How To Progress and Structure Your Training
How to always progress and structure my training?
When it comes to improving in any sport or activity, effective and planned training with good recovery is the answer. Could you imagine Cristiano Ronaldo going from Sunday Church League Football to a Premier League Sensation without the guidance of more experienced coaches and training programmes? No matter the sport, hobby or activity, a planned and organised training approach will always dominate over the unplanned and unorganised training styles. I know it can seem daunting trying to find the knowledge and guidance to construct such a program or plan, but it just takes one step at a time, like anything else! This blog will outline common mistakes that occur when trying to improve one’s capacity in the gym or sport and a basic plan on how to keep progressing throughout your life.
Let’s start with common mistakes through asking a series of questions:
Are you completing more volume, weight or maintaining a higher successful percentage in your sport right now versus last month, six months ago and a year ago?
Does your body feel like it constantly needs rest and recovery, i.e. “a massage to loosen up”?
Are you experiencing pain with any lifting or sporting drill that has been progressively getting worse with each training session?
Are you giving your body enough rest and other modalities of recovery to sustain your currently level of activity?
Have you been doing the same program or sets of drills for longer than 1-2 months without any variation?
Here are the respective answers to the questions outlined above:
Improvement in the gym or in your sport can be objectively measured through data such as the load (weight), overall volume or goal-kicking percentage; time spent on field, assists and the list goes on. Utilising baseline objective measures provides a quantitative set of data points that allows the coach and/or the individual to outline where they have progressed most over a period of time or where their training should focus to improve.
A sore and fatigued body isn’t a negative response from training at all! In fact, it shows you are pushing your body to adapt to new standards. The problem lies where every session completed results in consistently feeling sore and fatigued going into the next. This is a common sign that your body is not responding efficiently to the style or frequency of training you are currently completing and/or you are not giving your body sufficient time to recover - “burning the candle at both ends”. There are a multitude of factors here that can interfere with recovery, but a consistent fatigue and soreness outlines the need for investigation and change.
If your pain is consistently worsening post-training and lingering into the next sessions, this is a clear sign that your body is asking for help and to seek a health professional (question 3 and 4). Niggles and soreness are normal amongst training, especially when you’re pushing your body to the max! Niggles and soreness that stay around ~>1-2 weeks however are what I would consider, an injury. This may seem a little extreme, but small niggles can turn into large injuries if the correct measures and procedures are not taken. Imagine a local bridge that has thousands of cars crossing it daily, now imagine if the council knew its structural integrity was degrading but decided not to act upon it until it was more serious (i.e., people getting injured). This is how we can treat our bodies and outlines the importance of ensuring niggles don’t turn into larger problems! Constructing a recovery programme i.e., a gentle walk and ice at the end of the day, is an easy and cost-effective way to combat niggles and prepare your body for the next session.
When moving from one program or training phase to another, it isn’t about changing every exercise/drill in the new program. The main aim is to progress utilising one or two variables (e.g., weight, volume, drill complexity or duration etc.) and nailing those variables that have changed. If you change too many variables, it is hard to track true progress and you may just find you are back at question 3. On the other hand, if you are completing the same program and weights over and over, it is unlikely you will make more progress bar the initial progress made. The body requires new stimulus to keep growing, just as our bank account requires more money to keep growing.
How to build a basic program?
Step 1 – Choose how many days you think you can train a week; now drop a day and you have a program you can follow consistently.
Step 2 – Pick what type of split you want to utilise e.g., one body part a session, a full body split or specific training days over a set time. Four weeks is a commonly used program timeline.
Step 3 – Pick which exercises you want to incorporate into the split chosen and the specific days.
Step 4 – Start the first week with a weight or duration (sporting drills) on each exercise that you know is easy to complete (RPE 6-7). A widely utilised and accept scale is the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale (RPE). I have included an example below outlining this scale – all rights belong to Mike Tuchscherer. Although more specific to lifting, the same principles can be taken to sport training sessions.
Step 5 – Complete the designated timeline of the program and re-evaluate your strength/sporting goals at the end of the block. Repeat Step 1, or hire a coach to do this for you.
What were the main takeaways?
Being consistent and following a specific program is how athletes keep progressing
Staying on top of recovery and niggles aids in gaining consistent progress and not plateauing
Tracking your training data over a period of time makes your training more accurate
Allocate specific time for recovery and treat with the same intent as your training
Stay tuned to this continuing stream of information and share with someone who may find this helpful!
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Physio
Andrew
