Stress. It can be good and bad. It comes from both our professional and personal lives. It also comes from the gym. Regardless of the source, stress is still...stress, and we need to learn how to use it for optimal training.
The High/Low Model is a way to do that. This system was made popular by the famous strength coach Charlie Francis. Coach Francis trained the sprinter Ben Johnson, who at one point was the fastest man on the planet. The High/Low model is a bit more complicated than this, but for the sake of simplicity it essentially means when we plan a training week we don’t stack high intensity days back to back.
Coach Francis theorized (and in application this certainly appeared to work) that although you can get away stacking high intensity days for a while, what often often happens is fatigue builds and then you hit a wall. Your nervous system gets a bit overreached, things start to feel heavier than they should, you get tired faster, etc. Then performance suffers.
This is why we apply this in our Human Performance Programming by usually using 3-4 structured training days a week while allowing for active recovery or complete rest days the rest of the week. I provide options on active recovery days, whether it be sled circuits or mobility work.
Coach Francis would also say athletes often don’t train high enough on their “high” days and low enough on their “low” days. Meaning, we all tend to end up getting stuck somewhere in the middle. What is even more scary is we often don’t know it. This is why we also use different methods for training stimulus during the training week. Some days we lift heavy, other days lighter, and then depending on the phase we work in some traditional bodybuilding work. Those lighter days are important as they train other facets of our fitness and allow for our different capacities to recover. We also incorporate deload weeks where we drop our training volume/intensity a bit to allow for recovery.
Our rest days can also be “floating” if need be for when this crazy thing called “life” gets in the way of your training. This doesn’t make you soft or weak for taking a off day if you didn’t sleep the night before. In fact, I would argue it makes you more mature. Below is an example from our current HERO Cycle. Notice this is comprehensive and set up that allows for hard training and recovery:
Our Human Performance Programming has years of professional experience and trial and error from both tactical and first responder heroes. We know how you’ve felt and the difficulties you have trying to make this all work. We can’t be there in person for you but we’re just a message away.
