Hello extraordinary humans,

Several weeks ago I did an IG Q&A and got this reply:

“I tend to train either too much or too little…and always “forget” flexibility/hanging etc”

I immediately flagged this as a response I knew warranted more than a quick reply and….well concussions are rough folks, so this reply took longer than I’d like haha!

However, me and my brain cell have finally entered the chat so let’s talk through it because I think it is a feeling/problem that a lot of us can relate to.

(Quick note, if you have a question you’d like my perspective on, be sure to scroll to the end of this email!)

For me, this response has two parts, so lets dive into part one:

“I tend to train either too much or too little”

When I hear something like this or similar worries about consistency and fluctuations in training, I immediately want to check two things:

1) Is the training program actually fitting the person’s current life.

What I mean by this is, often we tend to build (or are built) the perfect training program, one that will work on our best, easiest week and expect ourselves to be able to stick to this plan despite the rest of our life fluctuating. As we all know, life is far from straight forwards and so this thought of being able to put out the same effort or frequency each week is very often false.

If a training program is too much, too complicated, requires too many things, or doesnt fit your life in other ways, you are going to see big fluctuations in how you are able to complete it, and it’s going to feel like you are inconsistent.

You’re not. It’s just not the right fit yet.

So my first suggestion would be to create a middle ground, between the “over doing it” weeks and the “I barely did nothing” weeks and test that for a month. This could look like shortening your ideal sessions, choosing to do shorter ones or reducing how hard you are working in session (this is the hardest one for most people)

2) Is this actually working for the person?

What if the pushing hard and maybe overdoing it combined with recovery periods is actually a functional strategy for you right now? What if this is what a natural periodization model for your body looks like?

Again, we tend to see consistency as being the same over and over, but really what we are looking at is effort over time and that can be interpreted in many different ways.

If you are still getting what you want, not feeling injured and feel recovered after your periods of lower intensity work, this fluctuation may not be the negative thing you perceive it to be.

This is my current situation with capacity and consistency with this head injury. Last week I trained a lot and felt great, this week I need to train less, and recover more. I could interpret this as inconsistency, but really this is just how I am currently managing my capacity while working on the things I want to do. Some weeks I feel like I’ve pushed a bit over the edge, and so my rest period needs to reflect that, but on a whole this is the most functional training strategy for me, right now.

So my second suggestion for part one is to just consider if periods of intense work/intense rest actually just works for you. Maybe some tweaking is required, but it’s entirely possible that this is a great rhythm for your body.

On to part two:

“always “forget” flexibility/hanging etc”

Again, I have two possible strategies for this one:

1) Start with 5 minutes.

This is one of my favourite strategies when someone comes to me with the issue of just not doing the thing they need to/want to do.

5 minutes of flexibility, 5 minutes of creative play, 5 minutes of hanging, 5 minutes of basics.

So often we have these ideas of needing a plan, program or other long duration commitment to get started when really what we need to do is…start.

So write down 5 stretches, 3 creative exercises, 5 hanging drills etc, and just start there.

We really don’t need as much time as we think we do in order to just get started.

Remember, we can’t improve, lengthen, optimize or adapt something that doesn’t exist yet :)

2) Consider: do you really want to put your energy into this right now?

Seriously, we don’t need to train all things all the time, it’s ok to lose skills, to change focus or to work on other things. Sustainability and longevity in movement requires variety, seasons and change. So maybe you just need to step away “officially” for a while. You won’t lose everything, it will come back and you just might find that you’re excited to do it again once you’ve taken a break.

So to wrap up this almost epically long newsletter, there is no one sized fits all approach to training. The best place to start when deciding on how much, when or what to train is to reflect on what your needs, wants, capacity and life requirements are. Not on what training “should look like”

Inconsistency is sometimes consistency in disguise, and perfectionistic practices run deep my dears.

On that note, I am trying a new thing for the spring/summer: an Ask me Anything form! Got a question, you’d love my perspective on? Fill out this form and I will answer it in an upcoming newsletter!

I can’t wait to hear from you!

Remember to stay messy,

Sido

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