blueberrycake
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1) Embrace energy fluctuations: View low-energy weeks as an opportunity for future success, and start referring to them as “building weeks.”
You may feel like you only have one exceptional "peak" week at the gym to push your limits, and that might be true. Consider this week as your benchmark for breaking records and measuring your strength progress, knowing that increased strength leads to more muscle and a faster metabolism.
It's not surprising that you might view the other three weeks as wasted when you can only make significant progress during your peak week. However, let's reframe the situation.
Having one fantastic week means you have three weeks to prepare for it. Use this time wisely to set yourself up for success.
Many women focus on continuously surpassing their previous record from their peak week. For example, if you lifted 150 kg on your deadlift during your previous peak week, aim for progressive overload by adding 2.5-5 kg to the bar (a useful tip is to try microloading with .25 kg plates).
During the building weeks, the best way to progressively overload is by increasing the time under tension. Lower the weight and slow down the eccentric portion of the lift, which is when you lower the weight in the same direction as gravity.
Consider slowing down the reps to 4 seconds up and 4 seconds down to further enhance the time under tension and optimize your training during the building weeks.
2) Respect your body: Prioritize recovery and nourishment during building weeks.
Building weeks present a great opportunity to optimize your nutrition.
Prioritize nutrient-dense foods that address any deficiencies in your diet. Common deficiencies among women include iron, calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium. However, it's important to note that taking supplements will only make a noticeable difference if you are actually deficient in a specific nutrient.
If your blood test results come back normal, it makes sense that you won't feel any different after taking supplements. Therefore, it's advisable to confirm any deficiencies before resorting to high-dose supplements.
In many cases, incorporating lean meats and whole foods into your diet can go a long way in meeting your nutritional needs.
During building weeks, including low-impact physical activities such as standing, walking, and engaging in low-intensity steady-state (LISS) cardio is ideal for two main reasons.
Firstly, it minimizes recovery time, allowing your body to perform well at your next workout session. Secondly, LISS cardio uses fat as its primary fuel source. While the direct use of fat might seem important, I personally value LISS more so for its recovery benefits. In the long-term, whether you use fat or glycogen for energy isn’t as important as being in a caloric deficit (if your goal is fat loss). .
Here’s a scenario to drive this point home:
Let's compare Day A and Day B. On both days, you consume the same amount of macros/calories, leading to a caloric deficit.
On Day A, you perform fasted cardio upon waking up, depleting your glycogen stores and relying directly on fat as fuel. However, due to the lack of glycogen, the quality of your workout suffers.
Although you burn approximately 100 kcal of fat, the excess energy from your subsequent meals gets stored as fat, resulting in a net fat regain.
Nevertheless, as you maintain a caloric deficit for the day and enter a fasting window from 6 pm until the next morning, your body depletes glycogen and begins utilizing fat, leading to a net loss of fat.
On Day B, you adopt a different approach.
After waking up, you have breakfast and decide to do cardio at lunch, approximately four hours after your meal. This timing allows your body to warm up from general movement and fully digest breakfast, replenishing your glycogen stores.
As a result, you have an amazing workout, with your body using glycogen as its primary energy source of fuel. You move at a higher intensity, moving faster or sustaining a higher speed for longer. Namely, the increased intensity of your workout leads to burning more calories, let's say 150 kcal instead of 100 kcal. Glycogen was your primary source of fuel during this workout and you didn't tap into fat directly. However, this isn’t a problem. After depleting your glycogen reserves and refilling them with your evening dinner, you will tap into fat during the fasting window between the evening and the next morning. The key point is that by timing your meal to fuel your cardio session, you have burned more net calories throughout the day.
It's important to take your habits into account when determining the optimal exercise schedule. If scheduling your workout later in the day increases the risk of skipping it due to lack of motivation, sticking to your usual fasted morning cardio would be better. Consistency beats optimization.
However, if you do both resistance training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), it's worth noting that these two forms of exercise compete with each other. A HIIT session more-or-less takes up a slot that could have been used instead for resistance training in your weekly routine. Thus, you might have to commit to one or the other, depending on your goals (though I’d be inclined to strongly suggest choosing resistance training over HIIT).
3) Set realistic goals: Focus on maintaining fitness and making incremental progress.
It's unrealistic to expect breakthrough performances and set new records during the "building" weeks. Setting such expectations only sets us up for disappointment and failure. Instead, design a program that allows you to reach your maximum recoverable volume (MRV). Think of MRV as the maximum amount of work you can handle without ruining your next workout session.
