Doug Jackson’s Fitness Blog

A lot of our clients are traveling right now so I wanted to share with you a way to avoid the deconditioning that happens with missed workouts.

Strategic Overtraining

If you’ll be gone for one week (more or less) and realistically think that you won’t get any quality workouts during that time, I’d encourage you to consider the use of strategic overtraining to avoid deconditioning.

Here’s how it works:

Figure out how many of the regular high quality workouts you are going to miss. And then I want you to add that number of workouts into your training program spread between the two weeks prior to your vacation.

For example, let’s say that you normally strength train three days per week.

If you do what most people do, here’s what happens when you go on vacation:

2 weeks prior to vacation: 3 complete workouts
Week prior to vacation: 3 complete workouts
Week of vacation: 0 workouts

Usually that’s not going to take you into the right direction.

Here’s what you can do:

2 weeks prior to vacation: 4 complete workouts
Week prior to vacation: 5 complete workouts
Week of vacation: 0 workouts

In the second model, you’ve made up your three “lost workouts” before you’ve ever left. And instead of deconditioning during your time off, you will likely go into “supercompensation” and come back more fit than before.

Get it Done!!

I hired our trainer Tom Bowler to train me a few days ago.

It’s not too often that you hear of a trainer hiring another trainer to train them.

But many of the best do.

When I was completing my Masters Degree and wanted to continue getting stronger with less total time in the gym, I hired well-known Las Vegas-based strength coach Charles Staley to design my programs.

One of my favorite questions if I talk with a massage therapist or a chiropractor is how often they actually utilize the same service they provide.

I would think that a massage therapist (who we would assume believes in the value of massage), would also get massages themselves. If they didn’t, it would be a little bit of a credibility gap.

Now as I find myself becoming more and more like the clients we serve (in terms of growing demands and responsibilities) I have an even deeper understanding of the value of the personal fitness solutions we provide.

Tom took me through my first workout on Monday. He gave me that “extra push” that I knew I needed. We shot a quick video of how I looked after ourworkout, check it out:

The TRX Suspension Trainer has gotten pretty popular in the last few years.

I had the opportunity to take the certification a couple years ago from my good friend and trainer of trainers Jonathan Ross.

One of my favorite movements that I learned in the certification was the atomic pushup.

Watch this youtube video, see how’s it done, and implement it in your own TRX workouts.

 While exercise and nutrition are very important, mental training is the most underappreciated aspect of peak performance in exercise, sports, and life. Because it’s underappreciated, you will have the proverbial “ace in the hole” if you are able to maximize this aspect of living.

Mental training is necessary for peak performance because it helps us overcome past negative experiences, the negativity around us, and builds confidence in our abilities to succeed.

Here is a list of mental qualities and practices that sports psychologists have found separate the winners and losers.

If you condition your mind towards achieving these mental characteristics in your life’s performances, you will be reaching your full potential.

-Finding your optimal energy for any given activity (you will find different optimal energy levels for different activities)

-Learn to view a moderate level of anxiety as performance enhancing, rather than performance detracting

-Learn how to relax when anxiety/arousal becomes too high (deep breathing works wonders)

-Imagine total focus, optimal energy, and successful completion of the given activity. Imagine the activity intrinsically (as if you were performing the activity) and extrinsically (as if you were watching as a third-person).

-During imagery, utilize all of your senses. What does the activity feel like? What does it sound like? What does it smell like? How does your body feel? What is your emotional state? Imagine the ideal.

-Become immersed in the activity. Focus on the tasks at hand. Do not focus on the outcome.

-Imagine your performance as effortless.

-Use positive affirmations. Although I often laugh about the character of Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live (”I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!”), the use of positive affirmations helps counter-balance the mental garbage we are exposed to during the day.

There you have it. Review that list and put it to use. These are the skills of champions. Never a bad idea to emulate the “best practices” of the best performers.