Why Simple Programs Win Under Stress

I work every Sunday.

I have forever.

We have classes at 8am and 9am, then I answer emails, do some admin and eventually sit down to write this blog. Once the blog is finished, I post it, email it out to our members, write the social media posts for it and get everything scheduled. Basically, Sunday is a working day.

And when all of that is finally done - usually around 1pm - I train.

Well...sort of.

The funny thing is, I should have the perfect training environment. I own a gym. On Sunday afternoons I pretty much have the entire place to myself. Every rack, barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, bike and rower is available. Nobody is waiting for anything and nobody is getting in my way.

I usually have some kind of plan as well. I know what I want to do and I know how to do it.

Actually finishing the full workout though?

Well...I mean...there's always stuff to do.

I'll get through the main lift (well - I'll do a few sets and usually 'around' the weight I'm supposed to do). I'll do most of the accessory work. Well - the exercises I 'like' anyway. Maybe I'll start the workout at the end - but, you know...that stuff can get hard and when it does I'll "remember" an email I haven't answered or something I need to organise for Monday. Or maybe I'll "quickly" check my phone. I'll wander into the office "for a minute".

Before I know it, I've done about 70% of what I planned to do and I'm calling it.

I tell myself that "Something is better than nothing!". I mean...right?

Of course it is.

But it's also not as good as doing the session properly.

And here's the really stupid part: with all the procrastinating and mucking around involved in my Sunday training, I could probably do two classes in the same amount of time.

Because when I'm in a class, I get to the end.

There's a start time. There's a coach. There's a session on the board. There's a clock running and there's really nothing for me to decide. I just have to follow instructions.

It has made me think a lot about the idea of flexibility when it comes to training, because having the freedom to train whenever you want sounds fantastic. I have almost the ultimate version of that. I own the gym. I can train whenever I want.

And yet every Sunday I manage to demonstrate one of the biggest problems with "whenever I want."

When you can train anytime, you can always train later.

For most people it isn't an email or some gym admin dragging them away. It's work. The kids. Dinner. Shopping. An appointment. Something around the house. Whatever happens to be sitting in front of you at that moment inevitably feels more urgent because training can always happen afterwards.

I'll go later.

Then later becomes tonight. Tonight becomes tomorrow. Tomorrow gets busy as well. Sometimes MONTHS could go past and you realise all that wonderful flexibility hasn't resulted in much training at all. It certainly hasn't led to any progress being made. Compare that with knowing you train at 6am. Or 9:15am. Or 4pm. Whatever your time is.

A fixed training time sounds like a constraint. You have to be there at a certain time and you need to organise the rest of your day around it. But that's exactly what makes it useful.

You don't spend all day wondering when you're going to train. You don't have to find a gap in your schedule. The decision has already been made. At 6am, you train.

That's simple.

Then you walk through the gym door and another whole collection of decisions disappears.

Someone tells you what to do.

I think the value of that is massively underestimated, particularly when life is busy.

You don't need to research programs. You don't need to decide whether today should be weights or cardio. You don't need to choose exercises, sets and reps or stand around staring at the equipment wondering what you're going to do next.

You just follow instructions.

The coach gets you started, tells you what equipment you need and takes you through the session. They help you choose the right weight, tell you what's coming next and keep things moving.

For 45-minutes, you don't have to organise anything.

Someone else has already done it.

And if time is one of the reasons you're struggling to train, that matters. If you've only got 45-minutes available, you can't afford to waste 15 of them doing what I seem to do every Sunday afternoon.

A good coached session makes every minute valuable. The session has been planned. The clock is running. The coach is moving you from one thing to the next.

Every minute has a job.

And when the session finishes, you're done.

I think this is where people sometimes misunderstand simplicity.

A simple training program isn't necessarily an easy training program. Heavy squats aren't easy. Sled pushes aren't easy. Running intervals aren't easy. Trying to hit another set of wall balls when your legs are cooked certainly isn't easy.

The training can be hard.

Getting yourself there and working out what to do doesn't need to be.

When the rest of your life is demanding a thousand decisions from you, your training doesn't need to demand another hundred.

Sometimes it really can be this simple.

I train at 6am.

I walk through the door.

I follow instructions.

I go home.

Maybe I need to start booking myself into the Sunday 9am class.