Rather than a strength or physical preparation coach, I've recently taken to calling myself a "systems analyst."  I didn't come up with the term - it's borrowed from Dr. Stuart McGill - and I don't have the huevos to say it at a social gathering.  But it's always fun to pretend in the land of the internet.

Analyzing systems captures how I approach movement, conditioning, strength, and goals. Breaking down large topics to biomechanics, biology, and how it's all one big system, is usually met with positive feedback (even if it comes with a few "Office Space" jokes). But what's the one topic that tends to meet the most resistance?  How to increase one's running ability, because it's counter to what most people think.  

I'm not shy about admitting my mistakes.  It's how you learn and grow.  I think it's also important to show that you're always trying to get better.

Most of my mistakes have been with my own training, using myself as a guinea pig. But some mistakes have also been with clients.  This week, I'm fessing up to the latter.

When I was a newly minted personal trainer, high intensity, short duration work was the flavor of the year.  Nothing captured this trend better than the popular Tabata protocol - hard 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, continuously for four minutes.  "Research" had shown it would elicit the same adaptions as a long steady state session.  Even better?  High intensity work like that is gold for fat loss, even if it makes you hate life.

On a personal note, I was also chasing dem gainz.

I get it.  It's January.  If your last few weeks of December were anything like mine - filled with food and drink and very little exercise - you want to hit the gym hard. After all, there's no time like the present to #getyourchanningback.

But how hard we should push ourselves in the gym?  Is it possible to do too much? Should we hit a new personal record each visit? What's a realistic expectation to avoid burning out before February?

It's complicated.  But first, an anecdote. 

I guess you can say I'm feeling nostalgic. And perhaps a bit click-baity.

This is my fifth year in the strength and conditioning industry and it feels like it's flown. But I can't stop thinking back to my naive, younger self, who worked in marketing, and thought he knew everything when it came to exercise.  He made a lot of mistakes and hated reality - because it always slapped him square in the face.

So consider everything below as part memoir and part road map for success.  Enjoy!

This week I'm continuing the introspection train I started two posts ago.  Call it part memoir or even part snooze fest, but I think it's important to show how you're continually trying to improve your craft, regardless of how vulnerable and flip-floppy it makes you appear.  

As with my first post, everything written below are lessons I've learned through the past few years. Still, they can help almost everyone out there even if training and lifting heavy things is merely a hobby.  Enjoy!