The Usual Suspects – Part 1

Stone carrying is outside most people's training patterns

Okay that was just a fun little title – what I actually mean is the usual patterns. Many people get hugely caught  up in the specifics of training and they take training programs as if they were written in stone, came down from Olympus, must be followed to the letter or death will ensue.

“I train at 4:37 every day for exactly 42 minutes and 30 seconds. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with the exception of the moon being in retrograde. I do the same lifts in exactly the same way on each specific day. I spend 20.3 minutes in the fat burning zone and 18.1 minutes in the target heart rate while wearing my special decoder ring…,” blah-blah-blah.

It’s nice and important to occasionally be that specific, but life and reality are not necessarily that specific. I want strength that I can apply at any time day or night in any situation day or night regardless of the phase of the moon or the fact that it’s not my regular time or whatever the case may be. I want to be ruggedly manly not just at 4:37 every day.

So what’s the point here? The real point is almost always balance. Be specific. Do the exercises you want to get good at exactly the same way on a regular basis. That’s the key to mastery, but be balanced. Get outside the box. Work in the things you don’t normally do and aren’t good at. Occasionally vary your time of day, day of the week, food pattern pre and post training, exercise, order, etc.

Want to be prepared for real life? Be prepared in a real way. Want the best training information on how to do that then check out these resources.

Bud Jeffries