The Utility of High Frequency Training Programs
People often ask why I like high frequency training programs (in other words, why I like training so often). Strong ON!, for example, offers a daily workout. And my 300 Swings a Day Challenge, as you guessed it, has people swinging everyday – and for 300 reps, no less! So clearly, I have an affinity for frequency. I’ll give you a few reasons why.
First, is for creating habit. If you want to get in the routine of something, then you need to get into the routine of something. If you think this sounds like a tautology, well, sorry. Can’t help you. It’s true. So many people simply allow latency between sessions to to grow into procrastination and eventually they just stop doing something all together. This is something you can easily avoid if you simply up the frequency and lower the daily demand.
Second, it (frequency) forces you to get creative with other variables. Obviously, when training frequently, you can’t make every workout the hardest workout ever. You need to get crafty with how you put everything together. You need to twist and tweak things. Mostly, you’ll need to vary the intensity, but you’ll want to keep an eye on volume and density, as well. Holding one variable steady, gets you to think about how best to manipulate the others. It makes you a better programmer. (A similar analogy can be made to music. My guitar instructor used to “restrict” my playing by having me improvise with just my first two fingers. This limited my speed, but got me to think more melodically. Restriction can be a wonderful tool.)
Third, it (still talking about frequency) forces you to do other things. If you’ve committed to exercising everyday you now have the opportunity to exercise in ways you might not have otherwise. If you only train 3x/week and everyday is a heavy lift, then you have no real opportunity for mobility or conditioning or what have you. But if you train everyday, and only 3x/week can be a heavy lift, you now have a real opportunity for mobility or conditioning or what have you. Maybe even some Yoga, who knows.
Fourth, as a generalist (that’s sort of our thing; at least it is certainly my thing), frequency is king. If the goal is to become better than most people at most things, there’s always something to practice and so we should take all the opportunities we can. Specialists, on the other hand, might only be able to practice their specialty every so often (try doing heavy deadlifts every single day – good luck!) but generalists aren’t limited by this. Lift heavy one day, practice hand stands the next. Maybe even some Yoga, who knows. Skateboarding. Kayaking. Go for the gold, kid. You can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Strong ON!
– Pat
PS – Speaking of my 300 Swings a Day Challenge (thought I heard somebody mention it… no?), here’s where you can learn all about that: