Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Overtraining, Undertraining, and the Sweet Spot

"Overtraining, fatigue, and burnout are a state of mind. Certainly, we all get tired after putting in miles of laps, but the notion of burnout is really a psychological one."

-Three-time Olympian Janet Evans


During my swimming career, I took the above sentiment to heart. More was always better -- more pool sessions per week, more laps, more dryland training. I even went so far as to perform 1000 "abs" per day for a while, as per Evans' recommendation.

As it turns out, I'm not Janet Evans, and neither are you, probably. (Unless you are, in which case, thanks for reading, Janet!) Looking back, I was always in my best shape at the very beginning of the college season, after having trained more moderately during the summer. By mid-season, I was exhibiting numerous signs of overtraining, like constant lethargy, decreased performance in competition, and low motivation to train.

A week or two of strategic overreaching (an abrupt and generous increase in training volume) and subsequent supercompensation through a deload (an abrupt reduction in training volume) or complete rest is one thing. But training past exhaustion day after day, week after week, is simply counterproductive and a recipe for overtraining.

The knock here isn't on Evans, of course. Her training methods obviously worked for her. Some genetically-gifted individuals will be able to train twice a day, every day, no problem. Most mere mortals, however, will not. The key is to find your unique sweet spot in terms of training frequency.



Monday, June 2, 2014

Schwarzenegger.com: Live Long, Lift Long



The Terminator and the Fitness Pollenator recently joined forces. Back from the future, we have a few pieces of advice for you on resistance training for years to come, including a sample three-day training program!

Follow the link below to read all about it in my Schwarzenegger.com article titled 'Live Long, Lift Long:'

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/live-long-lift-long