My main message is on the Opposite. The down-regulation.
Why? Because I think we are all pre-conditioned to figure out the “work” side of it, and when the system is restored into balance, then some solid training can come easily.
But, there is also a strategy for training, to actually get the results, quickly
Here are a few tips that have helped in a few different areas:
- Find the “pro.” Look, they don’t need to be an actual professional (although it helps), but they need to be good. They need to have shown up strongly in the area you want to improve in. They may or may not be “qualified” in the usual channels.
- Look for the “context.” Yes find out about the “program,” but also look at their recovery strategies and nutrition
- Avoid “super-sympathetic” – this is when ALL of your training sessions have hyped up music, you need to go all out and go until exhaustion. There are some circuit classes just like this. In simple terms, if you had found the pro above, you’d see they don’t do this. The nervous system can’t recover well from these types of repeated efforts. Repeated exposure will cause anxiety, stagnation, injury and plateaus
- Eat to win. A lot of people are skipping meals, especially before training in the morning. This is a case of “just because you can do it, doesn’t mean it is optimal in the long term.” For the long game, we want to down-regulate the nervous system quickly and recover. Food helps. More food often helps more.
- Use caffeine. If it works for you, use it. Caffeine is well known to help training. Just please, eat first.
- Calculate your effort and adjust accordingly. Ask the coach: “So what should this feel like? How hard should this feel?” Do they expect an all out effort? Or should you be more reserved. Use your top end effort sparingly.
- Find out how to get better behind the scenes. Mobility work or recovery walks for example, will help you when it comes to hitting it hard again in training.
