Doing Less Actually Makes You Run Faster — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00You can run impressive times with just
2. 0:02three runs per week and research has
3. 0:04shown that sometimes doing less might
4. 0:07actually make you run faster. So, after
5. 0:1010 years as a professional triathlete
6. 0:12and two degrees in sports science and
7. 0:14physiotherapy, I'll show you five steps
8. 0:16to get faster in less time and how to
9. 0:19figure out when you need to add more to
10. 0:21keep improving. To start, I'm going to
11. 0:24show you why doing more might actually
12. 0:26be hurting your performance instead of
13. 0:29making you better and what to do about
14. 0:31it. So, let me ask you something. Have
15. 0:34you ever trained for weeks or even
16. 0:36months without seeing any results at all
17. 0:39even though you seem to be doing
18. 0:40everything right? There is a reason for
19. 0:43that and it's not your effort.
20. 0:46Let me show you. So, a study from 2018
21. 0:49found that those who trained more than 7
22. 0:52hours per week saw a 10% drop in
23. 0:56testosterone after just 1 year and a 30%
24. 1:00drop after 5 years and the levels only
25. 1:03returned to normal when the training
26. 1:05load comes down. So, if you train a lot
27. 1:08but are not getting better, it's most
28. 1:11likely because you don't get enough
29. 1:14recovery. Now, if that's the case, then
30. 1:16why do professional runners train 10
31. 1:19times per week? Well, here's the thing
32. 1:21that most recreational runners don't
33. 1:23want to hear. You are not a professional
34. 1:26athlete and running six or seven days a
35. 1:29week is something that takes years to
36. 1:32build up to. You see, the ability to
37. 1:35recover in and of itself is trainable.
38. 1:38So, the better you get, the faster you
39. 1:41can recover. But, if you haven't put in
40. 1:43that time, there's a good chance that
41. 1:45you're not recovering from your training
42. 1:48before you pile on even more fatigue.
43. 1:51So, the first step is this. Make sure
44. 1:53that your weekly workouts match your
45. 1:56ability to recover.
46. 1:59And that's where three runs per week is
47. 2:01great for most people. It's that sweet
48. 2:03spot between training and recovery
49. 2:06because you have at least one day of
50. 2:08recovery between each workout. That's
51. 2:10what allow you to train with more
52. 2:12quality in each session thereby making
53. 2:15you better. But how do you train if you
54. 2:18only have three runs per week?
55. 2:20Well, let me show you. Now, the problem
56. 2:23is that there is a million and one ways
57. 2:25to structure your training and you need
58. 2:27to train a bunch of different systems in
59. 2:30very little time. So, how do we do that
60. 2:32most effectively? Well, in 2012,
61. 2:35researchers tested this exact question.
62. 2:38They took a group of runners averaging
63. 2:4030 km week and cut their training by 54%
64. 2:45down to just 14 km per week. Then, they
65. 2:49put them through a specific protocol for
66. 2:517 weeks and the results were pretty
67. 2:54insane. Their 1500 m time improved by 21
68. 2:59seconds and their 5K times improved by
69. 3:0248 seconds on average. And their VO2 max
70. 3:07went up by 4%.
71. 3:10All with half the training volume. So,
72. 3:12now you're probably wondering what was
73. 3:14the protocol? Well, it was actually
74. 3:17pretty simple. So, they did three runs
75. 3:19per week each built around an interval
76. 3:22structure with different paces to hit
77. 3:25different systems. So, you do a warm-up,
78. 3:27then you do 30 seconds at an easy pace,
79. 3:29then 20 seconds at a medium pace, and
80. 3:32then 10 seconds full sprint. They
81. 3:35repeated that for three to four sets of
82. 3:375-minute intervals with 2 minutes of
83. 3:40rest between sets. That's it. Now, this
84. 3:43protocol won't make you run a faster
85. 3:45marathon. The volume just simply isn't
86. 3:48high enough for that. But what it does
87. 3:50show us is that quality can beat
88. 3:54quantity. And in my experience, after
89. 3:56working with more than a thousand
90. 3:57athletes at this point, it does so for
91. 3:59most recreational runners. So, here's
92. 4:02what I want you to do. Try to make each
93. 4:04of your runs count. Don't worry too much
94. 4:07about easy running and zone two until
95. 4:10you've nailed three quality runs every
96. 4:14week. And if you look at what most elite
97. 4:16runners do, they also have two to three
98. 4:19quality days per week, and then they
99. 4:21fill the rest with easy running. Now, if
100. 4:24you want to try the 30-20-10 protocol,
101. 4:27I've made one for you that you can get
102. 4:28completely for free in the description.
103. 4:30But, you could also simply do something
104. 4:32like one VO2 max session, like four
105. 4:34times four minutes hard, one threshold
106. 4:37run, so something like three times 10
107. 4:39minutes comfortably hard, and one long
108. 4:42run of around 90 minutes or more,
109. 4:45depending on your goal. So, if you're
110. 4:46going for a marathon, it needs to be
111. 4:48longer. But, if you're going for a mile,
112. 4:50it doesn't need to be that long. But, if
113. 4:52you're anything like me, you're probably
114. 4:54wondering, but the best runners in the
115. 4:56world run more than three times per
116. 5:00week. And a ton of research have shown
117. 5:03that more volume gives better results in
118. 5:05a lot of cases. So, shouldn't we just do
119. 5:08the same? Well, here's the thing. Even
120. 5:11if you could find the time to train like
121. 5:13a professional runner, you still
122. 5:15wouldn't get the same results.
