27. Easy Exercises have great value
Never under estimate the value of real easy exercises like incline pushups, bodyweight rows and assisted squats. They teach you good form, they take the body through a full range of motion, done for high repetitions they flush the tendons and the joints with blood, they make you feel more mobile and make your joints feel great, they activate the correct muscle recruitment pattern, they prevent injuries, build mitochondrial capacity (energy), build localized muscular endurance, increase the capillarization in local muscle tissues (which helps subsequent muscle growth, which is one of the reasons why legs grow faster than arms), helps recovery by increasing overall blood flow, and can be used as a muscle sparing form of steady state cardio, by making supersets that give you no rest, but you dont push yourself. In my log, my body always felt the best and most mobile when I was doing high repetition easy exercises as a part of my warm up and cool down.
28. Infrequent, Low Set efficient workouts really help hormones and the CNS
Programs in which you push yourself in terms of intensity only for 2-3 sets per exercise, and do not do more than 2 main exercises per workout, and not do an exercise more than 2 times a week, make you feel fresh and gets rid of any staleness you may be feeling, and increases your energy and motivation. You will feel permanently pumped (in your head not your muscles) and your mind and body will always be energetic and fresh.
Granted such an approach will only give mediocre gains, but its important to have one such program in your arsenal and come back to it once or twice a year or during times of high stress. Its a great way to keep making improvement. It will really help. Here is what I used-
Monday-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 40 Incline Push Ups
1 Set of 30 Body weight Rows
1 Set of 30 Kneeling Push Ups
1 Set of 20 Feet Elevated Body Weight Rows
Work Sets-
2 Sets of Assisted One arm Push Ups (AMRAP)
2 Sets of Towel Assisted one arm chin ups (AMRAP)
1 Set of Full ROM Handstand Pushups (AMRAP)
1 Extra Slow One arm chin up negative
Wednesday-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 50 assisted squats
1 set of 40 hip thrusts
1 set of 30 full squats
1 set of 30 45 degree hyper extensions
1 set of 3 squats with 135lbs
1 Set of 3 squats with 225lbs
1 set of 2 squats with 275
1 set of 2 squats with 315
Work Sets-
2 Sets 5-8 Squats with the max weight for that workout
1 set of 8 squats with 40lbs lesser with a full 2 second pause at the bottom
1 set of AMRAP Ham Glute Curls
Friday (this is the hard day of the week)-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 40 Incline Push Ups
1 Set of 30 Body weight Rows
1 Set of 50 assisted squats
1 set of 40 hip thrusts
Work Sets-
2 Sets of AMRAP full ROM handstand Push Ups
2 Sets of AMRAP Pull Ups with a 45lb plate
2 Sets of AMRAP pistol squats
2 Sets of AMRAP Bridges
Add abdominal work wherever you want.
29. Cleaning and Snatching is Important
Doing explosive lifts is important. Sometimes, sheer bar velocity matters, irrespective of weight. Just take a weight 50% of what you can snatch and use it as a part of your warm up for every workout. For athletes who are not Olympic lifters, the simple high split snatch is the easiest variation to learn. Its not as technical as people make it out to be, and you do not need perfect technique to use the clean and the snatch for training. Just use a light weight (35% of squat max) until you have found the technique that allows you to generate maximum power. Just get your basics right, have a first and second pull, focus on full extension and catch the weight with the elbows high in cleans and the arms straight in the snatch. You will figure the rest out over time.
It is not enough to just try to move heavy weights as fast as possible. Even resistance bands and box squats are not enough. You have to do some jumps, sprint a bit and move weights around at great speed. Throw objects, buy a shot put and practice in your backyard. Moving fast and generating power is the cornerstone of being an athlete, never lose sight of that. Its not enough to just be strong. And amazingly, you strength will increase too as you get more explosive.
