Given the luxury we experience at UFC gym of having a state-of-the-art facility with multiple types of classes. With so many options available, it can be easy to get lost in the volume of training and the benefits that it brings. However, just with anything good in life, there is a point of diminishing returns we reach with training too much. This is where the concept of load management comes into play.
“So you’re telling me the more I train, it doesn't always benefit me?” Sort of. Every individual has a certain capacity of training that they can handle safely with training. However, based on past experiences, athletic levels and time spent on recovery post-training, this will determine the ability to manage load. So you may have fallen in love with multiple classes from your first day of training, but if you’re doing multiple classes a day and then an additional weight training independently, you may be filling your cup a little too much.
The cup of water analogy is great for injuries. Essentially, your cup overflowing with water is the stressors that go into the body. The stressors are the total sum of both mental and physical stressors that you experience on a daily basis. Sitting too much at your desk at work and multiple classes. All these things can be accepted by the body as long as we’re recovering efficiently, or else we end up with a cup overflowing and resulting injury. And we all know how frustrating injury can be to our training progress.
So what are the things that make up our recovery process? Well there are a few non-negotiable factors that we need to achieve to form our foundations. These include a high quality sleep, high-quality wholesome foods and high levels of hydration throughout the day. Sleep is one of the most neglected components of training. Without a sufficient 8-9 hour sleep daily, our muscles and joints do not recover completely from the previous days. Furthermore, sleep deprivation also results in cognitive performance decline. So as such, setting a consistent routine is vital to managing our training load positively. Furthermore, high-quality foods are essential to ensure that we are not consuming too much processed foods that contain substances that require further energy from our bodies to be digested out. Higher quality foods like organic meats and vegetables allow for sufficient nutrients that are lost from training to be replenished back into our bodies. Hydration is crucial as well as we are most ¾ made of water. So if we're not consuming the fluids we lose from training, our overall system functions are at higher risk of declining in performance.
Now the quality of movement is essential as well to all the things we’ve discussed above but will require more explanation for another day. And if you’re ever interested in having your movement quality assessed, you can find us nestled inside the UFC gym space ready to help you any day of the week.
Speak soon!
Always remember to stretch before and after classes:
Foam Rolling is also a great way to help recovery:
CHRIS EL KARINA for COLAB PHYSIO
Inside UFC Gym Parramatta Level 2, Westfield Parramatta 159 - 175 Church St Parramatta NSW 2150 (Cnr of Aird & Marsden St)
Inside UFC Gym Bankstown Level 1, Flinders Centre 25 Restwell St Bankstown NSW 2200
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