Train smarter, not just harder!
Don’t get me wrong, as athletes we want to train hard and push ourselves. Personally, I train hard on a regular basis. But there is more to training than just continuing to push harder. We also need to train smarter when we are training.
What does training smarter mean? It means doing things with a purpose and intent.
- Are you doing activities during your training sessions because it will benefit you? Or are you doing it because you saw someone else do it and thought it might be helpful, without knowing the purpose or intent of the exercise?
- Are you paying attention to how your body is moving in order to learn how to move with more efficiency or power? Or are you just ‘going through the motions’ of the movement?
- Do you know what your body should be doing and feeling with different mobility drills? Or do you do them hoping they will do something for you?
I often watch people as they are training. From observing them, it is easy for me to tell why some people make progress in their training and some people don’t. Yes, it can be the programming at times if the programming is weak, but that wouldn’t explain why some people make great progress and some don’t when they are doing the same workouts.
Most of the athletes I see who don’t make progress are moving just to move. There is no intention behind the movement or desire to make it better and more efficient. These athletes fatigue faster, move slower, and rest more due to moving with less efficiency and power. These athletes don’t show improvement in their movement patterns. These athletes also get injured frequently.
So how do you train smarter?
- Begin to gain more awareness and control of your body.
- Move purposefully. Stop simply going through the motions during your workout.
- Address both strength and stability to better support your joints and muscles.
- Don’t ignore the pain issues. Instead, do something about it.
If you start training with more purpose and intent, you will likely begin to notice some huge improvements with everything you do.
Written by Brianne Showman. Brianne is a physical therapist and running coach with Get Your Fix Physical Therapy And Performance. Her focus is on helping athletes resolve injuries in less time by getting to the root of the problem, improving movement patterns, and incorporating proper training to help the body to move more efficiently, more powerfully, and in less injury-prone ways.
