What Goes Up Must Come Down - Varying your Workout Intensity

In fitness, you can view your training as peaks and valleys - your high and low moments. The better you grasp this concept the more long-term success you will find. This concept will save you from burning out and possible injury.

The concept of giving it 110 percent every session has its inherent flaws. I like the motivational aspects of giving it your all and never giving up. Definitely breeds a good mindset and attitude which is helpful to overcome obstacles when training does get tough.

But there is a big red flag here!!

If you give it 110% every day or even every other day - how long before your body breaks down or gets injured.

That answer is unique to yourself and your training level. The key thing to remember is that everyone has their limit.

What is the solution?

Answer: Varying your intensity throughout your week.

The body only knows when it is stressed and not stressed. Balance your days so that there is an ebb and flow to your training.

Example 1:

Day 1 - High Intensity

Day 2 - Low Intensity

Day 3 - Mid Intensity

Day 4 - Low Intensity

Day 5 - High Intensity

Day 6 - Low Intensity

Day 7 - Rest

Notice that you have enough time in-between sessions to recover fully and then hit your high intensities again.

This can take all shapes and forms depending on what you do.

The aforementioned example was my current schedule.

Day 1 - I have jiu-jitsu practice and my heavy strength days.

Day 2 - I follow with some long-distance cardio, technique work for jiu-jitsu, and some preventative injury work for my joints.

Day 3 - I pick up to some high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and work on my calisthenics using Olympic Rings

Day 4 - I recover again by doing some long-distance running and preventative work or some jiu-jitsu technique work.

Day 5 - I have a bigger jiu jitsu practice with some heavy strength training.

It has helped me tremendously with fatigue management and opened my ability to practice different skills and work on different aspects of my fitness while receiving the proper rest.

If you are strictly weight lifting, you may have a rising intensity building up across a few weeks which is then followed by a deload week where you reduce the intensity to allow your body to fully recover for your next training stage.

We can unpack that on a later post!

Hope this helps you plan your busy week more efficiently.

P.S. take into account how stressful your general day is. Work, family life, friends - these can all increase the overall intensity of your day.

Until next time,

Coach Kev