123. 5:18Let me explain. I want you to think
124. 5:19about your body's ability to get better
125. 5:21like a budget. Every stress you
126. 5:24experience from work, family arguments,
127. 5:27bad sleep, or financial pressure draws
128. 5:30from that budget. Now, elite runners
129. 5:33have basically one job. They train, they
130. 5:36eat, they sleep, and they recover. Their
131. 5:40budget is almost entirely free for
132. 5:43running.
133. 5:44Yours isn't. So, when you try to stack a
134. 5:47high training load on top of an already
135. 5:51demanding life, your body doesn't have
136. 5:53enough left in the budget to adapt. And
137. 5:56that's when you burn out and injuries
138. 5:58start showing up, which will make you
139. 6:01inconsistent. Not because you're weak,
140. 6:04but because you're asking your body to
141. 6:06do too much with too little left to
142. 6:09give. And research has actually shown
143. 6:11this. For every 1,000 hours of training,
144. 6:15novice runners have almost twice the
145. 6:18injury rate compared to experienced
146. 6:21runners. So, here's what I want you to
147. 6:23do. Don't add more running on top of
148. 6:26everything else and expect it to work.
149. 6:29If you can do three runs per week and
150. 6:31stay consistent and actually recover
151. 6:34between them, you're going to get a lot
152. 6:36better results than if you can do five
153. 6:39or six runs per week for three weeks and
154. 6:41then you have one week off because you
155. 6:43got a niggle or life simply got in the
156. 6:46way. But, it also works in reverse. So,
157. 6:48if you're going through a quieter period
158. 6:50with less stress at work and more time
159. 6:52to sleep and more time to recover,
160. 6:55that's when you can push a bit harder
161. 6:57and add more. Your training should fit
162. 7:00around your life, not fight against it.
163. 7:03All right, so maybe this all makes sense
164. 7:05or maybe you're still fighting it with
165. 7:07your inner voice screaming to do more
166. 7:10volume. So, to convince you to at least
167. 7:12try to do a bit less, let me show you
168. 7:15the number one thing that stops runners
169. 7:17from getting better and how to avoid it.
170. 7:20Now, if you look all over social media,
171. 7:22you'll see your favorite running
172. 7:23influencers or running superstars, they
173. 7:26all get injured quite often. So, if they
174. 7:30are the best at what they do, then why
175. 7:34do this keep happening? Let me show you.
176. 7:36So, last year I was probably in the best
177. 7:38shape I've been in for like five years
178. 7:40or so and then just a few weeks before I
179. 7:43was going to attempt a sub 70-minute
180. 7:45half marathon, I got injured. So, right
181. 7:48at that peak, which made it that much
182. 7:50more frustrating. But, the thing is that
183. 7:53I've seen this happen so many times
184. 7:55working with athletes and through my own
185. 7:58professional career. Injuries almost
186. 8:00always happen when you're at your best.
187. 8:03And that's not a coincidence. You see,
188. 8:06elite runners are constantly searching
189. 8:08for their limit, pushing right up to the
190. 8:11edge of what their body can handle,
191. 8:13simply because that's what it takes to
192. 8:15compete at the highest level. When a few
193. 8:18seconds separates first from 10th place,
194. 8:21you have to take that risk. But, me and
195. 8:24you, we're not competing for world
196. 8:27title. And if your goal is to run great
197. 8:30times and actually enjoy the process,
198. 8:33you don't need to play with that edge.
199. 8:35And that was the issue that I had last
200. 8:38year. I tried to play with that edge,
201. 8:40and that made it counterintuitive
202. 8:42because I actually ended up getting
203. 8:45worse this year than I would have gotten
204. 8:48if I had just stayed consistent and not
205. 8:50tried to increase my volume. What you
206. 8:53and I need is consistency because volume
207. 8:56matters, but it's volume over time, not
208. 9:00volume in a single week. So, here's what
209. 9:03you do. Plan your training around
210. 9:05consistency for years, not what you
211. 9:08think you might be able to handle for
212. 9:10the next 12 weeks, but what you can
213. 9:13actually stick to for long time. All
214. 9:16right, but how do you know if running
215. 9:17three times per week is enough for you
216. 9:19to get faster and when to add more?
217. 9:22Let me show you. Now, the problem is
218. 9:24that at some point, if you stay
219. 9:25consistent, you will stop improving
220. 9:28because you need to add a bit more
221. 9:30demand to your body every single week.
222. 9:33But, it's actually pretty simple to keep
223. 9:35improving while keeping your injury risk
224. 9:38at a minimum so you can stay consistent.
225. 9:40Let me explain. Think of training like
226. 9:42medicine. Any drug has a minimum
227. 9:45effective dose. Meaning the smallest
228. 9:48amount you need to get the result you're
229. 9:50after. If you take less than that, it
230. 9:52doesn't work. But if you take more than
231. 9:54that, you're just adding side effects
232. 9:57without any extra benefit. Running works
233. 10:00exactly the same way. Impatience is
234. 10:03what's costing you your biggest results
235. 10:05and social media has messed everything
236. 10:07up making it look like running 100 miles
237. 10:10per week is normal. So, here's what I
238. 10:12want you to try. As long as you're
239. 10:14getting better, you don't need to add
240. 10:18more. More isn't the goal. Getting
241. 10:21better is. So, here's the approach that
242. 10:23works in the long term. Build
243. 10:25consistency first, then stay there until
244. 10:28the improvements stop coming. And only
245. 10:31then add more training on top. Put
246. 10:34simply, give yourself the minimum
247. 10:36effective dose to keep getting better.
248. 10:39So, now you know how doing less can
249. 10:41actually make you run faster. But
250. 10:43there's one thing that'll make you
251. 10:45improve faster than anything else. And
252. 10:47I'll show you exactly what it is in this
253. 10:50video right here.