This post is in response to a question I got from Wednesday’s post, Train Every Day, Unless You Want to Fail. It’s a deserved question considering I was able to make a whole blog post for an answer. In the article, I said training everyday does this: It teaches you recovery. You’ll know if you [...]
This post is in response to a question I got from Wednesday’s post, Train Every Day, Unless You Want to Fail. It’s a deserved question considering I was able to make a whole blog post for an answer. In the article, I said training everyday does this:
It teaches you recovery. You’ll know if you really deserved the day off, or if you just thought you did. A day off won’t always mean feeling better the next day. If you feel worse, you didn’t really need the day off.
First, you have to understand that this is being said under the constructs of training every day. This is important because Dan John’s programs use a load that is recoverable from day to day. If you train legs twice per week, the volume is condensed into two sessions so the recovery period expands. More stress = more recovery.
Here’s an example. On Dan John’s program you’re mainly going to be using a load that’s 40-60% of your 1RM for two sets of five reps. This differs from other approaches that wave the load, intensity, and volume throughout the week. As I mentioned in Train Every Day, Unless You Want to Fail, I feel that Dan’s programs are much more suited for the average joe because it’s about making the light stuff even lighter.
When the load is lower, it allows the recovery to happen in a 24 hour window. In most cases, you don’t even need 24 hours which is why the weight starts to feel lighter on day five as compared to day one.
Some days, however, you won’t feel like hitting the same weight you did the previous day. This is autoregulation. Knowing you’re a little off on a particular day. This is fine, and so is dropping the load for the day. You don’t feel fresh because your body wasn’t able to recover in the 24 hour window. But because you backed off, the body takes a smaller hit and will be able to recover just fine for tomorrow’s session.
Sometimes the toil of doing the same thing for 40 days straight will convince people to skip going to the gym all together. Other times you’re busy and can’t make the time to train. In comes the off day.
You would think that training for 5-35 days straight would warrant a rest day, but something funny happens when you train daily with a manageable load. Something I mentioned in Train Every Day, Unless You Want to Fail.
It teaches you strong. It’s no longer lifting 495 while your eyeballs pop out of your head. It’s about making 225 easier to lift on day five than on day one. Despite what you want to think, that’s because you’re stronger.
What you’re looking for, day to day, is how heavy a weight “feels.” On the fourth and fifth day when 50% starts to feel lighter – and it will, somehow – you’ve gotten stronger. I can’t really explain it, but the weight will almost always feel lighter.
But the telling factor is how the weight feels. After an off day, it can go one of two days. It can feel really light, or it can feel really heavy.
If it feels light, congratulations. You probably did need the day off. If you feel sluggish and the weight feels heavy, then you didn’t really need it. You body shouldn’t respond negatively after twice as much rest as it’s accustomed to. Training everyday gets your body in a groove. If you break the groove unnecessarily, it shocks the body in a weird way. You’re stiff and tight, not because of fatigue, but because your body didn’t grease the movements like it grew accustomed to.
But what about two days off? How do you know another day off wouldn’t have helped? Well, because of the way the program is set up. Your normal recovery window is 24 hours and, most days, it’s plenty of time. You’re not going to suddenly need to triple it to 72 hours unless you do something silly like attempt a 5RM.
Recovery windows are precisely why some people disregard the social construct of the seven day week. When you train based upon what day of the week it is, you’re not really training based upon recovery. You doing it because it’s convenient. Don’t get me wrong, some people have to because it’s necessary with their job and other life obligations. But I remember, hearing a CrossFitter say that he tried to do a 3 on, 1 off, 2 on 1 off split to make a more calendar friendly schedule (something like SUN-MON-TUES-THURS-FRI). But it wasn’t enough for him, so he moved back into a 3 on, 1 off, 3 on, 1 off schedule (something like (SUN-MON-TUES-THURS-FRI-SAT-MON-TUES…). It’s all about learning what your body needs. And that’s certainly something the 40 Day Program helps you with.