ARE YOU A GENERALIST OR SPECIALIST WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR TRAINING?
Whether you are training for a specific event or hoping to overcome niggles and injuries, you will hope to see results: getting fitter, stronger, becoming more injury free, and having the ability to do other things in your life better.
But is this achievable by taking a generalist approach to your training?
WHY A GENERALIST APPROACH MAY NOT BE RIGHT FOR YOU
Training within a mass group environment or exercise class can definitely have its benefits. It has the social aspect, the equipment and programming is ready for you to just turn up, and it can be a cheap solution to getting your strength exercises in. Yes, you may see some benefits and strength gains from a generalist approach, but you may also find your needs are not being met.
There is no specificity. The problem with that is you’re having to follow an umbrella model that has been designed to work for everyone, and obviously it’s very hard for the instructor to tailor this for each individual’s needs within a class of anything over four or five people.
Additional to this training, what else are you doing? Are you running, cycling, swimming? What goals are you personally aiming for? What does life look like in and around your training? Do you know what weaknesses you should and shouldn’t be working on? Are you seeing progression in your performance? Do you receive specific answers to any questions you may have?
These are all things that a generalised training program is not able to take into consideration.
As a result, you are not going to be working on the areas you need to the most, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. You’re just going to be skimming the surface when training in a big group environment or in such a generalised way.
If you take a generalist approach to your training, you’re not taking into account any of these important questions, which can lead to overtraining and hindering your health and performance, rather than helping. You will only ever see general results.
WHAT IS A SPECIALIST APPROACH?
If you’re looking to build towards a particular race, rehabilitate a certain injury, get stronger or just get healthier, then having a sustainable and specialised approach to your training is essential.
A specialist approach is a program that has been designed and tailored specifically to your health and performance wants and needs, taking into consideration your lifestyle, injuries and desired goals. If you want to achieve these goals effectively, safely and consistently then it is super important to modify and adapt your program as you go, to ensure you’re staying on the right path.
You want to be working with a coach who will aim to give you a greater understanding as to the why and how behind the exercises you have been given, whilst also providing you with the tools to be able to move forward with your training and work on it yourself, without the need to rely on them in the future.
“My job as a professional is to keep people moving through the gears. People have no idea just how strong, how healthy, how fit they can be with their bodies and it’s our job as health professionals to inspire and show people what they need to do - and to do that you need to educate them.”
You want to make sure that you’re not moving more towards an over-trained state, that you’re looking and getting stronger, you’re getting fitter, you’re becoming more injury-free, and you’re able to do other things in your life better. This is what a great coaching service should be providing in terms of performance and health.
Whatever our clients’ goals may be, we want to give them long lasting results, especially in terms of getting over an injury. From getting strong for events to getting to your required weight for a optimal level of health, we’re looking for these things to happen relatively quickly, sustainably and without risk! To do that, it needs to come from that specialist and individualised approach.
To find out more about how to take a specialised approach, listen to our podcast episode below: