Travis Mash, a weightlifting coach and world-class
powerlifter in his own right, spoke at length not too long ago with the guys of
"Barbell Shrugged" on the idea of "mastering the mundane."
Mash discusses how great athletes seek to optimize their performance by
dialing-in the boring, recovery-oriented tasks – eating, sleeping, and
mobility, to name a few. The point Mash
makes is that while none of this is particularly exciting or sexy, it is
important all the same.
Some may see the lifestyle Mash describes – one devoid of
junk food, sugar and late-night parties – as boring or mundane. But the reality is adaptation occurs most
efficiently when external variables are minimized, if not eliminated
outright. How important is an athlete's
training to them? Is it worth their sacrificing society's sacred cows?
Cooking your own meals, going to bed before ten and finding
time to address mobility issues is not easy, rest assured. Advance planning is required. Here are a couple of suggestions:
(1) Cook a feast every Sunday night, one capable of
providing multiple days’ worth of leftovers. The winter months lend themselves
to roasts and stews, while the summer one offer optimal grilling weather;
(2) Find your version of "easy breakfast." Eggs, fresh fruit and sweet potato home fries
(plus a few tablespoons of raw nut butter) are my "go to" pre-workout
foods if training mid-day. Note, when
choosing between different fresh fruits, select those with lower fructose
concentrations, such as avocados, berries, peaches and kiwi. Charles Poliquin promotes a different
approach, preaching the "Meat and Nut" breakfast, and he has penned many
articles in its defense. The meat and
nut breakfast also lends itself to the early-morning commuter whose time in
precious;
(3) Organize your work-week, to the greatest extent
practicable, so that you can get a jumpstart on projects, briefs and
papers. A few hours spent working on
Saturday and/or Sunday can alleviate the stress of Monday through Friday,
allowing for earlier bedtimes and/or training opportunities. Consistency is adaptation's best friend;
(4) Learn the difference between optimal and
less-than-optimal sleeping patterns. Eight to nine hours of sleep is
recommended for hard-charging athletes, but this figure is not the final
word. An optimal sleeping environment is
cold, dark and quiet. Reverse engineering
such a state reveals blackout curtails or curtails of heavy cloth, a sleeping
mask and temperature controls are good investments. Clean bed sheets buttress this environment –
wash or replace weekly. It behooves male
athletes to note in their training log whether they awoke with an erection (an
"E" in the margin next to the date will do), as this is a sign of
positive hormone balance; and
(5) If your training facility is not located conveniently to
your residence (mine is not), reserve 15-20 minutes before bed for mobility
work. The cost of a pvc pipe ranges from
$8-10 at Lowe's or Home Depot (buy two -- a thicker one for rolling and a
thinner one for shoulder stretches). With this $20 investment, an athlete can
address a number of areas, including the hips, posterior chain and shoulders. Add in a packet of lacrosse balls and a bike
tube tire (which can be cut into a makeshift voodoo floss band) from any other
sporting goods store and an athlete's mobility repertoire is largely complete.
It was Mike Tyson who said, "the life of a champion is
monotonous," but it is this environment that promotes adaptation and subsequently
training progress. As days become weeks,
weeks become months and months become years an athlete can continue to make
gains, but as Dan Johns says "plan the work, work the plan."
