Why Your Training Plan Isn't Working — You're Trying to Improve Everything at Once

I see this a lot with new clients.

Someone wants to get stronger, run faster, lose a bit of weight, improve their endurance and perhaps train for a marathon or HYROX.

None of those goals are unreasonable.

The problem is trying to achieve all of them at the same time.

I've done this myself. You get enthusiastic about a new challenge and suddenly everything becomes a priority.

• More running.

• More strength.

• More intervals.

• More conditioning.

• Clean up the diet.

• Lose a few kilos.

And because all of those things are individually sensible, it can be difficult to understand why the whole thing isn't working.

But your body doesn't know you've created six separate goals.

It just knows it's being asked to do a lot.

The problem isn't ambition

I don't think we need to lower our expectations as we get older.

I'm still setting myself challenging goals.

But I've become much more realistic about the fact that I can't maximise every quality simultaneously.

If I'm preparing for a marathon, running becomes the priority.

That doesn't mean I stop strength training. It means my strength training supports the marathon rather than competing with it.

At another point in the year, the balance might be completely different.

That's how I think good programming should work.

What are you actually trying to improve?

It's a simple question, but it's an important one.

If you have twelve weeks to prepare for something, what physical quality matters most?

• Is it aerobic endurance?

• Strength?

• Speed?

• Power?

• Or perhaps simply getting your body used to the specific demands of an event?

Once you've decided that, you can work out what needs to be maintained and what can take a back seat for a while.

And that's the bit people often struggle with.

We think that if we're not constantly improving everything, we're going backwards.

We're not.

Sometimes maintaining your strength while you build endurance is exactly what you need.

Sometimes maintaining your running while you focus on strength is the right approach.

And sometimes life is busy and the best thing you can do is maintain everything for a few weeks.

More isn't always better

There's a point where adding another session doesn't make you fitter.

It just makes you more tired.

• Your intervals suffer because your legs are tired from strength training.

• Your long run suffers because you've done a hard conditioning session the day before.

• Your sleep suffers because you're constantly trying to recover.

Eventually, the thing you're trying hardest to improve starts to suffer.

That's why I don't think a good training programme should look impressive on paper.

It should make sense, a clear priority and it should fit around the person doing it.

Because you're not just an athlete. You've probably got a job, family, commitments and a life outside training.

So if your training isn't working, don't automatically assume you need more.

You might simply need to decide what matters most right now — and give yourself permission not to improve everything at once.