Training vs Working Out

Don’t worry, this isn’t a post to diminish one or the other. Quite the contrary.

But knowing your intent at the gym can improve your results exponentially.

-Working out-

If life has been hectic or stressful and/or your time is limited, you just need to workout. If this is the case, find a modality you enjoy but will still provide you with what you need (Strength, plyos, conditioning). You can work in some variety if you like, but generally speaking you should leave each workout feeling better than when you started and it should be fun. 

Or maybe you’re an athlete who is in-season, in which case you should still be getting in your workouts but they can be extremely efficient and simple. 

Either way, continuing to get in the gym is still a big win. The habit alone will benefit you when the time comes to ramp up your training, and your body will respond far better to a more advanced program down the road. 

-Training-

If you are working on a program more specific to an event, sport, weight loss, muscle gain, etc – You should consider yourself training. This requires more intent. 

You need to understand the intent of your training – What are your goals? Are your workouts specifically geared to improve those goals? Or do your workouts incorporate a little too much of everything? Training should be more focused.

One mistake we see a lot is people who would consider themselves “training” doing the same routine for far too long. If you’ve been doing the same routine for a long time but would consider yourself training, we’d recommend taking a deeper look into where your deficits are and how you can adjust to improve those. Remember, plateau’s are when we adapt too well to our current stimulus, you may need to change up the stimulus.

Or the effort. If you are in training, your effort level is extremely important. That doesn’t mean full-send or nothing, it could mean learning pace discipline, or lowering the weight to improve your movement quality.

Questions about how to improve either? Hit us up! Are you in training or enjoying your workouts these days?