The Right Amount Not Too Much and Not Too Little. Then do it Right!

It is close to the Pareto principle or 80/20 rule that the distribution of many things follow a pattern where there is a majority and a minority. In exercise it is clear where 90% do not exercise sufficiently for good health and 90% of those that do exercise do it so bad they again are not in good health! It is a similar pattern in many areas in health and other behaviours. The problem is when the better part is done by the minority.

A basic for health is to be active, where many activities of life have been superseded including work and transport and replaced by inactivity tasks instead. One task for society is to increase activity levels in general. Exercise is not the only means to do this but a good one with many lessons for other activities. A classic exerciser’s error is to do too much, whether too many different things or too much of one thing. Over-training has got some to hospital, many to stop training, many injuries and much under-performance. They do so much they achieve less. Just as a baby over reaches as they learn about themselves and their environment, children and adults over reach and experience the consequences.

So once a sensible amount of activity is achieved (by increasing or decreasing) then the quality of exercise needs to be addressed. Doing exercise so that it is healthy and performance enhancing. Most sports and activities have their dangers. Swimming is a good exercise method and life skill. In the USA more people die in backyard swimming pools than from guns! Swimming rarely injures or kills but safety of the apparatus is key. Running is the simplest and most common method and yet surveys constantly find injury rates above 50% and up to 90% (I would suggest the high end as many will not run for a year as injury stops them running.). Yes more than half of people who run get injured running in any year. Surveys of Martial arts students have injury rates of 4 a year, now if the training is to cope with violence then the likelihood of violence needs to be assessed. In the UK the chance of violent crime is about once in every 120 years. Is it acceptable to get injured 4 times a year for a 1 in 120 year event. In team sports injury rates usually contain a third of injuries due to foul play, where someone is not playing to the rules and someone is not keeping the games within the rules and coaches and parents may also encourage or not enforce the safety rules. Many sports are now and will be increasingly under pressure concerning head injuries. Many long term implications from chronic injury in contact sports as well as immediate risk in major immediate injuries will raise concerns. Finding a balance between activity and risk rather than ban or restrict to unhealthy levels needs consideration. In areas where cycle helmets are compulsory the cycling rates drop comparing cycle head injury rates and Heart attack rates need to be balanced.

Reducing injury and increasing participation rates are essential to make exercise and sport healthy. Right at the beginning with children correct technique and movement patterns need to be ingrained. Kelly Starrett starts with the squat for helping adults to avoid injury (health) and increase performance (optimal). First he gets you to see the foot position – line the knees with the foot in the correct position not duck feet (no ducks are not actually that stupid but the name sticks). The feet positions affect the knees which carry on up the chain effecting and injuring everywhere. The basic movement patterns are targeted as the squat will help in many movements in many sports and activities. The other joints need to be in position for every movement. These need to be taught and encouraged early so that problems do not appear later. Many runners do this they have the feet in a bad position and have repeated forces shocking up the body till it ‘cana take any more’. At the other end the head pulls the body out of position with the same chained effects. Shoulder position for over head and all joints need to be aligned. How this is learned either encouragement or biomechanics or allowing chi or prana to flow does not matter.

The best at anything are the best at the basics. Special forces solders are the best at basic soldering. The highest maths prodigies get their basic maths right. Exercise is the same doing the most important things every day is a good approach but also with good technique. Many attempt to train the advanced moves and skills without good basics and errors can be catastrophic. The general pattern is that practising the basics may not be the most excising but as you get fewer injuries you train more and get to higher levels. The enjoyment of improved abilities and less pain over entertaining fantasy is good when you experience it and feel the benefits.

Many people rush their training trying to achieve super human abilities too quickly. The body responds to overload but at it’s own pace the tissues (including the brain) develop at the pace they will, not to an imagined pace. Finding the right amount of training and then doing it will develop physical abilities and skills consistently. Being aware of the body and when you can do some more or must slow down will get better results in the long term and I mean longer than a few weeks. The best have 10 years training with their talent so that’s how long it takes for those levels. Correct training is also the correct methods for you purpose or goals.

Discovering what is enough is an achievement. For the Olympics a champion needs to qualify, and then meet the needs of the competition. This may be just being in the top 2 in the rounds and then first in the final. Finishing first every time is not required. In fact finishing first or over dominating an opponent may use too much energy making the later rounds too hard. A similar pattern is in flexibility where being too flexible can lead to joint instability. Too much time developing strength or any one element may get in the way of achieving whats needed in other elements. A questions is: Do I need to be more flexible? The answer may well be yes, or not at the moment or no. Time may be needed for the need to be there or for the body to adapt. Too early can lead to problems as well as too late.

These examples of balance of trying to do the right amount at the right time is a complicated skill of understanding let alone doing. It is true in the whole of life as in sport where over emphasis of one element or of the now can harm future performance levels. Daley Thompson used the motivation of today is a day off so if I train a small session I will have an advantage over my great rival. Then this grows to be well my rival will train today and therefore I will train twice. This mission creep is an easy trap, even Olympic greats fall for it. It hard to see that the 2 time Olympic gold medalist could of done better. Others do not get to that level before too much ends dreams. So work out your needs and plan to learn the right way to prepare and the right amount that can be sustained for the time you need to do it. Get the basics correct before you move on to the advanced elements how ever cool they look. For the vast majority exercise will basically be the basics performed well, to gain health, pain free and comfortable movement and realise some potential. Paving the way to other things in life.