I am forty, I am lean and in better shape then I was when I was 20. Seems like it is backwards?? Well that’s not how I used to think when I was 20. In fact, I attended college full time, worked evenings at the fire department, competed in bodybuilding, served in the reserves, and maintained a healthy social life. I was in great shape! The reality is, I never really slowed down. I established a nutritional philosophy that focused on sustainability rather then short lived successes. I don’t diet. Most diets are silver bullets and cookie cutter blueprints that are adopted by many to achieve the same goal. The problem is, that every single person is different. Every single person has different reactions to food and nutrition. While some diets may change someone momentarily, results usually diminish after any significant amount of time because it is not sustainable. A person’s nutrition has to be tailored to themself, their lifestyle, their goals, etc. It has to be a habitual action that becomes muscle memory rather than a chore or task. It has to become a lifestyle. Think of nutrition as a lifestyle rather then a diet. I dont eat bad food 95% of the time because I have made it part of my lifestyle. The other 5% of the time, I can leave up to human error and balance without feeling guilty. This is sustainable. Following some mundane cookie cutter regiment that tells me what to eat 100% of the time is not sensitive to human error and interested in keeping your life balanced. This is not sustainable.
THE 80% RULE
The 80% rule I am talking about is NOT the one associated with trying to find a woman/man that fits 20% of your needs at the expense of sacrificing your current woman/man who is already meeting 80% of your needs. The one I am talking about is the rule that is the basis of long term programming for athletes so that they can peak at a specific point i.e. competition.
The basis of the 80% rule is that an athlete will train 80% of the time at 80% effort. The last 20% will be in the moments leading up to a single day or event at which the athlete will be able to perform at 100%.
The problem with most that do not have direction or programming, they attempt to either work at 100% effort all the time or are not consistent with the % for which they are working. The goal is to maintain 80% of volume and effort over the course of pre-competition training so that the athlete can maximize on the volume, consistency, and technique without exhausting the nervous/adrenal systems and getting injured. For instance, if I am working at 100% effort 5 days out of the week, I am most likely degrading my ability to fully recover and/or even be able to sustain that effort thus allowing the athlete to have to take more rest days or half-ass performances. Its the same concept as pacing. An athlete that is consistent over a long period of time will have generated more volume, consistency and decreased injury if they operate the majority of the their pre-competition training at 80%.
One week or so before the competition they can move to 90% effort for their work effort with decreased volume and then they ultimately can be prepared to do 100% on game day. This is what is called peaking.