One thing I see as a trainer and feel very strongly about communicating to my athletes, is the type of work they are doing in a given exercise. This entry will have some ties to my Form writing, so bear with me.

As I had said that correct form and execution of an exercise are critical, so to is the type of work, or the way we do it. For example, if we are jump pressing on one of our presses, an extremely explosive action, the work is short and very intense. We are engaging a short acting high output energy delivery system and working to create explosive response in the athlete. This exercise is meant to be done with appropriate rest in between sets to allow for an all out maximal effort. Often times my athletes rush through these sets with the intention of working hard and quickly. Doing these quickly does require work.

Could we have jumped harder and with more explosion if we had some quality rest in between? Yes.
Is rest time going to vary with load and workout? Yes.

So talk to your trainer and gauge your own ability to recover so you know when to work and how to work EFFECTIVELY.

But I want QUALITY, not QUANTITY or QUICKNESS. There is a difference between producing enough force to jump the weight, and producing as much force as we are capable of, the latter being the goal of this exercise. Think about what you are doing, the proper technique, and mode of execution (explosive jump vs. press). And then execute accordingly. We get out, what we put in. Want to perform at 50%, train at 50%. Want to get explosive, then be explosive.

The above described concept applies to all exercise and scale of exercise. Just as we need to be aware of our quality of work within an exercise, we need to be aware of our quality of work within a workout, and in a week, and so forth….

Let’s address a problem that can arise. I often have my athletes ask to continue doing exercises post workout, and I applaud their drive and ambition. But let’s step back and examine this situation. One of a few things is happening. Perhaps the athlete did not communicate with me effectively so that protocol and workout structure accurately pushed their limits. Perhaps that athlete didn’t execute with the right effort during prescribed exercises and “has something left in the tank”. And lastly, perhaps they simply desire to do more. In all of these situations we may not be training efficiently. When it’s time to work, work. When it’s time to rest, rest. Do both totally and completely. Athletes often push for too much and too long and we quickly slide into over training.

When we think about how much more work to do, or what other work to do on a given workout day, think about how it will impact each workout. If you lift heavy before a hard run, you may be limiting your ability to perform during that run. And vice-versa, your lift will suffer after a hard run and a jump press workout. In either case the take away is this, more work is NOT always BETTER work. When training to achieve a desired outcome (explosive strength or movement) we need to train that motion or function right? (everyone is nodding yes if they’ve been following…). If we are incapable of that training because we did too much other work, or if we just don’t perform the training in the correct way, we don’t achieve the outcome.

What do I want my athletes to do or learn? Work Hard AND Smart. Work right.

Effective training delivers the outcome as efficiently as possible, meaning shortest path to the desired result or maximum gains per work done. What athlete wouldn’t want to train that way….?