Trimming The Fat From Your Training

That's me and my man Harry. We learn a ton from each other. The other day I was checking out his log and I noticed he has been pretty banged up lately. Listen, when you are an animal and in your 60's like Harry, there's no way the machine hasn't taken a beating. Still, how much of a beating we have to take is up to us. One of my goals for 2020 was to feel F'ing Awesome! I have invested a lot of time into it. Stretching, soft tissue work, sleep, nutrition, etc, I left no stone unturned for recovery. One of the last and equally important changes I made was to take a deep look at my programming. Over the years I have really stuck to Wendler's 5/3/1. Jim, Rhodes, and I share ideas often. One thing they have been better at over the years than I have is the number of exercises they use. I always feel like I need to add more in. More is better right? Not necessarily especially when you have taken a lot of tread off the tires. Over the past couple of months, I have whittled my training down to three exercises per session. I have four different training days a week so I now have a grand total of 12 exercises I do. Hell, I think most people are closer to 12 exercises per workout. Now don't get confused and think I am doing less work. Most of my movements are compound lifts that hit many body parts. Also, I have increased the volume of those exercises. At this point in the game, I don't need variety. I need precision and consistency. With fewer movements, I have much more focus. More focus, less injuries. Less injuries, more progress. Get it. I am not saying everyone should train like this. It's working for me. It's something Jim and Rhodes both do who's opinions on training I respect a great deal. Harry was also pretty keen on the idea when I shared it with him. This is just to keep an open mind that more is not always better. In fact, minimizing movements can be a very effective method of training and even superior to the shotgun approach.