I was inspired to write this post after seeing the slogan for a well-known strength training equipment brand – “Train Harder”. At first glance it makes sense given the nature of the product; it’s a simple, catchy slogan and it would probably appeal to their target market.
However, “train harder” is not always the solution to achieving your goals whether you are starting out, have hit a plateau or you are an Olympic athlete. It could be part of the solution or not part of it at all.
An example scenario is this. You’ve been doing your HIIT circuit programme to lose bodyfat for 8 weeks now. The same thing 3 times a week. Initially you lost bodyfat steadily but then nothing happened. So, you upped it to 4 times a week. Small improvement then back to no progress. Frustrated you decide to hit the same routine 7 days a week whilst listening to heavy metal and staring at a picture of David Hasselhoff in his prime for extra motivation. The result? You’re exhausted, bodyfat levels stay the same.
So “train harder” didn’t work. But what if you trained “smarter”? What if 7 days became 4 again to allow the body to recover? And two HIIT circuit sessions were replaced with a rower session involving seven 30secs sprints followed by 2mins rest and one total body heavy weights session?
I would wager this would kick start the fat loss process once again and your overall wellbeing would improve.
Part of being smart is adapting your programme regularly to sustain progress. It’s not always about making fundamental changes to your programme, little tweaks here and there can add up to big returns.
So, maybe train harder, but definitely train smarter whatever your goal to get sustainable progress.
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