Thursday, November 23, 2006

Are you regular?


No, not that way, in your training? Do you have set days and times that you train or do you " find time for it" as so many seem to do. I read often of training that takes place catch as catch can. While that may have to occur occasionally as life interferes with your practice plan it is NOT an effective strategy for making your goals a reality if it happens regularly.

The body thrives on regularity, from your eating, your sleeping and especially your training. I have always had a set practice time; from the earliest days of gymnastics to my 5 am running jaunts to my bodybuilding and powerlifting workouts.

Knowing exactly when you are going to workout makes it so much easier to plan, visualize and mentally rehearse what you are going to do the next workout. I can't beleive how many show up at the gym not really knowing what the days session is about. Now this make work alright for 'exercisers' but for those serious about making progress it is not okay at all.

Back when I was still training for competition I knew weeks in advance what my workouts would be as I had to to be able to peak for my competition. If my goal was to squat, bench or deadlift a certain amount then all the workouts leading up to that had to be sequential and planned as well.

If, for instance a workout happened to fall on Thankgiving, or Christmas or my birthday, oh well, had to "get er dun".It was only though this total committment to my goals did I have a chance of making them happen. Having equally committed( nutso) training partners really helps here and they are harder to find than a woman who will put up with you.

But if you can't find those partners you have to get er dun yourself, regardless. It's not really a plan if you don't follow it and you'll never know if your training theories are working if you keep changing things.

For those that squeeze their workouts in when everything else is done really haven't prioritized their training correctly ,imo. If you plan to train at midnight or 5 am so as not to interfere with your family time thats fine as long as there is a plan and it's stuck to.

We make progress in the gym one day at a time, one workout at a time and one rep at a time.Committing fully to each aspect of your training makes you stronger each time you do it. Or not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

6 comments:

Tim Dymmel said...

Whose gym is that, Rif? I'd love to have a garage to myself to make it whatever I wanted for training, workshop, etc.

Dymmel

Mark Reifkind said...

Tim I'm sorry but I forget. I pulled it off the web but it is a kicking gym! I wish I had my garage I had before we bought this house, really high ceilings make a big difference!
garage gyms rock!

Mark Reifkind said...

hows the wrist?

Franz Snideman said...

hope you had a great Thanksgiving Mark. Great post and so true. It reminds me of a book I read about success principles. One of the success prinicepls was called "work like an ant." If you have watches an ant work, how do they do it. One grain of sand at a time. Before you know it, their persistence has paid off and they have built an entire ant colony.

How are books written? One page at a time.

How are bodies built? One training session at a time.

Right on Rif!

Pete said...

Very true Rif. I am one of those catch as catch can trainees right now...guilty as charged! Yes, I definitely see results quicker when I am regular, only maintain what I have when my training is irregular.

Thanks for being the reminder of reason and truth.

Mark Reifkind said...

pete I definitely know how tough it is. the only thing I can say is try to schedule it early as possible, much less chance of life messing it up then. no fun but hey, its not really supposed to be eh?
plus remember all those Pavel stories in the orignal RKC book about his training after 10-12 hour days in the field. a little goes a long way.

205, 215, 217.5,205 x 1 x 6, 190 x 1 x 3, laterals, rear delts bw pushups

 Well this went great. not perfect but the basic premise worked and I'm happy. I was not optimistic at all about this at all given recen...