Separating Signal from Noise in Strength Training

Are you lifting to satisfy your ego or your goals?

introduction

There’s a big opportunity within strength coaching to separate the signal from the noise. This is true for everyone from high-athletes or casual gym.

Signals are helpful metrics to gauge performance. Noises are less useful or even counter-productive measures.

The problem is that we now have a lot of noise. The fitness information overload makes it challenging to know what is useful and and what is not.

AN EXAMPLE of noise

Let’s say you pick up a popular strength training program. It dictates that you add 5 pounds to the bar every single session. The period of time is undefined, but the coach assumes you will linearly progress for months on end.

You begin the process, and eventually grind through a set of 5 at 225 pounds. The bar gets stuck right off the chest on the last 3 reps. You can only move it by pushing through your entire lower body and raising your butt off the bench.

You were so spent from the rep that the rest of your session was off and your shoulders ached for days after. But you jump to 230 pounds the next week because your program calls for it. The program is providing noise while you ignore the signal from your body in terms of technique and fatigue.

AN EXAMPLE of a signal

Instead of following the program, you deviate slightly. You plan to barbell bench press 225 for 5, but you’re majorly stressed by work and the prior session was harder than anticipated. So you decide to decrease the weight by about 5%, or 215, realizing that such a small drop is irrelevant to your long-term gains.

You still find 215 very hard, but you have 1-2 more reps left in the tank by the fifth rep. More importantly, you could still feel the reps. You knew when you were dumping the bar instead of controlling it to the chest, and when you were trying to over-engage your hamstrings. You made adjustments to gain the benefit of skill-practice.

Because you listened to your body, you were fully recovered for your next bench press session. You hit 225 for 5 with 1 rep left. You reference your RPE guide, and decide you can better exhibit strength by decreasing the relative intensity of the lift in following sessions. For the next 2 weeks, you have 2 and then 3 reps left after 225x5.

You’ve clearly gotten stronger based on actual data.

Why It Matters: bad vs. good coaching

Here’s another scenario to put the signal-noise problem into starker terms.

Athlete feedback is a signal on many factors, including hydration.  Ignoring signs of heat stroke to supposedly toughen up players is noise of the criminal variety. It even led to the recent death of a college football player.

In other cases, good coaching will separate the signal from the noise in the moment.

For example, a new client comes with a desire to push their deadlift training. They want to raise the intensity. But they let it slip that their back is bothering them, causing them to sleep poorly. In the moment, the coach can separate the noise, which is ego, from the real signal, which is back pain. You propose a GPP cycle for 8 weeks instead with some targeted low back work, leaving the athlete healthier and stronger.

Where Noise comes from

Signals usually contradict cultural beliefs.

Avoiding water or constantly lifting to failure is machismo, which is more ingrained than evidence-based training.

Hard training has its place in any program, and certainly is required for achieving peak athletic performance.

But in my experience, challenging workouts are distinct from punishing ones. Those are used to drive the power differential between coaches and athletes without a lot of thought. Further, hard training is best when the athlete brings the intensity intrinsically, and knows how to dial it up or down based on the conditions - by listening to the right signals.

Focusing on noise over signals stunts the development of an individual’s intuition.  Most training involves personal tradeoffs - between working hard but not too hard, getting a little extra sleep or doing an enjoyable activity late into the night, getting some training in while sick or fully resting.  

Everyone should development this judgementm whether they’re walking into a gym for the first time in their life or training for a high-level athletic competition.  Instead, people visit the weight room once and never return because their high school coach or personal trainer told them “the real work after you feel like you can’t go any further.”

conclusion

The role of client is to come to training with clear goals and intentions. The job of a coach is to translate those goals and intentions into the best-designed program. That means understanding the right way to use data to improve performance.