Staying in shape when big things are going on in your life, is an intriguing topic. I’m certain that practically all of us have experience with relocating, getting married or divorced, the birth of a child, a new job, work projects, business deals and trips, and many other examples of major life events. When the days, weeks, and sometimes months get really full with these important occurrences, it can be a challenge for a Lifetime Athlete to stay consistent with training and conditioning.
The sweet spot in all this lies in the broad middle range somewhere between the following two scenarios:
- Attempting to rigidly and adamantly adhere to your usual schedule, program, or routine. Absolutely refusing to change anything and pushing hard to never let the priority of your training be diminished.
- Totally giving up and just saying” f**k it” as you do nothing and wait until things settle down before even attempting to consider a workout.
Obviously (hopefully), both of the aforementioned options (extremes) are unnecessary and unrealistic. But it’s that middle range of being a bit flexible (in both application and attitude) while still keeping some elements of your training habit intact…which keeps a Lifetime Athlete fit for life.
I’m going to offer up a number of suggestions based on my experience and that of many clients. I’ll present these as “scenario and solution.” There are many more possibilities than these examples but let’s examine a few parameters.
Duration is the length of your workout and it’s the first thing to consider. When you don’t have a lot of time to spare or dedicate to training, getting a short session done is way better than doing nothing. That’s true both physically and psychologically. You keep your tissues and systems “used” to doing your thing and you fortify your successful habit. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself “Hey, I don’t always need to do an hour (or any time frame for that matter).”
Intensity is effort applied to the session. In the context of today’s discussion, I like to think of average intensity as it applies to the entire workout. In this manner we give some attention to the general level of output over the entire session duration. This is because many workouts that use high intensity often require significant warmup and cooldown, which are invariably at lower intensities. It is both possible and desirable to squeeze in some high intensity training during a major life event…we just need to keep the dose reasonable.
Frequency, or how often you train, is yet another lever that we can manipulate. When our goal is keeping some athleticism alive in our taxed organism, bringing workout frequency down to a minimum effective dosage is money. While it depends on what exactly you’re into (as in sport or fitness pursuit), I’d say 3-4 workouts per week are a great target. In all probability, these should be complementary and not necessarily identical. When you know you’ve got limited time and energy, finding ways to fit in those 3-4 sessions can be way less mind-boggling than struggling to complete double that number.
Volume is the overall amount of training you do in any given cycle. For many if not most, looking at weekly training volume is the standard. We certainly don’t need or want a maximum level here. There’s no specific amount of volume, or percentage of your usual training, that’s going to be an imperative. I like to suggest somewhere between 40-60% of usual volume and we just keep an eye on it to make sure we are keeping training absorbable.
Workload is a unique descriptor of the aforementioned parameters. If volume roughly equates to duration x frequency (in a given cycle), and we multiply that by intensity (such as average RPE per session), we come up with a general load or stimulus with which the training impacts the athlete. This is where we can be very individualized. We can look at the specific athlete and sport and apply what we know works best for that person in the particular situation we are facing. Strokes and folks. Some will thrive on a moderate workload that is made up of slightly more duration at lower intensities, while others function optimally with briefer episodes at higher output. As long as the workload is appropriate…how we structure it is modifiable.
Density is a unique but very palpable concept. It’s basically the compression of rest intervals within a workout. This applies primarily to resistance and interval training. There can be periods when we increase density (by shortening rest periods) to achieve some acidosis (anaerobic or lactic acid metabolism) tolerance, conditioning effects or even mental toughness. However, high density training is usually not my first choice when programming for a busy and potentially slightly fatigued athlete.
Recovery Status relates to the last topic quite well. When those big things are going on in your life, it’s a strong bet that your sleep, stress levels, and nutrition (we’ll discuss all those separately in a moment) are suboptimal. You may be truly under-recovering more so than over-training. It’s for this reason that we need to astutely monitor not just training metrics, but recovery indicators (sleep, RHR, HRV, etc.) to make sure that we are adjusting the workload that we can control (training) in the presence of factors we can’t do much about (travel, deadlines, etc.).
Autonomic Nervous States: Like it or not, the ideal autonomic state in which we have that low parasympathetic (rest, digest, repose, relax) baseline with just a few brief sympathetic spikes (fight or flight instances like training, etc.) is hard to achieve in these circumstances. You’re going to be dealing with a lot of things coming at you and you’ll be – in all probability – a higher degree of sympathetic drive. Understanding and accepting this is one thing, but being proficient at frequent breathing and meditation practices can be incredibly valuable in helping you maintain neural homeostasis. Kinda like a bunch of “A” words there. Acknowledgement. Acceptance. Action.
