More Frequent Workouts, Balanced by Shorter Time Frames

Balancing frequent workouts with recovery for greater gains is the key to long-term success with any strength training program. Ensuring you push hard enough to make progress while not going over the edge to the point of fatigue can be tricky. There is a sweet spot that will help you to stick to your schedule and we’re here to help.

These suggestions should help you to balance training and various forms of recovery. Managing all the components of your training week doesn’t need to feel overwhelming. GB Students are successfully incorporating strength, mobility, flexibility, skill work, and physical conditioning into a streamlined weekly schedule.

Gearing your daily training mindset towards long-term goals and progress is going to instantly give you the competitive edge. Projecting forward and always considering tomorrow is the ultimate outlook for both health and athletic pursuits. If you aren’t already, we hope you can use these strategies outlined below to reach your training goals!

Create Healthy Workout Patterns

Training regularly throughout the week creates healthy patterns and habits, which helps to solidify gains for the long term. It’s important to clarify that regular training requires a mindset geared towards long-standing progress using consistent effort. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the desire to crush yourself in the gym each day, but this is a shortsighted approach to training. Sure, there are certainly days where you should be working hard, but not so hard that your next workout is impaired. If you strive to keep tomorrow’s training in mind, then a steady routine is going to be easier to maintain.

A variety of GymnasticBodies progressions will keep your body balanced and strong. 

More Frequent, Shorter Sessions over Fewer, Long Sessions

It’s tempting to cover every aspect of your training in each session, but this is not the best way to make gains as it can lead to poor recovery and overtraining. When comparing the same workload spread between fewer, long training sessions versus more frequent, shorter sessions, most people recover better and have a more positive response to spreading the workload out into shorter sessions.

We get that life doesn’t always allow us to optimally spread our training out, but if you have the option to train extra long on two days or slightly shorter for four, four is likely the better option. Don’t feel like you need to pack everything into one or two sessions. Ideally, you can take your time and get all of that hard work done in four or five smaller chunks instead.

Be Consistent

On the other side of the spectrum is chronic undertraining. This occurs when priority is not given to maintaining a steady, weekly exercise routine. If you’re only motivating to workout once or twice a week (hopefully it’s not zero!) then it’s time to increase your frequency.

We all can make AT LEAST 20 minutes/day to keep fit, and making regular exercise part of our lives eliminates excuses. Ask yourself what you could easily add. Maybe it's a walk over your lunch break or doing your lunges and presses while watching that video you were hoping to catch.

You’ll feel physically and mentally better if you do something daily, so enjoy the mood-boosting effects of regular training! Just don’t forget to enjoy a recovery day every now and again. For most athletes with a balanced training schedule, one or two rest days per week is ideal.

GymnasticBodies programming will help you increase all aspects of your fitness and help you develop a synergistic training schedule, no matter your goals or sport.