I know it's like a constant recurring theme with me, but my training is constnatly evolving. I also know I am not the only one in this predicament. For those in the know, you get it. For those of you who don't, keep this stuff in your toolbox.
I have nearly 40 years of actual lifting under my belt. At 54 my body has taught me it has a very low tolerance for junk training. I know junk volume is discussed with lifting and I never really thought of it as a thing, but it now is for me and not just for lifting.
Lighter and extra work was killing me. Perhaps it's arthritis or various soft tissue issues. It's taught me that I need to focus on the work I need and want to get done coupled with the minimum dose of volume with a good amount of intensity. I have found I am recovering much better from 2-3 sets of training at an RPE of 8-10 than I am of 5 sets of an RPE of 6-8.
I have even done away with my dynamic warm-up. I'm pretty much doing four movements per workout that I know my body can handle. I do them in a circuit until I get to the first work set on the first exercise. Then I do that for 2-3 heavier weight, lower rep quality sets and then move on to the next.
I condition three days a week for an hour at a clip. It ranges from runs to rucks and some higher-intensity stuff peppered within that time. There are times when I'd throw in burpees, jump rope, or other work during the day. I found it was not only unnecessary, but it was also undoing me.
With rehab and recovery work I had to do so much over the years, the list of what I was doing was getting longer and longer. I was doing too much. It got to be out of habit and not a necessity.
Now when something is bothering my body, I address it. If my body is feeling good, I leave it alone. With cutting out all of the extra bullsh!t I feel pretty damn good.
If I want to be better conditioned I didn't need to add in burpees, I just needed to do the actual conditioning I do harder. More lifting sets did not give me what I needed, but having laser focus on a few really hard sets is.
This is stuff Jim Wendler has put very simply in that when you want to add something in, you have to take something out. I have figured out it's not just for lifting and conditioning, but the extra stuff I never really thought counted. It does.
Here's a big one, instead of trying to get 10 minutes of foam rolling or extra rehab that I don't need I'm telling myself to get to bed earlier. That's helped a lot.
I'm sure I'll f@ck this up at some point again. Or, it will stop working. There are no really forever answers with training. But right now, times are good.
