Training Hard Vs Training Smart
To achieve any level of success with your exercise regime, you understand what you are trying to achieve, you can put together a roadmap to help you get there. A good roadmap to a fitness goal involves smart programming and smart training – not just flogging yourself in the blind hope of achieving a fitness goal. Training smart is key.
When I meet a new personal training client, one of my first questions is “what are your goals?” From this point I can establish exactly what direction to take their training and diet in. Without an end point, we are merely wandering lost.
Setting the correct approach at the start and sticking to it over the long haul is the key to results like this…
Far too often new gym users will walk around the gym, performing random exercises without thinking, just in an attempt to exhaust themselves without any thought as to whether or not these exercises are helping them to achieve the loose goals they may have in mind – if you are a new gym user, does this sound familiar?
Consider a marathon runner and a power lifter. Their events require very different physical capabilities and their training reflects that. There is no doubt that they would both train hard, but their training is specific to their goal. If they were to swap training plans, they would still be training hard, but getting further and further from their intended goal. As I have said before, they need to train smart – train in a way that helps them achieve their goals.
When I cycled 900 miles in 7 days I had to change my training approach to reflect my goals. I had to train smart – training hard, but in a manner that wasn’t aligned with my goals would have been futile.
My point is, training hard isn’t enough – your training has to be aligned to your goal, otherwise you are moving futher and further away from your end point.
Decide early on what you would like to achieve and then marry up your approach with that. Identify a nutritional strategy and stick to it. Look for training plans that will help direct you in the gym. Here are a few samples…
Resistance Training for Fat Loss
Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
Training hard is a given – as the old saying goes, if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you. Working smart takes thought though. Decide what you would like to achieve and work back from there.
Good luck!
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