Not everything in life is black and white so why should your fitness program be?
It's all well and good to have a fitness program written for you by some hot shot pt from 10000kms away, but they can't take into consideration your 18 month old child keeping you up all night before leg day or the 4hrs of gardening you did at Nans house after a long day at work. That is where my role as a personal trainer comes into play; to adjust your program accordingly - sometimes on the spot to accommodate your current lifestyle & situation!
It's not my job to break you, but it is my job to get you the best result that your mind and body will allow on the day.
I'm not condoning slacking off, nor am I telling you it will be easy, but learning the signs of when your body needs a break and knowing when to empty the tank will help you sustain a high fitness level - no matter what is happening in your life.
Here are my thoughts on programming and how I approach my own fitness.
Periodisation
Its impossible to be at your peak at all times, even professional athletes aren't firing on all cylinders 365 days a year. For example an athletic sprinter can only peak in speed for on average six weeks. Their training volume will increase over a certain period working upto an event but will be tapered off before the big race to maximize the potential of their body working at 100%. If they were to train 100% up until the day before the event they run a higher risk of injury plus muscle fatigue may hamper their performance. When a 100ths of a second can win or lose you the race you need everything running as close to 100% as possible.
No athlete trains at 100% every single session. There are times when they might have a slight injury or working on a weakness of their game. If an athlete had 15 different training sessions a week they are most likely doing 3-5 lighter recovery/skill sessions, 4-5 medium intensity sessions and only 3-5 sessions in which they might be going at 100% for a small amount of time in the session. My point being is don't believe all the hype about your favourite basketball player training highlight reel, there would be plenty of sessions in which its only of a light intensity (but that doesnt look good on camera)
Things to work on for your plan/program
Have a goal, work toward that goal/event and have a planned taper/deload before the event to maximize results and impact on your body.
Listen to your body. If you have a sore shoulder don't just ignore it and blast through an upper body conditioning circuit, switch it for your lower body conditioning day or use the session for recovery/rehab.
Plan light, medium and high intensity sessions in which you can swap around if things comes up in life.
Don't get stuck in the old Monday is chest day and Thursday is leg day. Leg day is whatever day it needs to be depending on time, how your body is feeling and when you will need to use them at close to 100% whether its in your chosen sport or just life itself.
Find a mentor! Whether its a personal trainer, sports coach or an athlete you look up to, find someone you can bounce ideas off, plan a program with and most importantly learn from. If you have the right mentor with the right experience chances are they have done a lot of trial and error on them selves and found more efficient ways to train and recover. This will help you achieve your goal quicker!
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