30. High volume, high intensity, high frequency training works if you back off correctly
Programs like the Sheiko, Smolov, Russian Squat Assault work! Working at 4-5 times a week doing 100+ lifts at 75%+ intensity, with a average intensity between 80-85% will increase your strength and muscle size in a hurry. The only problem is you have to back off correctly otherwise all that pain and gain will be for nothing. This is where most people who do crazy programs like the smolov go wrong- They dont back off correctly, and end up experiencing a dip in strength which demotivates them. You do not have to experience this dip if you back off correctly! You can retain all your gains from such crazy training! The following are the rules for high intensity, high frequency, high volume training. Most of my analysis is based on the full 13 week smolov I did, though I have also done the smolov jr, the russian squat assault and the blast your bench and blast your squat programs as well.
a. The actual program should never last beyond 3 weeks. In the smolov the base mesocycle lasts 3 weeks of training and 1 week test. In the intense mesocycle the last week (4th week) is overtraining and is meant to be so.
b. You are going to overreach/overtrain. Live with it. You'll recover later. Dont worry about this during the program.
c. NEVER do a true max test after the program. Most guys will do the 3 weeks, get excited about how strong they are, rest a week and go for a Max attempt. Since they are all pumped after the program they will actually go all out and lift every last pound. This throws you back into the over training zone without the super-compensation happening. As a result your strength will dip. No matter how great the program went, do not test your max until full super-compensation has happened.
d. Eat during the program- dont worry about your waist. You need to eat. And have fish oil and multiminerals while you are at it.
e. Immediately after the last workout of the program, take 4 days completely off.
f. After that do 5X5 High jumps and broad jumps every day for the next 3 days.
g. After that start a workout program that involves only 2 lifts a workout and 3 workouts a week.
h. The lift you were specializing in should be done all three workouts, but with an emphasis on being really explosive with 50-60% weights of your previous max. You need to keep doing the lift on a frequent basis to build on the groove that has been built during the program itself, but you need to allow super-compensation to occur. Explosive training will refresh the groove yet keep it alive, so that the gains become permanent. Just do 8 sets of 3 reps of the lift every workout with a 50% weight.
i. Make all your training explosive! Add standing jumping, both vertical and broad. Do clapping push ups. Do all the lifts that you do do with light weights and great speed. Other than the lift you were specializing in, all lifts should be done just once a week during the back off period.
j. After every workout do 2 sets of 40 assisted squats, incline pushups, bodyweight rows, short bridges, EZ bar curls and external rotations. Change the difficulty in order to get the required repetitions, the number of repetitions are more important than intensity. Do all the reps deliberately with good form. You should not be pushing yourself hard at all.
k. Do foam rolling and stretching before every workout.
Follow this type of training for 2 weeks. Including the initial 5 (total rest)+ 3 (jumps) days, the whole back off period will last 3 weeks. After the last workout of the back off phase (thee should be 6 workouts), take 2-3 days off and test. You will blow your old PR out of the water and it will be for good.
31. Last Attempt Best Attempt
When competing in any event, you should put your all out only in the last attempt. Just make sure you get a good attempt in before that. Too many guys try too hard too early and tire themselves out and then fail at something that should have been easy for them. Get the easy and good attempts in first.
32. Leave on a high note
This is related to the last point. In every workout it is best to always leave on a high note. If you have done your best set for the day and you dont think you can beat it, then dont. Just leave on a good note, what is important is that you showed up for the workout and did what you had to do. Anything over that is just cherry on the icing and not essential. Sometimes, when you have bad days you will not be able to do your workout properly. That is okay, but it is still important to show up. Do the set that is most important to you and do it well. Then leave. This will build confidence and optimize recovery. But more than that it will build a winning attitude.
33. Conjugate periodization works, but handling it is a lot more complex than it seems.
In a nutshell, conjugate periodization is training multiple strength qualities at the same time and using all three methods of strength training (Max Effort, Dynamic Effort and Repetition effort) in the same training period.
It works. It optimizes recovery, prevents overtraining and gets the best strength response. Unfortunately for most athletes things are not so simple. Chances are you are doing way more of each type of training than you realize. You are a shot putter- you are always doing dynamic effort. You are a rower- you are always doing repetition effort. The problem is conjugate periodization is very tricky for people who are engaging in many activities all the time. For those who can regulate their lifestyle very precisely or have defined off seasons, this is the way to go. For most ordinary people, undulating periodization is probably best.
Personally when I was doing conjugate training, I always botched it up by doing too many other activities. I simply could not find the balance.
34. Athleticism is important
No matter how strong or big you get, you always need to maintain some semblance of athleticism. It will help you move, make you recover faster and give you motor skills to handle the most complicated lifts. Just pick a couple of sports and throws and just play.
