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That we sometimes need help determining the right nutrition we often want to admit. But when it comes to training, we all know it. Or not?
‘My training is top!”
Weekly I meet people who are looking for guidance because they want to build more muscle and/or lose fat. After all, that’s where I can help you. Before I start working with someone, I always ask what the person needs help with. The answer is always the same: “Training is going well and I do it hard, but I need help with my nutrition.” Never, I repeat; never, has there been anyone who indicated that they need help with their training schedule. What I find at least remarkable. Designing a proper training schedule is not easy.
Actually, I find it easier to set up a suitable nutrition plan.
The importance of a good training schedule
80% nutrition and 20% training?
No.
33% nutrition, 33% training, and 33% recovery.
When it comes to muscle building, everything is equally important. Without the right training stimulus, there is no potential for muscle building. You have to give your muscles a reason to grow.
If your nutrition is not in order, the building blocks are not present. You can’t build a house without stones.
If you don’t rest enough, you won’t grow either. To build a house, you need to make the necessary time available.
Another comparison is with the fire triangle: fuel, oxygen, and temperature. If one of the three factors is missing, there is also no fire possible.
When it comes to fat loss, nutrition is more important than training; “you can’t outtrain a bad diet”. Even if your goal is fat loss and you use an inadequate training schedule, the chance of muscle loss is also greater.
How much do you really know about your training?
When someone says their training schedule is in order, I ask further to see exactly how it is structured. Often I get an answer like: “On Monday I do this and that muscle group, on Tuesday that and that…” etc. Okay, very good that you have some form of structure, but do you also know:
- With how many direct and indirect sets you stimulate each muscle group so that you can find out if your schedule is balanced?
- Why did you choose to train a muscle group x times a week?
- Whether you are training all the important muscle functions with your schedule?
- When do you increase the weight? Do you have a clear point or do you do this by feeling?
- When do you decide to take less weight, and why?
- Do you apply a form of periodization and if so, why?
And most importantly:
- How do you measure your progress? On which variables do you measure and why on those, does it align with your goal for which you are training?
Training is moving with a purpose
Exercising without a clear schedule is moving. I didn’t want to be someone who has been training for years but still looks the same. A waste of time and energy if you ask me. If you go to the gym for your daily exercise, that’s fine, but that’s not why I was there. If you train without a schedule, fine, but don’t expect top results either.
Training is a means to achieve a goal. You train in a systematic way. If you want to achieve something, you need to know if you are getting closer or drifting further away from your goal. If you don’t know that, you also don’t know when to adjust something to keep making progress. Let alone knowing what to change. That’s why it is essential that you can answer the above questions and keep track of your progress.
Training does not equal to demolishing
You may know them, or recognize yourself in them….
The people who go all out in every training session. Perform every set until or
even beyond failure. Sets where the spotter ends up doing more than the person who should actually be doing the work.
That’s not training, that’s demolishing.
Sure, you have to push yourself during training. Performing a set and talking about the weather at the same time is far from sufficient effort. The point I want to make is that you want to dose your training.
Compare it to hammering a nail. You can choose to ram the nail into the wood in 3 blows, where the nail bends 2 times. Or you give 10 controlled taps, keeping the nail undamaged. The end result is that in both cases the nail is in, and you have spent just as long. With hard hitting, you had to straighten the nail again. With the controlled approach, the nail remained perfectly straight (no injuries occurred).
Which option do you prefer…
Stop moving, start training.
The question is: do you train or move?