There will be days when you feel terrible but still want to go to the gyms. These are perfect days to focus on mobility work and low-intensity cardio. This could involve exercises that improve shoulder, ankle, and hip mobility, as well as steady-state cardio. Investing time into mobility will prevent injuries in the future, saving you time long-term.
Many women feel relieved when they get rid of the pressure of feeling like they must lift the heaviest weight possible even when they don’t feel good. In fact, some find it helpful to reframe the gym as an "adult playground," making it a space to look forward to and enjoy rather than a place solely focused on breaking PR’s. .
4) Mind-body connection: Engage in mindfulness practices to improve diet adherence
To create mindful eating habits, eliminate all distractions during your meals.
Make it a point to have "empty hands" while chewing. For example, if you're eating a sandwich, you can set it down between bites and take a moment to savor the flavors.
Or for instance, when eating while standing and holding a bowl and fork, set them down on the counter in between bites. This simple trick increases mindfulness and appreciation for each bite.
Another strategy is to save your beverage for the end of the meal. Drinking in between bites can lead to faster eating, while slowing down digestion allows us to fully enjoy the meal. We know that digestion begins in the mouth, so we want to slow down our digestion as much as possible to maximize how much we enjoy our meal. .
Reflect on your environment and consider how you can optimize it to do the work for you. Identify any trigger foods and make it a rule for yourself that if you crave them, you have permission to go to the store and purchase the smallest portion available. This will help create a balance between enjoyment and portion control.
5) Plan for peak week: Prepare detailed workouts and performance targets.
You have three weeks to prepare for your peak week. During this time, optimize your sleep, eat nutrient-dense foods, and adjust your workouts to account for hormonal fluctuations. By doing so, you’re more likely to make significant progress during your peak week.
When structuring your peak week, prioritize recovery for each muscle group. Start your session with the most challenging lift, warming up properly by performing the actual movement of the upcoming lift using lighter weights. For example, if you're planning to deadlift, start with lighter deadlifts as part of your warm-up routine.
Doing so prepares your body for the intensity of the workout and allows you to perform at your best during peak week.
6) Prioritize recovery consistently: Sleep, nutrition, and self-care support optimal performance.
Work on improving the quality of your sleep. Doing so will lower cortisol levels, improve your mood, and enhance your adherence to a healthy diet.
Think back to a time when you only got 2 hours of sleep and how it affected your day. You probably felt overwhelmed by cravings and gave in to your “dopamine demon”, picked up McGriddle and an extra large Mocha Frappe on the way to work. This shaky start to your day made you think, “The day’s ruined. No point going to the gym today.” Then you lose more sleep over having to work hard the next day to “undo” today.
This is why it’s so important to focus on optimizing your sleep during the building weeks. You won’t feel sleep-deprived and derail yourself from your usual routine.
7) Embrace the challenge: Progress isn't always linear, be flexible and adapt to how you feel.
If something isn't challenging, it isn't worth doing. However, "challenging" refers to anything that’s slightly harder than last time.
There’s nothing wrong with using microloading techniques to gradually increase the intensity of your lifts. This can involve using wrist or ankle weights for dumbbell movements or adding small plates weighing 0.25 kg (or 0.5 lb) to the bar. Another option is incorporating an additional set or repetition into your routine.
Identify the behaviors necessary to sustain your progress once you've achieved your desired goal. For instance, if your objective is to reach a weight of 130 lbs with 20% body fat, consider how much physical activity you would have to do to maintain this physique. Additionally, take note of what foods consistently make you feel your best. Implement systems and strategies that increase your adherence to this new long-term lifestyle, making it easier to stay on track.
tl;dr
- Accept that there will be energy fluctuations and reframe low-energy weeks as "building weeks"
- Set realistic goals and focus on maintaining fitness and making incremental progress during building weeks.
- Prioritize recovery and nourishment during building weeks
- Low intensity cardio and extra emphasis on nutrient-dense foods during building weeks
- Practice mindful eating and optimize your environment to support your goals.
- Plan and prepare detailed workouts for peak week
- Improve recovery through quality sleep, nutrition, and stress-management.
- Be flexible and adapt to challenges, focusing on incremental progress and adjusting intensity if needed.
- Identify what behaviors your future self will need to develop to maintain the health she’s created and establish systems that will make it easier to stick to your healthier future lifestyle.