I’m sure you when it comes to training you have heard these statements before:

• Push your limits

• Train insane or remain the same

• Nothing great ever came from a comfort zone

• Give it a 110%

• If you can’t walk the day after leg you didn’t do it right.

I want to challenge you to start to think and train differently than everyone else...

• What if you spent most of your time raising your strength, not displaying your limits?

• What if you focused on training your weakest links?

• What if you worked on removing the biological and psychological parking brakes of your system?

• What if your measure of success was progress, instead of failure?

The #1 goal of the central nervous system and the human body is survival. Anything that is seen as potentially damaging is shut down, limited, or inhibited. The central nervous system limits us for our own good. That’s why it’s estimated that only around 30-40% of motor units are really being used on any hard effort. When perceived threats are minimized in the body the Central Nervous System will release strength and motion rather than inhibit it. 

What does this mean?

It means that in my opinion we need to stay as FAR away from the threat response as possible for as long as possible. It means that training is about a conversation, not a confrontation with your system. It means I don’t focus on attempting to raise my limits. I focus instead on raising my comfort zone until it surpasses my previous limits. I try to stay in my comfort zone for as long as possible whilst attempting to expand it. It’s ALWAYS easier to coax up a comfort zone than it is to force a limit. 

When it comes to training most people and trainers judge the success of a workout based on:

• How sweaty you got

• How tired you got

• How much you failed

• How much you struggled

• How sore and wrecked you were the next day

I judge the success of the workout on:

•   Did we address your health before performance?? (sleep, hydration, diet)

•   Did we attempt to remove or improve your biological restrictions?

•   Did we attempt to remove or improve your psychological restrictions?

•   Did we expand your limits?

•   Did you learn something new? 

•   Do you feel confident you can do this on your own?

•   Do you feel good at the end of the workout?

•   Do you feel encouraged to move more?

•   Do you feel less fragile and more capable?

•   Do you understand why we do what we do? 

•   Did we address the energy systems and rate limiting factors?

•   Did we move in all directions and perform all types of contractions?

•   Did we progressively overload from previous workouts or weeks?

•   Did we improve your performance?

•   Did we adjust based on your life and how they feel that particular day?

•   Did you laugh?

•   Did you have fun?

•   Do you wanna come back?

•   Did we fail? Did we succeed? Did we live life?

And most importantly, did you get RESULTS?