Night Time Wind Down

I'm on a hot streak with my training, and have been for a while. In fact, I can quantify it; I've trained 89 times in the past 81 days.

There are a lot of factors playing into my streak.

Besides the new found discipline from becoming a father, I've redefined what I deem a successful workout doing (very) short sessions - really hammering the minimum effective dose idea. There's something else that deserves a lot of credit, and it starts with the night before.

I've written before about how doing the dishes at night got me started training early in the morning, but there's something else I've been doing after the dishes, and I'm here to tell you it makes all the difference between a productive day of training or going through the motions.

I warm up.

Not in the sense that I get sweaty, and start bouncing around and getting amped to train. The opposite in fact.

I do any soft tissue/mobility/restorative work in anticipation of what I'm going to do the next day. Planning on some pull ups, I'll spend a few minutes working on my forearms, elbows and lats. Deadlift session? I'll open up my hips and hamstrings. For running intervals, I'll give my calves some love and hang in the couch stretch.

This accomplishes a couple things. 1. It gets me mentally prepared for tomorrow's training and helps when I'm tired and don't feel like going into the cold garage at 5am, 2. It saves me from doing those things in the morning! Instead of rolling and stretching in the morning, I focus on getting sweaty and getting started.

If you're looking for a secret weapon to get more from your training, I can't recommend enough that you get on the floor and get some quality work in the night before.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain