Morale Monday Edition #3 🤙🏻
Happy Monday Everyone!!
I am glad you are here and hope you get something great out of today's newsletter!
This Past Week
I have lots of things that I want to talk about from the past week, but I will try to keep this short, as I don't want to take up too much of your time!
I realize I am way late on this one, but I quite enjoy listening to podcasts on most of the drives that I do. I decided to give something else a try that is along the same lines of using my drive time for personal development. I started listening to books on Audible. Sometimes I find myself zoning out during drive and listening, but it has allowed me to get through almost 2 books while driving in the past week and a half. If you spend a decent amount of time behind the wheel or doing a menial task that allows you to listen, I would definitely suggest giving it a try!
One training tip that I can give as I have went through this past week through my own training and some clients is to make sure you monitor your volume. Volume in training is normally defined as sets & reps - 5 Sets of 5 Reps would give you a total volume of 25 reps. You can also view it in Time Under Tension or TUT if you tempo any part of a movement; there are several ways to break down volume and it can be easy to get lost in analysis and numbers, so for the sake of simplicity let's just go with sets and reps.
Why do I want to talk about volume? Well, to me it may be the most important variable to consider. One area where I think some S&C programs fall short is the amount of volume they program for certain lifts in training. They may have some sound reasoning when it comes to why volume is so low during certain times of the year, but if you want to yield true adaptation during appropriate time frames, you need to push the envelope a bit. Yes, you must build so that you can handle something that is considered high volume, but if it is a period of time when training is the emphasis - you NEED to push to get the adaptation you want. Want to know what a higher volume program is? Anything that uses a light to moderate weight and has greater than 40-50 reps... think 5x10 or 10x5 to make it really simple. Those two set and rep schemes will yield slightly different results but go through either and you will be taxed because of how many total reps you are doing. So, monitor your volume and make sure that there aren't any huge changes (over 10% jumps).
Lastly, OBX season 3 is fire 🔥 and if you haven't watched it yet, you definitely should. Is it always realistic? No, but it is entertaining!
Present Moment
Take notice of how you feel right this moment. Are you buzzing with excitement or happiness? Are you dragging ass cause it's Monday? Or are you indifferent towards the world and life right now?
There is no right and wrong to how you are feeling, however, you have the power to choose and think different thoughts leading to more elevated emotions. Want to feel better? You have the choice right this second to stop whatever thought pattern you were on and change to a different one. Thinking about something great that has happened or that you want to happen will interrupt you regular thinking habits and give you an emotional change to feel better right now.
So, give yourself a second and close your eyes and imagine something that was awesome that recently happened to you or that you dream of doing in the future. Live in that moment in your head and imagine how great it would be... once you feel your emotion and mood changing, you have shown yourself that your thoughts are a choice, and you can choose what you think about to change your emotional state.
Wherever you are, if you are feeling not great about yourself or anything, I hope you actually apply this exercise and have chosen to be in a great emotional state for the rest of today!
Future
What am I looking forward to this week?
I am starting a new training block, which is changed up a little bit from the last. It involves a little bit more jumping and running... if you want to be athletic, you still have to do athletic things. Updates to come on this front!
Also, it is conference tournament time in basketball! 🏀 I am looking forward to seeing who makes the tournament and selection Sunday to make a bracket for March Madness!
Thank you all for reading! If you are a subscriber, I appreciate you!! If you want more of a specific item that you find in this newsletter, let me know, and I will be sure to double down.
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Have a great Monday and week everyone!
Nick