Prescription vs. Dose

Unpopular take:

The gym is not for daily attendance.

Most of you who have been part of this community for long enough know that chief among the central themes of our coaching and instruction is that strength and conditioning is not a “take once per day” dose. Unlike things that comprise the primary nature of being human like walking, moving, and maintaining posture, weight training and high intensity are not daily physiological needs.

Our body doesn’t require them daily for optimal health, physical transformation, or metabolic function. The fact is many simply choose to self prescribe daily out of routine, addiction, or release and boy…have I been there. But it’s important to understand that strength and conditioning is not bodybuilding. We aren’t compartmentalizing body segments in each day, we’re training the single unit. It’s not completely out of the norm for us to hear feedback around overuse injuries people are dealing with, yet, at the same time they typically continue to train at the same frequency. 

A mod or two is expected as part of getting coached here. But the answer isn’t more mods if you feel them compiling. It’s less dosing.

I know how tempting it can be to treat the gym and fitness in general as a band aid for poor nutrition or other lifestyle decisions we make, in the hopes to negate them with an hour of intense fitness. You’re talking to the co-founder of that approach in my 20s. And from experience I just strongly, strongly urge you to not.

Those with the most sustainable, long term results are those with a healthy fitness relationship of a few quality efforts per week, not a daily sense of obligation.

In fact, do you know how many Coaches we have who train everyday?

None.

A great habit to get into is walking and moving more. If you’re like me you can’t just not move in a day. So rather than channeling all of your efforts into intense training, swap one or two of those with some headphones, a good podcast and a three mile evening or morning walk.

If you continuously feel not yourself or performing to the fullest of your abilities, today’s post might just be the words you need to hear. Often, it’s not the prescription. It’s the dose at which you’re taking it.

-Dave