Coach Tommy here, – I just finished a 4 week program that is the beginning of a 16 week long progression. To say that I am exhausted… is an understatement. This program took me way out of my comfort zone and showed me that I probably haven’t been pushing as hard as I could have been. Now the results are good enough to keep me invested in starting the next phase, but I really needed help to manage the past 4 weeks and not get destroyed by intensity and fatigue.
In the images below you can see the graphs displaying my readiness score for each day. The image on the left shows 30 days prior to the new training program. What it also demonstrates is that I was able to recover from the training stimulus provided by the program I was doing at the time.
30 days prior to training program
(left image) prior 19 green days. 8 yellow above 60%. 3 below 60%
Compare to end of training program(right image) 15 green days, 11 yellow above 60%, 4 below 60%
If you look at the screen shot of my Recovery device you can see a pattern in the image on the right. The first 14 days are mostly green. Then it starts to take a turn and it becomes half orange and half green. On the orange days it is saying that my recovery is below 80%. I can still train on those days, but on the really low days (60% and below) it is not smart to do the really intense stuff.
Now you may be wondering, what does this information mean and why is it important?
Here Is What The Recovery Scores Are Showing You:
The first 2 weeks of the new training program were really hard, but I was able to recover from them fairly well (8/11-8/24). I trained for 7 days in the first 2 weeks. By the third week, (8/25-8/31), my body was starting to build up too much fatigue. It wasn’t that I couldn’t push the same intensity, it was that my muscles and joints started to feel like they were on the verge or hurting. I trained for 3 days. It took me 12 days to get in the last 6 days. The goal was to get 4 lifts in each week and finish the first phase in one month.
What it showed me is that not everything always fits into a neat package. You can see how keeping up the training regimen and intensity drastically dropped my recovery score over time, and I can tell you on those days I really didn’t want to train and my body was sore. What most people don’t understand is that all programs are like this. If you start a new training routine or class that you have never done before, then the chances are high that you really have no idea how your body will respond to the stimulus. I have countless stories of people coming to me and after starting a new training routine, then they suddenly have (a joint issue) because they felt really good the first 2 weeks and kept increasing the intensity until something gave out. This also reinforces the idea that having a plan is extremely important. Thinking that training should be intense all the time is going to lead to breakdown and injury. On some of the orange days, I felt good but knew that if I did my program I would most likely pay for it. Sometimes I road my Airdyne bike and still got some work in but didn’t push nearly as hard as what my program called for.
What Does This Mean For You?
This happens with our youth as well. Sports are very similar in that the first few weeks feel really good, but as you accumulate time on the field, things start to wear down. I see this more and more with athletes that play on two teams during one season.
Having a good recovery strategy is extremely important. Taking the time to really check in on how you are feeling and knowing that you don’t always have to do what is written on the sheet or schedule is important. The other piece is that if you aren’t using a device to monitor your own system, then making sure that your program has a built in deload period is crucial.
TS Training Systems 