One thing that people overlook too often is the reason why they’re training in the first place.  I see too many people who don’t keep their goal in mind when they train.  And I’m not only talking about the athletes or fitness enthousiasts themselves here, I’m also talking about the coaches and trainers.  Everybody wants to workout hard and do unique style training using all kinds of fancy equipement that they perceive as being magical tools to achieve their special needs.

Impressive….but stupid

Too often people will judge of the training they’re doing by how tired they are at the end of the session and how sore they are the next day.  How ridiculous is that? A wise man once said:”every trainer can make you tired, not every trainer can give you results.” 

Google “workout tired”….this is what comes up

This couldn’t be more accurate.  Whatever you do, make sure you ALWAYS keep your training goals in mind.  Never judge your level of fatigue after a workout as an accurate measure for your goal achievements.  Never use soreness either as an indicator of your progress. 

If you’re training to improve speed, it doesn’t make sense to do interval based work with short rest periods; you will get tired quickly and you won’t be able to give a 100% on every effort.  Same thing goes for people who do crossfit type training (as it seems to be the new trend) and are looking to increase their strength and power for sports peformance. 

What’s all the hype with that crossfit stuff anyway?

I do think that there are many pros and cons to consider with this crossfit thing before you get into it, but using crossfit for sport-specific performance is totally ridiculous; doing tons of reps with minimal rest is not going to improve your strength and power for anyone with more than 2 years of lifting experience.  Also the risk to benefit ratio with crossfit is not worth it if you’re an athlete, as you often perform complex movements with a high level of fatigue.  And as I’ve mentionned times and times before, doing distance running or aerobic based training to improve sport-specific conditioning for anaerobic sports like hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse and the like is equally idiotic.

But I’ll stop here as I feel I’m starting to bitch a little too much here.  The take home message is this: always keep your training goals in mind whatever you do.  Consider what you really want to achieve; whether it’s to increase your speed, increase your power and strength, lower your body fat or gain muscle.  Plan your training in a smart way and be consistent with your goals and train accordingly.  Also accept the fact that it’s ok to leave the gym not tired sometimes, and it might actually be more beneficial to your results.