Progressive Sustainability

One of the challenges of fitness over the long course of time is how do you maintain as many qualities as possible?  For most people they usually silo themselves into one energy system or another.  It's very common to see the recreational jogger/runner or weekend cyclist spend most of their exercise time in Oxidative development work.  For others they spend all their spare training time in the garage gym, commercial gym or in some activity that involves the lifting of weights.

The problem with these approaches is that you sacrifice something along the way.  Aerobic monsters usually have very little force capacity and have predictable motor/movement issues that go along with that fitness approach.  Anaerobic monsters usually have poor aerobic function and there are predictable organ problems that surface with that fitness approach.  So this is not an attempt to levy or elevate one group over the other.  Instead it's an attempt to raise awareness about what it means to train sustainably over time.

If you build a boat and give it great big sails it will catch a ton of the wind.  This has the potential to move the boat swiftly across the ocean.  This is all well and good but if you attach those big sails to a boat with a poor structure then the mast will break before it gets too far out to sea.  Similarly, if you were to build a strong and heavy boat with smaller sails you just won't get too far.  The boat is too robust for smaller sails and it won't travel well.  The ratio of how heavy the boat is as well as how small the sails are in comparison limits how far the boat will be capable of sailing.

This is the long term problem that most people face in training.  Do they have an aerobic problem or an anaerobic problem?  Do they have aerobic issues that are eventually going to plateau their strength and hypertrophy progressions?  Or do they have a big aerobic tank that they have a hard time using because their structure isn't robust enough for them to continue doing higher levels of aerobic work?

The solution lies in working on removing the specific weaknesses that the individual has.  Being able to create higher levels of force and velocity with your body is great but if your aerobic tank is so limited in aerobic capacity (VO2 MAX) this will make it hard to train without taking 10 minute rest periods.  Eventually this prolongs training time so much that it becomes almost impossible to get much anaerobic work done in reasonable time frames.  Also, if you want to run 30 miles a week but you can't get past 15 miles before your achilles, knee or lower back starts fighting back then you have to put in more gym time in order to be strong enough not to break down.

Usually when people get stuck in their fitness journey it's because the distribution of the workload is off energetically.  Having a well rounded training approach allows people to get everything they need out of the process without running into problems. At some point running more miles or lifting more weights isn't the answer and the reality is that they have become too narrow in their pursuit of achieving their goals.  The trick is to do this in a sustainable way though.  Too much too fast of everything is like setting yourself up with 10 plates at the buffet and only making your way through 3 of them before you throw up.  More isn't better here, it's actually just more that you can't digest.

Instead if you plan your training to last beyond the next three weeks surprisingly enough it does!  If you consider that Olympic level athletes have coaches who plan out their training for a 4 year training cycle then you start to get into the headspace of how this could look.  Training and planning to train in the short term creates problems.  Imagine if you were only going to have the first year of high school or college/university available to you.  What would you do in order to get your degree?  

If you have the ability to train for the long term then the reality of progressive sustainability is that you are intending to train within your capacity.  I know I can hear Apollo Creed in Rocky too.

"THERE IS NO TOMORROW!"

However, that is not the reality of this process.  There is a tomorrow.........and another one......and another one.......and another one.  The track will not be closed in a week and a half.  The dumbbells and barbells at the gym aren't going anywhere.  They will be in the same place you left them the last time you were there.  So more than anything what matters is how you approach this process.  Show up, train with the intent to challenge yourself and then start the recovery process before you create problems for next week, next month and the next year.

If you are going to have a chance at beating osteoporosis and osteopenia then you can't rely on short term progressive overload planning.  This approach is too short sighted and will not allow you to continue training into late adulthood.  You must think beyond one workout, one weeks worth of workouts, one month of workouts, one year of workouts if you are to be successful.  Instead plan to train well and with minimal medical interventions for years to come.  When you create the blueprint that is sustainable for you then may have the key to staying fit and healthy the rest of your life.