Compression versus Expansion: Sympathetic tone will foster higher degrees of compressive states within your body. Your body will naturally be guarded and biased toward exhalation, internal rotation, force production, and protection. This affects movement variability and quality. You probably can’t completely shut this off, but a level of awareness is merited. I recently experienced this quite profoundly. I relocated and was in the midst of a physical move along with all the deals and transactions that come with such a life event. Interestingly, I found myself walking around for several weeks all jacked up like I was approaching the bar for a heavy deadlift. No surprise because that’s what I was doing throughout the day, for day after day. In times like these, you can’t necessarily reverse the situation, but you can tweak training and lifestyle just a bit to preserve your health and avoid injury. I added a few restorative and corrective exercises into my workouts and that’s also what I do with my coaching clients when it’s indicated.
Sleep is never going to be perfect during major life events. Whether it’s excitement and anticipation, or challenge and conflict…your mind is going to be busier than normal when you hit the sheets. And that may not happen at a consistent and ideal time. Hormones and neurotransmitters are going to be a little imbalanced. The conundrum here is that while we need to do everything we can to promote restorative sleep, we must accept that this will be difficult and it will affect our ability to not just train and recover, but to be the proverbial best version of ourselves in those big events. Give yourself some grace here and try to cut some slack to those who are in the midst of “stuff” as well. We are all only human.
Nutrition: Try to plan ahead and make reasonably good choices. Shop and prep meals if and when you can. But also recognize that there will be social and travel circumstances that might have you eating foods (or fasting) that wouldn’t be your first choice. This will also happen at times to which you may not be accustomed. Couple thoughts here. Exercise your best judgment. Pick foods that align for the most part with your personal macronutrient targets. Keep an eye on calories. Recognize the effect of stress and poor sleep on appetite and cravings. But don’t beat yourself up over food. This won’t last forever. Fuel your body as best you can and worry a little less. In my recent event, I kept a small cooler filled with water, electrolyte powder, fruit, and cheese with me as I went back and forth between two locations too many times. That helped me bridge the gap between meal opportunities. It wasn’t perfect, but I would not have fared so well without it.
Time Management is one of those categories about which a lot of books have been written. A lot of people are “experts” here. I’m not sure I am but I do have a few pointers that go beyond hashtag “shut the hell up.” Figure out the few things that are most important to be accomplished each day. Prioritize that (short) list. DO THE ONE BIG THING NOW. In other words, focus on being in the moment and do what needs to be done without worrying about what’s next or fretting about what’s in the past. Even though there’s a lot going on, you can only eat the elephant in front of you one bite at a time. Chew on that.
Mindset: Oh yea, that’s one of the 3 Essential Elements of Peak Performance (along with training and recovery) in The Lifetime Athlete 5-3-1 System (you read your free copy, right?). Positive, realistic, team-oriented. None of that is Pollyanna. It applies to your life events and your self-image. Not easy but totally valid. Unique yet similar for every human. When you’re working at making some training stick during these times, use a framework that “works” and keep refining it as you go.
Adaptability and Spontaneity are not synonymous but they are related in this context. Keep adjusting your training so that you are touching on your needs, goals, and key performance indicators (KPI’s). But also be flexible enough that you are not trying to force a workout into a spot where it just won’t fit. And, on the flip side, when a golden training opportunity presents itself…seize it.
Things to be cautious about. You know I’m hesitant to use terms like always and never, so I won’t. But there are a few types of workouts that may be less desirable or beneficial when your plate of energy and attention is overflowing. These are the “depleters.” Those sessions which ask you to go to the well and which leave you tanked…with a huge recovery demand. The two types of workouts that are most likely to beat you down and not be super useful during the major life event are as follows:
- Relatively long duration sessions which are at moderate intensity. These typically fall between really long (still not best now) but very easy sessions and short, truly hard workouts. They are deceptive and sneaky in the way they tax your body. Just be cautious.
- Intervals (or even lifting sets and reps or HIIT circuits) that use long(ish) duration intervals with short rest periods. This causes a high systemic stress that demands a lot from the CNS and has a high metabolite clearance requirement.
Making your program fit you is the key. It’s in times like these where it’s incredibly necessary to not try to mold yourself to fit into a canned program. This could be any system or plan that you designed or you got from one of today’s influencers. Sculpt and hone that puppy as needed, and don’t listen to the verbal garbage which suggests you are weak or a cop-out. Do you.
Ultimately, during any major life event, you’re hoping to execute and thrive in the “thing” itself and not just survive, barely hanging on and getting through it. But with respect to your fitness and athleticism, the goals are fairly straightforward:
- Maintain (perhaps not increase) conditioning at baseline levels.
- Don’t get injured, whether that’s from something like the process of moving or just too much sitting, etc.
- Maintain body weight or at least stay fairly close in this category. You don’t want to blow up body fat over something nor do you want it to cause you to waste away.
The principles we discussed will help you to achieve those goals we just bulleted. That’s what it’s all about. Keeping health, fitness, and athleticism alive in our beings as we negotiate the journey of LIFE. I never said it was easy but I assure you it’s entirely possible and totally worth it. By preserving your athleticism, you will always do and be more. And in turn, your athleticism will preserve YOU. Cheers!