Joe Divosevic
Jun 20 2019

What you do anywhere today affects you everywhere tomorrow

As it pertains to physical training, it’s your workload, rest and recovery methods, or lack thereof. It has much to do with meal planning, selection of energy sources and timing of the feedings. The choice of exercises, weights, sets, repetitions and volume etc. all have an astonishing affect on your personal goals and their outcomes. Skipping a planned workout today and putting it off until tomorrow has already impacted tomorrow’s workout and also the subsequent training session. On the other hand, working too hard, and maybe doing too much in a single session, or in a string of consecutive workouts, or even adding extra work could lead to an outcome of undesirable results. When planning your physical training, always revert back to the question that asks your body whether you did too much, or not enough with each workout. Remember, the ultimate goal is to avoid impeded progress by dreaded plateaus, and other sticking points in our training which result from doses of exercise either too large, or too small. There is nothing worse than working hard to later discover your performance is getting worse due to overtraining. Keep in mind that often times less is more, and more is less (which I will elaborate on in future articles).

As I look back on my competition years, I ponder mistakes that I have made and my ignorance to certain aspects of physical and emotional training. Although my issues weren’t with missing workouts, it was rather a case of performing workouts and training that far exceeded my recovery capabilities. I had great coaching, but I grew up in an era that had a mentality of believing the more training you do, the better the outcome. My coaches used to say,”you’re not overtrained, you’re just under recovered”. Yes, that certainly was the case. My road and track work was quite excessive and the weight training volumes and intensities were quite exaggerated. Instead of feeling spry for subsequent sparring sessions, I was searching for my legs by the 3rd round. That type of overtraining works for a short period of time and only during the infant stages of training and mostly at a time when youth is wasted on the young! As I grew older (latter 20’s) and became more “in tuned” with my body and its limitations, I realized that certain volume adjustments to my training regimen were inevitable and that recovery from this overloaded type of training had become impossible.

Almost two full decades later ( mid 40’s) I realize even more that the notion for adjusting daily exercise volume, intensities and monitoring extended workouts has a huge impact on my physical and emotional outcome. I also take into consideration the daily activities outside of my own personal workouts (splitting wood, pad work with boxers, any other physical activities) that will impact my ability to recover completely. I clearly understand that what I do in the morning session will influence my afternoon or evening training and also the next day and the following weeks training. It’s all inter-connected, so that the training in one area has a profound affect on all other parts of the process. Remember, the ultimate goal is to maximize the entire training process! Our future workouts should be taken into consideration concurrent with present workout routines. We should be training for and thinking about the next decade of our lives. The idea is not to beat ourselves into oblivion to the point where 40 will be the new 60. That’s not physical training! What I do somewhere today affects me everywhere tomorrow.

For those on the opposing end of the spectrum who may be less motivated, or have goal setting challenges, might be better suited by working towards shorter- term, realistically attainable goals. A better perspective may be achieved through the view of an annual training period (1 year). A period where a maximum of only 52 weeks of exercise are present in order to achieve a desired result. Within that annual period life gets in the way with things such as acute illness, family and work related issues, etc. So, if we’re lucky, we will only have approximately 46 to 48 weeks to reach our annual goals.

Breaking things down into weekly “chunks” may make things less overwhelming. Focus on “winning the week” and the next and so on through the final week of the annual cycle. You don’t have to workout 7 days each week. I would rather see three to four days per week consistently, than six one week and 2 or less the next. Continue to keep in mind that what you do, or didn’t do that week has a lasting affect on your weekly and annual goals. I must also remind you that this stuff is not always easy. If it were, we would all look like magazine cover models. Well, you get what I mean. Your attitude makes the difference. If you feel like having a bad attitude, then you have to put the mask on and fake it for that particular day’s workout!

Pertaining to diet, emphasis should be placed upon losing fat, not weight. Skipping meals is forbidden and portion size and meal proportions are extremely important. Stress the idea of building muscle via your resistant training program and burn fat with moderate aerobic type exercises. Immediately address and prioritize any physical limitation and ailments with rehabilitation and preventative maintenance type exercises. Try measuring progress by taking DAILY pictures of yourself (selfie), preferably in the same setting, as an alternative to chasing the numbers on a scale. This collection of photos will shortly reveal small progressions of a new physique. Lastly, find something, somehow, someway to hold you accountable for your actions to make you feel liable for falling off task and veering from your goals.

For those guilty of over- volumed workouts for extended periods, as I once was, we must use caution and take close consideration to the long-term consequences for our actions. Underperforming and possible acute or chronic injury will soon inevitably accompany your fitness program. I must also note that I understand sports and the demand of sports, especially combat and contact sports. These sports are an entirely different animal and they require various other types of physical activities, sometimes in excess, to prepare the athlete for the high stress demands of the sport. That being said, even modern strength and conditioning and physical preparation coaches address volume and intensity as a measuring stick for the teams and athletes they are responsible for. Why do you think professional baseball pitchers have a strict pitch count per outing? These coaches are considering future pitching performances for the athlete and understand that what that pitcher does today will effect the next performance all the way through their career.

Training should become a lifestyle, which means there is no ending just continuous goal setting. It is a journey full of never-ending physiological, psychological and emotional discoveries with ever changing goals. We will always struggle with different aspects of training at various times. It isn’t always easy finding the perfect mental attitude necessary to maximize every workout for every week. It’s not always convenient to eat the right foods. It isn’t easy pre preparing healthy meals but the end result is quite rewarding. Again, it’s not easy. Neither is raising kids, running a successful business, preserving a marriage, paying taxes etc. But you do it…..or suffer a big consequence.

You must begin somewhere and build upon that foundation that continues to evolve. What works best for me, may not directly work for others. Find your own individual purpose that imposes a sense of personal achievement. Begin to train smarter, not harder. Plan your training carefully and be prepared to make the proper adjustments when necessary. Remember what you do ANYWHERE today affects you EVERYWHERE tomorrow!