The 4 Qualities of Effective Training
For your training program to be optimally effective, we need to have these 4 qualities in place. Spoiler: only 1 of them is up to me…
Quality of the Program
Graphs = proof of something.
This one is on me. Fortunately for you, I’m not known to write programs that don’t work! If you do the work that I have planned for you, the program works. It’s that simple.
It’s worth mentioning that the quality of the program has nothing to do with its entertainment value. I do go to great lengths to have proper weight room feng shui (you will never end up with an equipment-hogging circuit that makes everyone in the gym look at you sideways), but at the end of the day this is training, not playtime. If you enjoy standing on inflatable objects or doing workouts with only rubber bands, I apologize in advance.
Quality of the Effort
Rare sighting of a high-quality pushup.
This is where you come in. If you’ve run my programs before, you’ll know that, most of the time, we are shooting for the session difficulty to be “just right.” Some sessions will be really hard, some will be easy, but I am generally aiming for “goldilocks.”
What I mean by Quality of the Effort is not “how hard you try.” That would be quantity of the effort. When I say quality, I mean quality.
How high-quality was the effort?
Were you focused on each detail of the movement?
Did you review the technique videos in the app to make sure you’re not forgetting anything?
Did you record a video and upload it to the app so that I can give you feedback?
Are you consistent with your training, getting at least 2 sessions per week?
Quality of the Recovery
Breaking: Halibut > Beer.
This is the one I have the least control over. The time we spend training pales in comparison to all the other hours in the day. It’s impossible to train your way out of a toxic lifestyle (I’ve tried—didn’t work). Some questions to ask yourself:
Am I sleeping 8 hours per night? If not, why not?
How much water am I drinking throughout the day? The right answer is “a lot.”
Am I cooking my own food most of the time, so that I have control over what goes in my body? Good chefs are amazing, but they are not thinking about your health goals.
Am I doing mobility work when I feel like I need it? If something feels tight, open up the RTH Library in the app and work on it for 5 minutes!
When I drink alcohol, how much am I drinking and what am I drinking? Tragically, the “recovery beer” is not a thing.
Quality of the Mindset
Mindset is a big deal. Also, I am not an expert on this. But I can tell you that if you don’t believe that something can be done, it won’t get done. Do you believe that you can increase your strength to great levels? Do you believe that you can drop that 20 pounds that’s been annoying you? Do you believe that you can one day grab your foot while doing a QL Straddle?
If the other 3 qualities are in order, then the mindset tends to improve with time. Do your training as planned, provide the highest-quality effort that you can, and put real effort into your recovery—that’s where progress happens.
Once progress happens, the mindset tends to become overwhelmingly positive. You have this moment where you realize that fitness is not the great mystery that the media would have you believe. You know that there are no shortcuts and very few secrets.
I plan the work. You work the plan.
Repeat.