UNDERSTANDING YOUR CAPACITY

It’s important to understand what your body can do and be able to identify this every day and every training session as there are a number of factors that will affect your performance. 

We start by identifying what we call our "load". Every day from the minute we wake we have what we call pre - existing conditions. Examples of these are stress, diet, sleep, life demands and anatomical defects. 

Depending on how much these pre-existing conditions take up, that’s how much "free space" we have for us to endure in the training of our choice. 

When we train we put our bodies under strain (stress). 

So depending on how much your pre-existing conditions take up, that’s how much space (strain) you have before we exceed our "capacity". 

You might be asking though how do you know if you have exceeded your capacity or how much load have you built up through the day before your session so that you can train safely and within your limits. 

I monitor mine by using a "whoop" band that tracks all the above and gives me my daily strain target, so when I train I keep it within these parameters. There are other monitors that also now track some of the data above however the best piece of advice is to use what we call the RPE scale (Rate of Perceived Exertion). 

The RPE scale is used to measure the intensity of your exercise. The RPE scale runs from 0 – 10. The numbers relate to phrases used to rate how easy or difficult you find an activity. For example, 0 (nothing at all) would be how you feel when sitting in a chair; 10 (very, very heavy) is how you feel at the end of an exercise stress test or after a very difficult activity.

So a 20kg deadlift after a rest day might feel at a 3 however after 3 days of training and little sleep on another day that same weight might feel at a 6. 

So it’s important to treat everyday and session differently and base this on the above factors. This will help you perform, train safely and efficiently and get you to understand your body in greater detail. 

Danny