By Michael Krueger
Undertraining is a far more prevalent problem than overtraining, but overthinking beats them both. That said, it can be hard to find a program that meets your needs for both the short and long term. Unfortunately, constantly analyzing and second guessing your program every time something new comes along won’t get you anywhere either.
Spending time on the Internet looking for the perfect workout is a great way to spend a lot of time sitting and staring at the computer instead of working out. Fretting over nutrition information that contradicts the article you read yesterday and the one you’ll read tomorrow will do nothing more than lead to more disordered eating.
So, what are you going to do today?
Getting Started
The “secret” to success with any form of exercise–or any endeavor, for that matter–is to begin. This is a big problem for someone who overthinks. There is always someone who is coming up with a new and improved way to entice you into using their exercise program. How can you be sure they aren’t right … this time? The formula for a successful exercise program is fairly simple: Work hard and consistently on a well-designed program that addresses your specific goal. If you are unsure of your goal, it’s difficult to work toward it, and it’s a pretty sure bet that regardless of what you do you will fail. This isn’t to say that you need an extremely specific goal (although that doesn’t hurt); you just need something personally important to you to focus on and train for.
For a while now, 90-day, 60-day, and six-week programs have been all the rage. It’s impossible to channel surf without seeing at least two or more of these infomercials featuring “fat before and buff after” photos. They all promise weight loss, muscle gains, and tasty shakes for three easy payments of $39.99. There isn’t anything intrinsically wrong with these programs–in fact, they work, provided they address your particular goal and you actually do them—but, of course, your results may vary.
My issue with them is that they tend to set the bar awfully high for the average beginner, and they assume everyone has the same goal of getting lean. Some are just repackaged calisthenics, which isn’t a bad thing, since body weight exercises have been proven effective over many years. They also feed into the idea that you had a good workout because you ended up crumpled on the floor, covered in sweat, and gasping for breath. In my opinion, this notion is more than a bit specious.
Programs
All exercise programs have three components that need to be addressed. These are, in no particular order, frequency, intensity, and volume. To be successful over the long haul, you can only focus on two of these at a time. If you go for all three, you will in all likelihood fail in a glorious burnout.
A problem I see with many popular prepackaged programs is that while they have a specific number of days attached to them, and they (more or less) attempt to address one exercise component at a time, the average trainee can’t make the subtle adjustments needed to make it work. When you are incorporating muscular strength, muscular endurance, and aerobic capacity in the same workout, something is going to get shorted and you are going to fail. This occurs in part because you are more than likely severely deficient (gasping for air in the first minute isn’t motivational) in at least one aspect, and that leads to frustration and ultimate failure.
To garner sales, every DVD on TV promises noticeable results in 10 days, two weeks, or whatever. When it doesn’t turn out that way, most people blame themselves and just hide the DVDs in a drawer and forget about them. More traditional workouts, where you address the three components separately, need more time to really show some progress. Real, sustainable results come over months and years. Focusing on short-term improvements is fine if you are already near your genetic perfection and you’re peaking for a competition, but not so much if you’re training for life.
Another issue with DVD-type workouts is the lack of personal attention to your particular needs. It is simply assumed that if you purchased the program, you want exactly what’s presented. If this isn’t true, and it usually isn’t, then you’ll begin the process of modification. Unfortunately, most people don’t have the program design knowledge to change a prepackaged program and still retain any amount of the original effectiveness. If they did, they would have come up with their own program to begin with. So, the parts that are dropped are usually the cardio, the diet, the intensity, and the consistency–in other words, all the things that would have made it an effective program are sidelined, not because they weren’t contributing toward their goal but rather because they don’t like them or they are too hard.
Variety
When it comes to exercise, I’m a dull person. I have been working out with basically the same program for more than 10 years. I have tried some changes here and there; some have been good, and I have incorporated them into my program. Others have not been shown to my satisfaction to be of any advantage and have fallen by the wayside.
Changing a workout just for the sake of change makes little sense. Most people aren’t consistent enough with the program they are currently working on to warrant any drastic changes. If your personality demands variety to maintain compliance, that’s a different story. The trick is to make some changes that satisfy your head while continuing to challenge your body within the context of your original program, which, it’s assumed, was tied to your original goal. If your original focus was on getting stronger, continue to focus on that until you have reached either your goal or your maximum genetic potential. Don’t arbitrarily switch to something else just because it’s trendy.
You may vary your sets, reps, and exercise order to achieve a nice change-up in your program. There are only so many big multijoint exercises you can do, so switching a barbell exercise with the dumb bell equivalent is actually a big deal. Switching from 3 sets of 10 to 5 sets of 5 is an equally big change. You needn’t completely change the focus and the exercises in your program; just add some variety.
Specificity
If you want to get good at something, you need to practice it. You wouldn’t study Spanish to get good at speaking German, nor would you play basketball to be a better football player, so why do nonspecific training when you are trying to become a better firefighter? You must remember that you are essentially an athlete in training to compete in a particular “sport,” and that “sport” is firefighting. It’s a difficult sport, too, as it can be dangerous, it has no set season, and your opponents don’t play by any rules. So, constant practice and improvement are of the utmost importance. Don’t waste time with activities that aren’t going to make you a better firefighting athlete.
Developing adequate strength and endurance and then practicing specific skill training activities are the keys to becoming a proficient firefighter. By using standard progressive strength and endurance protocols, you will lay down a solid foundation on which to build the specific skills needed for firefighting. Once you have gotten your strength and endurance to the point where you are comfortable, then you can take your skills training to a higher level without fear of injury. There isn’t any reason to run basketball drills or strong man drills when you have more than enough firefighting specific skills to keep you busy, not to mention physically and mentally challenged.
There is no harm in participating in extracurricular sports–that is, unless they are causing you harm. More firefighter injuries resulting in lost time on the job are attributed to basketball, softball, and football than to actual supervised gym workouts or firefighting activities. Perhaps this is more related to the poor overall physical conditioning of the participants than to the sport itself, but the end result is the same: an injured firefighter who cannot perform his/her duties.
Being the Best
You may work out on your own, in a group, with a trainer, or in front of your TV or computer. They are all viable avenues to fitness, but you do need to focus, set a goal, stop procrastinating, and get moving. If you find it difficult to choose one protocol, then try them all. Rotate between every sort of program that interests you and find one, two, or even more that work. Get strong, build endurance, and keep at it. You need focused training to build the solid physical foundation necessary to be a healthy and fit firefighter.
In addition to improving yourself, setting a good example for others in the department is a skill in and of itself. The leadership shown with a positive “can-do” attitude regarding training, both physical and skills, can create momentum among the crew, leading to improved fitness as well as readiness.
So, beginning today, stop overthinking; you know what you need to do …
…so do it!
Michael Krueger is an NSCA-certified personal trainer. He got his start in fitness training while serving in the United States Coast Guard. He works with firefighters and others in and around Madison, Wisconsin. He is available to fire departments, civic organizations, and athletic teams for training, consulting, and speaking engagements. He has published numerous articles on fitness, health, and the mind-body connection and was a featured speaker at the IAFC’s FRI 2009 Health Day in Dallas, Texas. E-mail him at MKPTLLC@gmail.
