Train Hard. Recover Harder.

There is absolutely no doubt that to change your body for the better – decrease your bodyfat and build the lean muscle that fuels your metabolism and gives you “the look” you need to train hard.

The same applies to positively affect your “numbers” – cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Your training program has to be intense enough to elicit positive changes.

But that is not all there is to it.

Awhile ago I read “The 4 Hour Body” by Tim Ferriss. In it he articulates a very important training principle that he calls the “Minimum Effective Dose (MED)”.

The minimum effective dose is defined succinctly:

The Smallest Dose That Will Produce A Desired Outcome

This is an important but often overlooked factor in training.

Basically the approach is asking the question “What Is Enough?”

When we design our training, that is a factor that is considered often. You see there is a big difference between being a “workout junkie” and just wanting to do more because you like to sweat, and truly effective training.

The MED is so important because for many of us our ability to recover is compromised by, well frankly, life.

Remember these charts?

The first shows what we want our recovery to look like. Training followed by adaptation and supercompensation, leading to continual (if not necessarily linear) improvement.

The second shows training followed by depletion (lack of recovery), in a downward spiral.

What determines which path your are currently on?

In large part it is determined by how you are recovering from your training, not just the training itself. That is not to say that training is not a factor, because it is – remember “minimum effective dose”. But beyond that, there are other factors that are in play:

• Stress, physical and emotional
• Injury
• Inadequate sleep
• Less than optimal nutrition
• No rest days
• In short, Life!

You should not be sore for days after you train, at least not very often. If you are, it’s time to talk to your coach and figure out what’s going on.

Here’s some questions you need to ask yourself:

• Am I taking advantage of proper post-training nutrition?
• Am I getting enough sleep? (7-9 hours)
• Am I eating adequate amounts of protein, vegetables, fiber and healthy fats?
• Is sugar too big a part of my diet?
• Am I taking a multivitamin and getting enough essential fatty acids (fish oil, etc.)
• Am I using my recovery days to recover, or just “different” exercise?
• Do I use bodywork such as massage or ART to help speed recovery?
• Do I turn off the TV and just take some quiet time to de-stress?

There isn’t any big mystery if too many of these things are going undone. Inadequate recovery makes you more susceptible to injury and illness, and all the things mentioned above are pieces of the recovery puzzle.

Train Hard?

Absolutely!

Just don’t forget that Recovery IS part of the training program too.

If you have any questions, post them below.

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean