WORKOUTS WRECK PERFORMANCE

After a year and a half, she said she needed more.

I disagreed.

Sounds like the beginning of a breakup, doesn't it?

After more than a year of 20 second workouts once a week on the viiivPRO her strength was trending upward nicely on all 4 exercises. Energy level was good.

She noticed the positive effects. Everything seemed to be going great.

But, it still wasn't enough.

So she cheated on a good thing and added a personal training program twice a week.

Then things started to go downhill.

As I wrote in TOP DOWN, NOT BOTTOM UP, performance level effort is the path to the very best physical fitness results possible. It increases your capacity like nothing else.

Anything less than performance level effort (a few seconds of maximum neurological impact) does nothing to raise your level of performance at ANY effort level below it.

And so it was glaringly obvious.

Looking at all four exercise trend-lines on her report you could see the exact date she started the new program. All performance dropped and has remained lower ever since.

It's no surprise, especially when she would come in every Wednesday looking tired and say, "We had a good workout on Monday, I'm still sore."

Good workout huh?

What did she gain? Sensations? Sure. But at the expense of being at her best all the time. 

There's a saying: Don't let today ruin tomorrow.

Soreness, stiffness, inflammation, and fatigue today are not your friend. They are the enemy of tomorrow.

Get this straight: There is no extra activity you can add to your life that will make your performance level effort better.

But adding high performance effort to your life will make anything you already do, or want to do, easier and even more doable. 

The flow only goes one way. Period!

But I understand why this happens because I've watched it occur over and over for 20 years.

The neurological changes from just a few seconds of performance level effort gives people new strength and greater energy so they feel like they can add more. They feel so good and think that adding more will make them feel even better.

But more isn't better, obviously.

Now, to prove my point, her extra workouts were voluminous and demanding, and she wasn't sure she would be able to keep up, but her words to me were "I was happy it didn't feel as hard as I thought it would."

See, flow only goes one way.

So the thought that comes to mind is, if adding workouts to your high performance effort compromises your performance, how much good are those workouts doing for your physical fitness on their own?

Not much. 

I can't stress this enough, but if you want to be at your best, and ready for anything, performance level effort (just a few seconds of your best effort on the viiivPRO) is without a doubt the way to go. You will never be able to achieve this working from the bottom up. Never! 

The viiiv way is your "go bag" of exercise. When you grab it and sling it over your shoulder you can rest assured that your ceiling has been raised and your capacity increased so you can take on any challenge you need, or want to. But if you think adding more to your bag is going to make you more prepared, think again.

Workouts will wreck performance.