Client Questions & Trainer Answers {Volume 3}

I’ve said it in past newsletters, articles, and podcasts before...client questions are the best questions. When it comes to my role as a Coach, nothing tells me that clients are making progress quite like the questions they ask.

Why questions, you ask?

Questions are a direct result of curiosity. Curiosity towards the unknown OR towards the current feelings or attention they are noticing.

To be even more frank, when someone asks a question, I know they give a shit. And that’s pretty damn cool.

So without further adieu, here are some questions I’ve tackled over the last few weeks.

My heart rate isn’t as high during my workouts any more...should I be working harder?

The conventional wisdom answer to this question might be a simple “yes”.

But what is actually happening is this amazing quirk the body has called adaptation. When session length decreases alongside your heart rate, that tells me that you’re becoming efficient in your training and your body is adapting both mechanically (improving in form and movement) and physiologically (decrease in heart rate reflecting a better stress tolerance). Both of which are amazing signs of progress!

The Trainer answer is, “no, keep doing what you’re doing, because it’s working”

I’ve started to pick up some extra activities and different training. Why is my strength training less frequent?

Again, general conventional wisdom might tell you that more activity is better...but not all activity is created equal.

Two of my clients picked up combat sports over the past month and two more clients started new jobs. In the case of the former, those two are now acclimating to a different stress on the body. If we keep their strength training the same on top of their new, very physical sports, there is a risk in overloading the body above and beyond what it is ready for. Now, that doesn’t mean we stop training all together, but what it does mean is we pay attention to when high activity days occur and how the body starts to feel and recover. As recovery adapts (see client question number 1) we then can progress the training collectively.

In the case of the later, the two with new jobs are going through a different kind of stress. Mental fatigue is real and the thought of making it all fit alongside a new routine can be crushing. The answer to this situation is slightly different, we just back off a day of training, make the workouts a touch shorter, and make training seem like an easy option in comparison to the new schedule.

The short(er) Trainer answer is “When you have new activity, it’s best to take a couple weeks and back off (this doesn’t mean stop…) and see how you feel so we can make an educated adjustment to move forward”.

I’m back in the office 2-3 times a week, on those days I am absolutely spent, how can I make my workouts fit?

This question is very similar to the answer above. The biggest difference in the two work-related scenarios is that there could be more of a time crunch, than a ‘holy shit I’m the new person in the office’ style stress.

When people started returning to the physical workplace at the end of 2020 and into early 2021, their training schedules took a big overhaul. What was an easy no-commute trip to the home gym area, was quickly changed with packing training clothes, making sure you had a post workout meal, and trying to figure out the added hour of driving to the gym, changing, etc.

The answer to this is amazingly simple, but maybe not the most obvious. On the days you are in the workplace to start, either make those your off-days and bump the training sessions to the weekend or days you are at home. The other option is to curate training sessions that are a little shorter, can be done during your break on-site, or can easily be done after work. I am a big fan of the second option, as sometimes the idea of delaying a training session gives you a greater chance to not do it at all (what’s up weekends!?), but the important concept to remember is that your training shouldn’t consume, rather, should compliment your life and lifestyle.