35. Nothing Beats Hill Sprints for General Conditioning and athleticism
Its two biggest advantages are its cost (free) and simplicity., Just find a steep hill 15-30m long and go at it. Run up as fast as you can, walk down and repeat. Its easy to learn, there is virtually no technique involved. The incline forces you to use good sprinting technique. It teaches you how to thrust with you hip. It teaches you to accelerate to beat the slope. It builds both the vertical and broad jump. It increases flat sprinting speed. It imbibes good running mechanics. In addition to all this it builds the calves, hamstrings, glutes and more importantly lungs and heart. Whenever I did hill sprints my lifts were more explosive, my energy was high and I could recover between sets like never before.
I would say 2 times a week is good place to start. 3 times a week is probably enough for most people. 2 sets of 5 sprints is a good place to start. 2 sets of 30 sprints (with consistent speed) makes you the king of the conditioning world.
36. Everything can be made progressive
In this blog itself we have so many examples of ways to make seemingly basic movements harder, or impossible movements easier. Sometimes the simplest approaches are the best. Want to sprint faster? Sprint up hills! Want to improve your agility? Chase a cat! Of course its not as simple as that, there are many more considerations. But sometimes we forget to do the obvious and don't understand how we can make what we are trying to achieve easier or harder.
37. Don't try to do too many things at once
In light of the number of things that have been said in the last 3 posts, its hard to do this, but you must understand that the body is a unit. Strength training is like economics- you have limited resources which you must use to satisfy unlimited wants. Your resources are your energy and recovery. You cannot squander it on too many things. High school athletes come to me and say- "I want to follow your reputed squat specialization program. I also want to follow the ab routine given in the truth about six pack abs. I also want to do the arm blaster i read about in some magazine. I also want to do the get ripped quick routine I read about in a blog. Since each program lasts 3 weeks, I will be awesome in just three weeks!" I don't even know where to start when telling them what is wrong with this. Remember the body is unit! Just because the legs and arms are different body parts does not you mean you can over train both. I have always paid the price for chasing more than one goal at a time. Always.
38. A real change requires a dramtic approach
I am all for slow and steady development. But sometimes when something is seriously out of place something radical needs to done to fix it. This is why I have so many base building programs in my blog- because I am always either working towards or off a specialization program. Find your weakness and attack them relentlessly for 3 weeks. Back off,go back to base building to realize your gains, cement the benefits, and prepare for the next assault. Don't do more than 2 (maximum 3 if you are beginner) such phases a year, but your training should revolve around preparing for them and reaping the benefits of them. You must and should make good and consistent improvement during your base building phases- this is when you develop your overall strength. Then find what is holding you back and destroy it and move back to an even more productive phase of base building.
Remember if the lack of something made you weak, you need to do a lot of it to compensate. For years I sucked at pull ups, barely getting 12. I tried every gradual progression method and nothing worked. Then I decided to do something serious. I followed the Major Armstrong Pull up program for 3 weeks, which involves 5-10 hard sets of pull ups 5 days a week. I hit my target of 20 repetitions and have never looked back since. And after that, somehow doing weighted pull ups as a part of a base building program become much more productive. In no time, gradual progression got me to 30 pull ups and 2 100lb weighted pull ups. But I know that if I had not taken that initial step to undergo the pull up specialization, I would have been stuck there.
And its not just pull ups. I sucked at squats- I did the smolov. I no longer suck at squats. My bench sucked- I did the blast your bench program. It still sucks but I suck a little less at it now and I am moving forward. Let me make it clear that each of these was preceded by and followed by base building phases months long. And if I did not back off correctly to reap the gains, or prepared correctly, I would have probably just overtrained like 90% people. But the reason I know how to back of well, and know how to build is base well is because I have pushed myself to the edge enough times to know the mistakes. I am glad for every specialization routine I have ever done, even the ones that grossly overtrained me and gave little returns- because very one of them brought out the best in me and taught me something.
But never forget, base building allows you to reap the gains of such training and prepare for it. But most of it it BUILDS A BASE OF PERMANENT STRENGTH. It'll also teach you patience. And you can never have enough of that.
39. Breathing is important
You need to learn how to breathe diaphragmatically (through the stomach). It is the best way to keep relaxed and prevent the accumulation of stress. When you start breathing through your chest, you know you are beginning to overdo things (not just in training) and you need to slow down. he shorter your breaths are, the more stresses you are and need to do something about it. Every couple of days pay attention to your breathing and understand what is going on with your body. I will have a post about this later.
40. Keep a training journal- otherwise you will never be able to make objective conclusions about yourself and your own training.
