When I first saw Joshua Redman he was only 26 years old but had already won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition and was pegged as being the “next big thing” in the fabled New York jazz scene.
I wasn’t really familiar with Redman at the time but sitting at the long, uncomfortable banquet tables at the legendary (and now, sadly, closed) Greenwich Village club “The Bottom Line” waiting for him to perform, I was sure I was going to like it.
Because, while I am not quite as obsessive about music as I am about training, it’s pretty close.
And I’m not just talking about seeking out new bands or attending live performances. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to comprehend music theory and how music actually works. While most people think terms like modal interchange, upper extensions and first inversions refer to either medical procedures or auto parts, I know better.
So as the lights finally dimmed and the quartet took the stage I was prepared to be educated and transformed.
But, the truth is, I kind of hated it.
It’s not that the music wasn’t skillfully written, arranged and played. It certainly was. Redman had earned enough of a reputation and had enough lineage - his Dad was a well-known sax player - to attract high-level musicians into his band.
The truth is, it just wasn’t for me. I was used to blues-based classic rock, singer-songwriter Americana and, occasionally, Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic”. Even the little jazz that I did listen to - Miles, Coltrane, Grant Green - was quite a bit more approachable and melodic than what those four geniuses put up on the stage that evening.
Just like training, music has rules (although less so, particularly jazz) and it’s not that these guys weren’t playing by them. I just wasn’t a fan of this particular game.
And this, oh loyal reader, is how I - and, perhaps, ultimately you - feel about certain types of training.
Most music that you hear actually follows some well established harmonic structure. You may not be consciously aware of it, but Western music fits into a particular set of rules. And when it doesn’t, your ear will let you know. It’s part of the reason that a band recital performed by 11 year olds can be so jarring. The lack of coordination drives the piece out of the structure and that is what you are reacting to.
Training actually has more accepted rules than music (it is a science, after all) yet most people don’t intuitively follow them at all.
Yup, I hate to break this to you but most group fitness classes and individual gym-goers askew the general and accepted rules of training.
They sacrifice efficacy in order to offer novelty or produce fatigue or to simply do what they enjoy. And because most people don’t understand these rules - you don’t have a developed sense of what is effective because you do not have a conditioned “ear” for training as you do for music - they don’t realize they aren’t adhering to them until they 1) get injured or 2) finally come to the realization that they aren’t getting results.
OK, now that I have shit all over most training, let me argue the other side.
While effective training should follow established rules for success, psychological engagement and general enjoyment do have to be part of the picture as well. Because we are, after all, humans and even those of us who are willing to suffer boring or joyless training programs are only willing to suffer for so long.
It is essentially the meathead version of that Joshua Redman performance. There was plenty of talent and knowledge up on that stage. Far more than I had. But, yet, I didn’t enjoy it so I found myself just waiting for the whole thing to be over so I could cue up the Allman Brothers Band in my Sony Discman for the walk home.
So the question remains. How do you actually solve this problem? How do you get to a place where training is effective and enjoyable?
Glad you asked because this is the type of shit I obsess over while you’re at home sitting under a blanket mindlessly enjoying Season 4 of “Love Is Blind”. You are welcome.
I’m not going to break down the science of exercise order or volume versus intensity or acceptable amount of plyometric contacts per week here. I’m already pushing my luck by starting off this piece with a story about jazz and I’m sure 80% of you have already clicked off this to read the latest headlines on Reddit.
I don’t want to lose the other 20% of you.
Rather lets discuss the ways that we have found to make following the rules more enjoyable and meaningful (while also actually driving results).
The first is to train with other people.
There’s a reason why there’s always three high school kids crowded around the bench press at their local LA Fitness on a Sunday afternoon. It’s the same reason that so many people love attending group fitness classes. Having built-in training partners who suffer and struggle alongside you while you lift, sweat or run will not only get you to train harder, it will also bring a lot more joy and fun to your training. Find a community of like-minded people and get after it together. This one is huge.
Secondly, make sure you have a way of tracking your progress.
Whether you use a training app or chisel your top squat set into a stone tablet like we did back in my day, tracking your results will add a lot more purpose and engagement to your training. It will also ensure that you are actually making progress which, when it comes to training, turns out to be important.
I realize this one seems like a bit of a chore but it's worth jotting down your weights during your rest periods rather than scrolling Tik Tok to keep up with the latest dances between sets.
Next, make sure you are changing things slightly week over week.
At the risk of stepping over the line into the science-y stuff, you do want to make sure that your training variables and parameters progress. But you don’t need to make this super complicated. Simply add a set or take away a rep or add one more interval. These small changes in structure lead to small changes in performance and that is a recipe for staying engaged in your training.
If you’ve been doing the same three sets of ten for the past twenty-eight weeks you are probably getting it wrong.
Finally, allow 5% of your program to be new or experimental.
The truth is, effective training typically relies on getting excellent and efficient at a fairly narrow set of movements. But you do need to allow yourself some room to try something new. Used to doing sets of 5 to 8 reps? Try sets of 20. Are you a ‘kettlebell guy’? Try using dumbbells for the same movements.
Adjust your grip. Change your stance. Mix-up your warm-up. Elevate your heels. Take off your shoes. There are thousands of small things you can do to work within the parameters but still make it all a bit more interesting.
Training has plenty of rules. Jazz has less. And clearly this blog only has one or two.
But as sure as I am to make a joke at Justin Bieber’s expense in every third post, you can still find ways to follow the rules while making training meaningful and fun.
See you in the gym.
I'll be the guy doing sets of 20 with no shoes on.