RATING TRAINING SESSIONS

RATING TRAINING SESSIONS 

All training sessions should have a rating assigned to them. Basically, my rating theory exists in this format:

80% session – This is what most sessions are. It is getting in, getting the work done. You didn’t hit a PR, but you didn’t feel like shit either. This is what the majority of your training sessions should be like.

+10% session – You feel awesome, you hit PR’s and everything moved fast and easy.

-10% session – Opposite of the +10%. Everything felt heavy and awful. You may have even missed some reps or cut some sets/movements out.
The goal in training, especially when base building, is to have as many 80% sessions as possible. These are the bricks and mortar that make up your strength and mass foundation.

DEALING WITH +10% AND -10% SESSIONS 

The +10% session arrived because up to that point, you were doing all the things necessary in order to facilitate it. It arrived because your programming and recovery were on point.

Then what happens? You take advantage of that session and you throw the fatigue curve into a steep descent. Now, the training that you had used to get to that point has to change because the recovery from the extra fatigue and stress has to be accounted for. You simply cannot ask the body to do more than it had been doing, and not expect it to ask you to be kind in return. Without fail what most guys experience after a +10% session are lots of poor 80% sessions mixed in with lots of -10% sessions. That’s because they keep training in the same manner that got them to that +10% day, and don’t take into account that the +10% day would require a longer recovery curve.

Now they wonder why it is that the training plan that had been going so well, all of a sudden seems to have them regressing. It is not the training plan, it is under-recovering from the stress you had not imposed on the body prior to that kick ass training session. It HAS to be accounted for. When you don’t change your recovery habits after a +10% session the body will regress for a while until that fatigue curve gets back to baseline.

My Suggestion is for a +10% day, do not deviate from your programming  Outside of The Built-in auto-Regulation I Suggest (later ), Stay with your programmed weights for The Day.

The training that got you there (to the +10%) is working, so trust that it will continue to take you to bigger and better places. This is especially true for stronger guys. For intermediate types or guys who aren’t moving as much iron, there is a little more leeway. For example, throw in a couple of more sets of the main movement, but leave the intensity the same. For squats, instead of 5x5, you might do 7x5.

For most guys, you want to use that +10% to “PR” in other ways. You can move the weights with greater speed, better technique, etc. Grade yourself out on those aspects of training as well. Simply hitting a designated number is not the only way to “PR”. If you hit a triple with 500 but that third rep was a grinder last time, but this time it moved fast, is that not a PR? It is certainly progress in terms of strength development.

Dealing with a -10% session is much easier. Let it go. Sometimes life deals you a shit training session. If you’re having one a week, or even every other week on a consistent basis, you may want to reassess your programming and training frequency and think about whether you need to de-load, taper, or wave training.

80% IS CONSISTENCY, ANd CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY

 Most of us don’t appreciate the “run of the mill” training sessions we have. The 80% sessions, where we are just getting the work in, and it is neither spectacular nor awful. The truth is that these are the sessions that your building blocks come from. It is these “solid, but not awful or spectacular” sessions that end up creating the foundation of strength and size you are after.

They don’t always look awesome on paper, nor do they make up stories you tell your buddies about.

“How was your training tonight?”

“It was awesome. I hit everything I was supposed to and nothing extraordinary happened.”

“Huh?”

However when you start to stack all of these “average” training sessions up, piece by piece, it encompasses what consistency really is. The 80% sessions are not the ups and downs in training that are a roller coaster ride. They represent a steady line of progression and define the mantra of one step forward, no steps back. The 80% sessions are the backbone of base building in that you’re not overreaching, or trying to, week after week and burning yourself out. You’re not chasing dragons or going after numbers that, at the moment, aren’t attainable. Progress is slow but steady. Steady always wins the race.

Never downplay the importance of the 80% sessions. Even if it is a crappy 80%er, it still means that another productive training session has been notched, and you just got a little bit closer to getting better.