Never under estimate the value of real easy exercises like incline pushups, bodyweight rows and assisted squats. They teach you good form, they take the body through a full range of motion, done for high repetitions they flush the tendons and the joints with blood, they make you feel more mobile and make your joints feel great, they activate the correct muscle recruitment pattern, they prevent injuries, build mitochondrial capacity (energy), build localized muscular endurance, increase the capillarization in local muscle tissues (which helps subsequent muscle growth, which is one of the reasons why legs grow faster than arms), helps recovery by increasing overall blood flow, and can be used as a muscle sparing form of steady state cardio, by making supersets that give you no rest, but you dont push yourself. In my log, my body always felt the best and most mobile when I was doing high repetition easy exercises as a part of my warm up and cool down.
28. Infrequent, Low Set efficient workouts really help hormones and the CNS
Programs in which you push yourself in terms of intensity only for 2-3 sets per exercise, and do not do more than 2 main exercises per workout, and not do an exercise more than 2 times a week, make you feel fresh and gets rid of any staleness you may be feeling, and increases your energy and motivation. You will feel permanently pumped (in your head not your muscles) and your mind and body will always be energetic and fresh.
Granted such an approach will only give mediocre gains, but its important to have one such program in your arsenal and come back to it once or twice a year or during times of high stress. Its a great way to keep making improvement. It will really help. Here is what I used-
Monday-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 40 Incline Push Ups
1 Set of 30 Body weight Rows
1 Set of 30 Kneeling Push Ups
1 Set of 20 Feet Elevated Body Weight Rows
Work Sets-
2 Sets of Assisted One arm Push Ups (AMRAP)
2 Sets of Towel Assisted one arm chin ups (AMRAP)
1 Set of Full ROM Handstand Pushups (AMRAP)
1 Extra Slow One arm chin up negative
Wednesday-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 50 assisted squats
1 set of 40 hip thrusts
1 set of 30 full squats
1 set of 30 45 degree hyper extensions
1 set of 3 squats with 135lbs
1 Set of 3 squats with 225lbs
1 set of 2 squats with 275
1 set of 2 squats with 315
Work Sets-
2 Sets 5-8 Squats with the max weight for that workout
1 set of 8 squats with 40lbs lesser with a full 2 second pause at the bottom
1 set of AMRAP Ham Glute Curls
Friday (this is the hard day of the week)-
Warm Up-
1 Set of 40 Incline Push Ups
1 Set of 30 Body weight Rows
1 Set of 50 assisted squats
1 set of 40 hip thrusts
Work Sets-
2 Sets of AMRAP full ROM handstand Push Ups
2 Sets of AMRAP Pull Ups with a 45lb plate
2 Sets of AMRAP pistol squats
2 Sets of AMRAP Bridges
Add abdominal work wherever you want.
29. Cleaning and Snatching is Important
Doing explosive lifts is important. Sometimes, sheer bar velocity matters, irrespective of weight. Just take a weight 50% of what you can snatch and use it as a part of your warm up for every workout. For athletes who are not Olympic lifters, the simple high split snatch is the easiest variation to learn. Its not as technical as people make it out to be, and you do not need perfect technique to use the clean and the snatch for training. Just use a light weight (35% of squat max) until you have found the technique that allows you to generate maximum power. Just get your basics right, have a first and second pull, focus on full extension and catch the weight with the elbows high in cleans and the arms straight in the snatch. You will figure the rest out over time.
It is not enough to just try to move heavy weights as fast as possible. Even resistance bands and box squats are not enough. You have to do some jumps, sprint a bit and move weights around at great speed. Throw objects, buy a shot put and practice in your backyard. Moving fast and generating power is the cornerstone of being an athlete, never lose sight of that. Its not enough to just be strong. And amazingly, you strength will increase too as you get more explosive.
