Why I’m not training "optimally" right now

Right now I’m trying to do two things that don’t naturally go together.

I’m training to be a hybrid athlete.

And I’ve just started my national rep league for ice hockey.

On paper, that is not the most “optimal” combination.

There is some crossover, of course. But longer distance running is not helpful for hockey. Hockey is short, explosive, repeat efforts. It is acceleration, recovery, power, and capacity to do it again.

It is not a long steady grind like you get with endurance work.

If I was writing the perfect hockey program on paper, longer runs would not be a part of it.

But here’s the point.

The perfect plan is not the one that looks best on paper.

It is the one you can actually stick to.

And right now, I enjoy this style of training.

I enjoy lifting.

I enjoy running.

I enjoy the variety.

I enjoy training every day and looking forward to it.

That’s what matters.

(And as a quick caveat here, I *did* train very hockey-specific in the lead up to the World Champs in March.)

Because the body responds to what you do consistently, not what looks ideal in theory.

This is where so many people go wrong.

They keep looking for the perfect training split, the perfect meal plan, the perfect formula for fat loss, fitness, strength, or performance.

But if the plan is so restrictive, so boring, or so unrealistic that you abandon it two weeks later, it was never a good plan for you in the first place.

I see this with clients all the time.

Some clients want to run. Some love spin classes.

If I were trying to build the most “ideal” fat loss plan, neither of those would make the cut.

But real life is never perfect.

And coaching real people is not about forcing them into a perfect template.

It is about taking what they enjoy, what they are already likely to do, and building around that in a way that still gets results.

That might mean:

- making sure protein is high

- keeping daily movement up

- adjusting training volume elsewhere

- structuring the week so the body can recover

- fuelling properly so stress does not just keep piling on

In other words, we make the plan fit the person.

Not the other way around.

I truly believe this is one of the biggest differences between plans that work for 2 weeks and plans that work for years.

Perfection is seductive.

But consistency is what changes the body.

So no, there is not one perfect way to train and eat.

There is the right way for your body, your season of life, and your goals.

And often, the right plan is simply the one that is good enough to do often enough.

That is the standard.

Good enough, often enough.

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