Letting go is as important as having a plan.
There are two types of trainees: those that have a plan that they’ll die by and those that have no clue what they’re doing for today’s session until they start doing it.
COME PREPARED BUT WHEN YOU START WHATEVER HAPPENS IS WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS.
The trainee with a plan knows his exercises, how many sets, how many reps, how hard each set should feel, what weights she’ll use to attain that predetermined intensity, how close to failure each set will be be, what percentage of her 1RM the working weight will be, how long the rest periods are, what stretch or antagonist exercise or active recovery modality to employ during the rest period, which machine or bench or rack she’ll be using, what exercise comes next and why, how the current exercise contributes to the overall weekly maximum recoverable volume, how yesterday’s session’s intensity will contribute to today’s session, where she’s at in her meso cycle, how this session fits into the overall yearly plan, how many weeks until the current goal is achieved, what the next goal is, etc. etc. etc.
The trainee with a plan has thought of it all…and it all fits perfectly together like a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. But when something as innocuous as that second to last set of back squat feels like an RPE 9 instead of an 8 it’s all gonna fall apart.
The trainee that’s just going by feel and intuition doesn’t remember what she had as a pre workout meal let alone when the last time she trained the exercises she’ll perform today. She’s going to see where the iron spirits of the gym take her.
Don’t mention the fact that she’s done only glutes workouts for the last 18 weeks, or that he’s done arms and shoulders four times a week for the last six years. They’re just listening to their body… Hey, they’re never sore so they must need more work on those muscle groups anyway! Right?
Let’s not forget though that the extremes of the fitness spectrum are where a lot of wisdom can be hidden. This is true.
For instance, you may have a back that recovers crazy fast from hard rows, you regularly still feel fresh after finishing your three prescribed sets. If you’re overly rigid about sticking to your plan you’ll never take the time to see where your personal growth zone actually is. Maybe you can handle four, five or even six sets. Maybe that’s just what you need to break through your current plateau. Sticking blindly to the plan would have instead led to hours of programming analysis and potentially may have never resulted in the simple fix that you need: more volume.
On the other hand, not knowing what you’ve done can very quickly guarantee that you never get anywhere with any level of efficiency. A common example is a trainee trying to break through that two-plate barrier, 225 lbs (100 kg), while bench pressing. “Well, how have you been training? You don’t know?” It’s really hard to make adjustments when you’re lost in the fog of “ training 2–5 times a week and benching 3 or 4 sets during one of those sessions “. There’s no freedom to flex in this approach. You’re just a semi-muscled plastic bag floating in the wind.
As with most things in life the answer lies in the middle.
Have a plan but let go of the desire to follow it precisely.
By recording everything you do you have a written record of what you’ve done… that’s pretty obvious. When you have a plan, when you know your minimum thresholds for progress, you can easily adapt in the moment when things aren’t as they should be.
Just yesterday, I found myself with a plan that required 3 sets of 155 kg (342 lbs) for 3 reps at a RPE 8. I pulled 150 kg (330 lbs) as my final warm up set and it felt like 80 kg (177 lbs). So instead of sticking to the plan I went for 160 kg (353 lbs) for my first working set and that moved like slicing through warm butter. I finished off the final two sets at 170 kg (375 lbs). That’s a flex in more ways than one.
Had I stuck to the plan I would have missed out on a major opportunity to get more training in. My next deadlift session might not move so smooth, but that’s okay, I have a record of how outstanding of a day yesterday was that I can reign in if I need to next time.
If I had no plan, I’d probably have done something silly like attempt 180 kg or 190 kg, which would have put me at a much too high RPE for that session and screwed with the rest of my week. I also would have a much bigger ego about my deadlift right now because I wouldn’t have the reference data to know that yesterday was just a particularly strong day.
I had my plan but I let go.
Letting go is a strong lesson for all aspects of life. It just happens to be extremely explicit in the gym. It’s a skill we all need when negotiating the ups and downs of existence.
Be prepared but maintain the authority to flex at will.
Originally published at https://composurefitness.com on April 14, 2021.
