a recipe for disaster; this applies to both strength and endurance training. The purpose of training, in my opinion, is to apply well-regulated stimuli in order to produce desired adaptations (i.e. getting bigger, stronger, or faster) over a long period of time. Therefore, training must be sustainable; nobody is going to meet their fitness goals by beating themselves down to the point that their body cannot adapt due to fatigue or injury.
I had a great conversation with Sam Brown last week, and one of my biggest takeaways was that stress management should be the number one priority in the programming of training. In reference to the graphic above, it is not only the fatigue of training that could inhibit recovery and therefore fitness gains; it’s every stressor in life. The marathon training plan for a thirty-five year old investment banker is not going to look the same as the marathon training plan for a twenty-four year old grad student. One must account for all of life’s variables when dialing in the levels of training volume and intensity they can handle, and adaptability is essential.
For athletes who are training for an event or competition, there are certainly points along the way that training must be intense and specific. However, over long periods of time, training should focus on building one's capacity. For both strength, endurance, and overall athletic performance, the capacity or base sets the foundation for success. Here is a great article on capacity vs utilization training specific to mountain athletes.
There’s a very distinct difference between building a skill (such as strength or speed) versus expressing a skill (through a deadlift one rep max or 5KM run time trial). Follow any elite powerlifter or runner on Instagram, and you will find that the vast majority of their training is much lower in intensity (for them, not for you or me) than what they show in competition. Heavy, single reps on competition squat, bench, and deadlift make up a small percentage of the powerlifter’s training. Much more time is spent focusing on building capacity through lifting submaximal weights, doing accessory exercises, conditioning, and recovery work. I’m sure you’ve heard of 80/20 running, where the majority of a distance runner’s training is spent running easy miles in order to create a strong aerobic base that speed can be built onto. The truth of the matter in sport, like many things in life, is that the bulk of the work that is done to achieve success is not sexy.
While I am not an elite athlete, here are a couple anecdotal examples of the concept of “doing less to do more” in my recent training.
In 2021, following Dave Tate’s Periodization 101 template, my heaviest training lifts were: 280lbs squat, 235lbs bench, 340lbs hex bar deadlift, 170lbs overhead press. On testing week, I squatted 330, benched 265, deadlifted 405, and pressed 180.
In 2022, following 5/3/1 and Run programming, my heaviest training squat was 265 and my heaviest training barbell deadlift was 340. I tested out at a 350 squat and a 400 deadlift.
When I started my current training program for the 2023 Conquer the Rock 25K race, with 80% or more training time devoted to slow and easy miles, I ran a thirty minute anaerobic threshold test three times. In Week 0, I ran 3.32 miles at a 9:02 pace. In Week 9, I ran 3.69 miles at an 8:07 pace. In Week 16, I ran 4 miles at a 7:30 pace.
