Progress is a function of stress plus recovery. Most people only bring the first half to the gym.
Burnout is rarely caused by training too hard. It is caused by training too hard on top of poor sleep, under-eating and a life that does not have a downshift gear.
Leave two reps in reserve on most sets. You do not need to grind every working set into failure to get stronger, and the cost of doing so shows up three weeks later as flat sessions and a bad mood.
Programme deloads every fourth week. Cut the volume by forty percent and keep the intensity. You will come back stronger and you will stop dreading the warm-up.
Sleep is the most anabolic thing you can do, and it is free. Seven to nine hours, consistent wake time, and a room that is darker and cooler than you think it needs to be.
Eat in a slight surplus on heavy weeks. Strength training in a deficit works for about eight weeks, then it stops working and starts costing you muscle.
Track a morning heart-rate variability or resting pulse. Two consecutive days of a big drop means you cut the session in half before it cuts you.
Nadia Petrova
Strength & Power Coach