30. High volume, high intensity, high frequency training works if you back off correctly
Programs like the Sheiko, Smolov, Russian Squat Assault work! Working at 4-5 times a week doing 100+ lifts at 75%+ intensity, with a average intensity between 80-85% will increase your strength and muscle size in a hurry. The only problem is you have to back off correctly otherwise all that pain and gain will be for nothing. This is where most people who do crazy programs like the smolov go wrong- They dont back off correctly, and end up experiencing a dip in strength which demotivates them. You do not have to experience this dip if you back off correctly! You can retain all your gains from such crazy training! The following are the rules for high intensity, high frequency, high volume training. Most of my analysis is based on the full 13 week smolov I did, though I have also done the smolov jr, the russian squat assault and the blast your bench and blast your squat programs as well.
a. The actual program should never last beyond 3 weeks. In the smolov the base mesocycle lasts 3 weeks of training and 1 week test. In the intense mesocycle the last week (4th week) is overtraining and is meant to be so.
b. You are going to overreach/overtrain. Live with it. You'll recover later. Dont worry about this during the program.
c. NEVER do a true max test after the program. Most guys will do the 3 weeks, get excited about how strong they are, rest a week and go for a Max attempt. Since they are all pumped after the program they will actually go all out and lift every last pound. This throws you back into the over training zone without the super-compensation happening. As a result your strength will dip. No matter how great the program went, do not test your max until full super-compensation has happened.
d. Eat during the program- dont worry about your waist. You need to eat. And have fish oil and multiminerals while you are at it.
e. Immediately after the last workout of the program, take 4 days completely off.
f. After that do 5X5 High jumps and broad jumps every day for the next 3 days.
g. After that start a workout program that involves only 2 lifts a workout and 3 workouts a week.
h. The lift you were specializing in should be done all three workouts, but with an emphasis on being really explosive with 50-60% weights of your previous max. You need to keep doing the lift on a frequent basis to build on the groove that has been built during the program itself, but you need to allow super-compensation to occur. Explosive training will refresh the groove yet keep it alive, so that the gains become permanent. Just do 8 sets of 3 reps of the lift every workout with a 50% weight.
i. Make all your training explosive! Add standing jumping, both vertical and broad. Do clapping push ups. Do all the lifts that you do do with light weights and great speed. Other than the lift you were specializing in, all lifts should be done just once a week during the back off period.
j. After every workout do 2 sets of 40 assisted squats, incline pushups, bodyweight rows, short bridges, EZ bar curls and external rotations. Change the difficulty in order to get the required repetitions, the number of repetitions are more important than intensity. Do all the reps deliberately with good form. You should not be pushing yourself hard at all.
k. Do foam rolling and stretching before every workout.
Follow this type of training for 2 weeks. Including the initial 5 (total rest)+ 3 (jumps) days, the whole back off period will last 3 weeks. After the last workout of the back off phase (thee should be 6 workouts), take 2-3 days off and test. You will blow your old PR out of the water and it will be for good.
31. Last Attempt Best Attempt
When competing in any event, you should put your all out only in the last attempt. Just make sure you get a good attempt in before that. Too many guys try too hard too early and tire themselves out and then fail at something that should have been easy for them. Get the easy and good attempts in first.
32. Leave on a high note
This is related to the last point. In every workout it is best to always leave on a high note. If you have done your best set for the day and you dont think you can beat it, then dont. Just leave on a good note, what is important is that you showed up for the workout and did what you had to do. Anything over that is just cherry on the icing and not essential. Sometimes, when you have bad days you will not be able to do your workout properly. That is okay, but it is still important to show up. Do the set that is most important to you and do it well. Then leave. This will build confidence and optimize recovery. But more than that it will build a winning attitude.
33. Conjugate periodization works, but handling it is a lot more complex than it seems.
In a nutshell, conjugate periodization is training multiple strength qualities at the same time and using all three methods of strength training (Max Effort, Dynamic Effort and Repetition effort) in the same training period.
It works. It optimizes recovery, prevents overtraining and gets the best strength response. Unfortunately for most athletes things are not so simple. Chances are you are doing way more of each type of training than you realize. You are a shot putter- you are always doing dynamic effort. You are a rower- you are always doing repetition effort. The problem is conjugate periodization is very tricky for people who are engaging in many activities all the time. For those who can regulate their lifestyle very precisely or have defined off seasons, this is the way to go. For most ordinary people, undulating periodization is probably best.
Personally when I was doing conjugate training, I always botched it up by doing too many other activities. I simply could not find the balance.
34. Athleticism is important
No matter how strong or big you get, you always need to maintain some semblance of athleticism. It will help you move, make you recover faster and give you motor skills to handle the most complicated lifts. Just pick a couple of sports and throws and just play.
