For the last 6 months to a year, my workout partner and I, along with a select few clients have experimented with various high intensity methods of training. From timed workouts, to ladders, to combinations of weights, bodyweight and various other tools (suspension systems, sandbags, tractor tires, etc). Where we have shown progress to a certain degree, that progress can not be tracked or predicted. The biggest complaints are the various stages of overuse injuries, and a lack of ability to accurately increase and decrease intensity to elicit a desired response.
Most of my clients are in one way or another, athletes, that have continuing competitions through out the year, not just a single competition or a single cluster of competitions during the year. So I don’t have the luxury of killing them solidly, and hoping they recover for a single event, they must be have periods of intensity and periods of recovery in order to achieve super compensation and avoid overtraining and mental burnout.
I don’t want there to be any mistake, lessons learned from high intensity programming has a place in producing the fatigue response, but it is extremely difficult to gauge or program recovery in order to get to an improved super compensated response on a strict diet of balls to the wall intensity!
The other concern here is not just performance improvements, but also the recovery time is used to grew and strengthen the mechanical aspects of athletic movement, improvements in bone, ligament and tendon density, that allows for an increase in time spent training injury free. It is impossible to guarantee 100% injury free training, but you can increase this time with strategically placed recovery, without minimal loss of performance.
The unfortunate influx of training programs that use only what I call “primitive equipment” sandbags, tires, etc are limited in their adjustability, so they can only be used in a high intensity manner. This lack of adjustability, means they are easy to administer (it doesn’t take a great deal of ability to beat someone into the ground) with very little training, background,or education, and it makes athletes sweaty, tired and sore, so it must be working right? In the short term yes, in the long term, boredom and overtraining injuries are on the horizon. It is the same cycle of training/injury/rehabilitation shown with traditionally trained endurance athletes such as swimmers, rowers and runners.
I can attest that this process of discovery has been much like breaking and addiction for most athletes. When you have been trained at this intensity every day, all the time, backing down and re-starting intensity cycles is a daunting wall to climb. This being said I think it is necessary to examine the evidence of past training, regardless of your situation and learn from the positive and negative aspects, and make appropriate changes.
The key is constant experimentation, learning from mistakes, keeping what works, and moving on with a goal of consistent improvement..
