One and Done

Here is one of the most common FAQ’s we get at Alchemy Anywhere:
How can one weight work for the entire training program?
It’s a logical question. All you need to do is look at the variety in the programming and the question is likely to pop into your head all on its own. If I’m supposed to be squatting, pressing, swinging and deadlifting this weight, along with about a thousand other movements, how am I supposed to use just one load?
The answer might surprise you.
Because I’m not going to serve you an answer based in fraudulence. The reality is, in a perfect world, you would have a variety of loading options to pick from. You’d be able to increase weight on days you felt good or were using particularly powerful movements, and decrease weight on other training days. This would be ideal. I’m not going to tip-toe around that truth. But I am going to remind you that you don’t live in a perfect world.
You live in a world where your fitness and nutrition is just one single part of a busy schedule full of different priorities. I bet you’d love to hire a personal chef, and designate two hours of your day to training and recovery but for many of us who work long hours, have families, and are balancing the world on our shoulders, its not a luxury we can enjoy.
You’ve chosen Alchemy Anywhere because it brings an effective fitness program into your busy schedule with relative ease. We built Alchemy Anywhere with use-ability in mind, EVEN if it can’t provide the same results as moving to Colorado Springs to work out at the US Olympic Training Center six days per week. So that’s the first thing – we acknowledge the question being asked as reasonable but chose this option based on what it meant – that people all over the world could regain structure and efficacy in their fitness for the first time in weeks, months, even years. It’s a balancing act.
Now, in the same breathe, there is a slightly more scientific explanation as to why having a weight range to choose from isn’t quite as important as you might think.
Imagine you’re going for a run, call it a one-mile jog. In this case, the “loading” you’ve selected is your body-weight. Now, if you do that one-mile jog in about 12 minutes you might experience some symptoms as a result of your effort: sweat, heavier than normal breathing, tired legs, flushed red face, hunger etc. Now, if I wanted to increase those symptoms and thus, increase the adaptation your body would experience as a result of your training (read: #gainz), there are a couple things I could do – number one, I could make you run the same mile but faster. I could make your run the same speed but longer. And, I could even make your run a shorter distance, with enough increased speed and intensity that you’d get an altogether different set of symptoms than with the original work-load.
And NONE of this had anything to do with changing the “load”. Your body-weight is what it is in this case.
The simple point is that we can use the same weight as long as it falls in a reasonable range for our fitness level, adjust intensity and reps and we’re going to experience positive changes. It’s a fundamental truth in fitness that our intensity is far more influential in achieving our objectives than anything else.
So, while I, like many of you, would love to live in a world where I had a complete home gym in my basement, a personal trainer to motivate me, a chef to keep my nutrition in check, and 30 hours in a day… it’s just not an option. Instead, I’m going to carve out a consistent window for me to PYL in, I’m going to prioritize my effort over everything else, maybe pick up a second Torpedo somewhere down the road and enjoy bringing Alchemy’s in-studio product into my living room.
One and done. It’s all you need.
Happy training!