35. Nothing Beats Hill Sprints for General Conditioning and athleticism
Its two biggest advantages are its cost (free) and simplicity., Just find a steep hill 15-30m long and go at it. Run up as fast as you can, walk down and repeat. Its easy to learn, there is virtually no technique involved. The incline forces you to use good sprinting technique. It teaches you how to thrust with you hip. It teaches you to accelerate to beat the slope. It builds both the vertical and broad jump. It increases flat sprinting speed. It imbibes good running mechanics. In addition to all this it builds the calves, hamstrings, glutes and more importantly lungs and heart. Whenever I did hill sprints my lifts were more explosive, my energy was high and I could recover between sets like never before.
I would say 2 times a week is good place to start. 3 times a week is probably enough for most people. 2 sets of 5 sprints is a good place to start. 2 sets of 30 sprints (with consistent speed) makes you the king of the conditioning world.
36. Everything can be made progressive
In this blog itself we have so many examples of ways to make seemingly basic movements harder, or impossible movements easier. Sometimes the simplest approaches are the best. Want to sprint faster? Sprint up hills! Want to improve your agility? Chase a cat! Of course its not as simple as that, there are many more considerations. But sometimes we forget to do the obvious and don't understand how we can make what we are trying to achieve easier or harder.
37. Don't try to do too many things at once
In light of the number of things that have been said in the last 3 posts, its hard to do this, but you must understand that the body is a unit. Strength training is like economics- you have limited resources which you must use to satisfy unlimited wants. Your resources are your energy and recovery. You cannot squander it on too many things. High school athletes come to me and say- "I want to follow your reputed squat specialization program. I also want to follow the ab routine given in the truth about six pack abs. I also want to do the arm blaster i read about in some magazine. I also want to do the get ripped quick routine I read about in a blog. Since each program lasts 3 weeks, I will be awesome in just three weeks!" I don't even know where to start when telling them what is wrong with this. Remember the body is unit! Just because the legs and arms are different body parts does not you mean you can over train both. I have always paid the price for chasing more than one goal at a time. Always.
38. A real change requires a dramtic approach
I am all for slow and steady development. But sometimes when something is seriously out of place something radical needs to done to fix it. This is why I have so many base building programs in my blog- because I am always either working towards or off a specialization program. Find your weakness and attack them relentlessly for 3 weeks. Back off,go back to base building to realize your gains, cement the benefits, and prepare for the next assault. Don't do more than 2 (maximum 3 if you are beginner) such phases a year, but your training should revolve around preparing for them and reaping the benefits of them. You must and should make good and consistent improvement during your base building phases- this is when you develop your overall strength. Then find what is holding you back and destroy it and move back to an even more productive phase of base building.
Remember if the lack of something made you weak, you need to do a lot of it to compensate. For years I sucked at pull ups, barely getting 12. I tried every gradual progression method and nothing worked. Then I decided to do something serious. I followed the Major Armstrong Pull up program for 3 weeks, which involves 5-10 hard sets of pull ups 5 days a week. I hit my target of 20 repetitions and have never looked back since. And after that, somehow doing weighted pull ups as a part of a base building program become much more productive. In no time, gradual progression got me to 30 pull ups and 2 100lb weighted pull ups. But I know that if I had not taken that initial step to undergo the pull up specialization, I would have been stuck there.
And its not just pull ups. I sucked at squats- I did the smolov. I no longer suck at squats. My bench sucked- I did the blast your bench program. It still sucks but I suck a little less at it now and I am moving forward. Let me make it clear that each of these was preceded by and followed by base building phases months long. And if I did not back off correctly to reap the gains, or prepared correctly, I would have probably just overtrained like 90% people. But the reason I know how to back of well, and know how to build is base well is because I have pushed myself to the edge enough times to know the mistakes. I am glad for every specialization routine I have ever done, even the ones that grossly overtrained me and gave little returns- because very one of them brought out the best in me and taught me something.
But never forget, base building allows you to reap the gains of such training and prepare for it. But most of it it BUILDS A BASE OF PERMANENT STRENGTH. It'll also teach you patience. And you can never have enough of that.
39. Breathing is important
You need to learn how to breathe diaphragmatically (through the stomach). It is the best way to keep relaxed and prevent the accumulation of stress. When you start breathing through your chest, you know you are beginning to overdo things (not just in training) and you need to slow down. he shorter your breaths are, the more stresses you are and need to do something about it. Every couple of days pay attention to your breathing and understand what is going on with your body. I will have a post about this later.
40. Keep a training journal- otherwise you will never be able to make objective conclusions about yourself and your own training.
