I just sent a brand new phase of coaching to Marlin, a veteran member of my online coaching program. Usually, new phases come around every 4–6 weeks as we layer in new training and nutrition strategies. But this time, things were a little different.
Instead of the usual—doing more—her latest phase took an entirely different tack.
The focus? Doing less, not more.
See, one of the several awesome things about Marlin is her ability to push herself, to consistently crush workouts, and to train hard. Day after day, week after week, and phase after phase.
Training hard is great… until it’s not.
Usually, that switch flips suddenly. When it does, it hurts. Literally.
That’s the trick with training hard. You’ve got to be like Goldilocks (Swoldilocks?) and get it just right. Too much and you could stifle progress or wind up injured. Too little and you’ll be hard-pressed to make any progress at all.
You need something juuuust right.
Something that’ll keep you moving forward without painful setbacks. Workouts that’ll build you up without beating you down. And a program that’ll allow you to crush your goals without letting your goals crush you.
You need to strike the right balance between training hard and training smart. And I’m about to show you exactly how.
Which takes us back to Marlin…
The Blessings and Curses of Training Hard
Marlin and I have been working together for several months. It’s been great. Right on schedule, she’s steadily layering more advanced strategies and tactics into her program. Ya know, stuff like density training, intermittent fasting, and hyper-effective fat loss finishers.
Honestly, she’s been crushing it.
I credit her hard work for the inches and pounds lost. I credit her hard work for the strength and stamina gained. And I credit her hard work for the incredible progress she’s made—with both her body and mind. (Proud of you, Marlin.)
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the benefits of training hard.
Truth be told, I’ve seen it time and time again. When people work hard to follow the program, they simply get more out of the plan.
They consistently:
– Strip away that much more unwanted body fat.
– Sculpt more defined and better toned lean muscle.
– See strength the likes of which they never thought possible (hello, pull ups).
Training hard has a massive payout. But there’s a caveat…
Training too hard can cripple your hard-earned progress.
For Marlin, it was her knee. She broke the news in our usual check-in email: “Last week I did something to irritate my left knee but didn’t listen to my body and kept pushing through all week.”
…Uh Oh
“After walking the trails on Saturday, my knee swelled up and I experienced a lot of pain. I’ve been ordered to lay off any activities this week as the swelling goes down…very hard to do.”
The blessings of training hard are clear. Motivating, too.
But the curses? Those sneak under the radar until they’re painfully obvious. Maybe it’s literal pain and swelling like Marlin. Maybe it’s utter exhaustion or sharp drops in performance.
Training too hard for too long will inevitably come back to bite.
Consistency is what matters most. Over time, it’ll always lead to progress. But it’s impossible to be consistent over time if you’re constantly going too fast or too hard. And it won’t always be an injury. It could simply be an insurmountable plateau.
No matter how it manifests, training hard can only take you so far. Eventually, you’ll need the right balance between training hard and training smart.
What Training Smart Looks Like
You can either choose to train smarter or be compelled to. And you definitely want to avoid the latter. Trust me.
But what does “training smart” even mean?
It doesn’t have anything to do with the nerdy or scientifical. Exercise science, program design, periodization, food science, macronutrition, micronutrition—all that stuff equates to the book smarts of the fitness world. That’s what coaches are for.
Training smart is the health and fitness equivalent of street smarts.
You don’t need to know everything to be street smart. Likewise, you don’t need to know the ins and outs of exercise physiology to reap the benefits training smart.
Here are three smart-training rules to follow:
1. Focus on the Long Term
This fitness stuff is about lasting habit change. That can’t happen in a 12-week program. Sure, immediate success is great.
But you know what’s even better? Keeping your progress.
Forever.
Training smart keeps this in mind.
It doesn’t get carried away trying to do too much. It’ll never sacrifice sustainability for a “quick fix.” (Oh and bt-dubs, those quick fixes don’t actually work.) It’s happy training reasonably hard for realistic, long-term goals instead of training too hard for impossibly difficult short-term hopes.
2. Listen to Your Body
Sometimes, your body knows best. When you’re over-tired, over-stressed, and over-worked, it’ll tell you. Just like it told Marlin…
“Last week I did something to irritate my left knee but didn’t listen to my body and kept pushing through all week.”
We’re all really bad at actually listening to our bodies. We sacrifice things like sleep and replace it with stress. We’ll get sick or mind-fog exhausted only to grit our teeth and bear it.
Ignoring your body has consequences. Often dire.
When it pines for food, it’s okay to eat. If it’s hard to keep your eyes open, it’s okay to take a nap. When you’re in the middle of your workout and your body says no, it’s okay to be done for the day.
(Bonus: Use biofeedback to start conversations with your body.)
3. Ditch “No Pain, No Gain”
Just stop. This approach isn’t doing anybody any good. There’s a stark difference between discomfort and pain. The former can often be productive. The latter is not.
More pain doesn’t mean more progress.
Pushing through pain is a great way to stifle your progress—especially if you’re focusing on the long-term. Nobody’s shedding fat or building muscle when they’re sidelined with an injury.
Instead of “no pain, no gain,” ask yourself this:
“Will this make me better and build me up or make me worse and beat me down?” Then simply cut what won’t make you better.
For Best Results, Balance Training Smart with Training Hard
Something unexpected and downright counterintuitive happened when Marlin’s knee forced her to slow down. She lost fat—even more than before.
In other words, she got better results even though she was doing less.
That’s why her newest phase of programming has a focus on less instead of more. Her body spoke up and we’re listening. Fewer workouts, better rest, and more recovery. It’s what she needs.
But here’s the thing: Training smart doesn’t replace training hard.
The benefits of training hard are impossible to ignore. So don’t. Just be smart about it too.
When you know you’ve focused on the long-term, listened to your body, and ditched the “no pain, no gain” mentality, go hard.
Amazing things when you’re training hard and training smart, when you’re feeling great and crushing your goals, and when you’ve got your hard/smart balance just right.
Best part? Now you know how.