If you train regularly during the week, can you still make significant muscle gains? What is the best way to balance weight training with other sports to maximize your progress at the gym?
The short answer to the first question is YES! As long as you plan your routine correctly and make the right adjustments. Even if you participate in sports regularly, you can still work your muscles effectively.
The specific impact of sports on your performance (if any) will depend on the intensity of the exercise and the total number of hours you spend on it each week.
For example, low-impact activities such as swimming certainly won’t negatively affect your performance.
On the other hand, sports such as soccer or cycling, because of their greater physical demands, may have a greater impact depending on how often you do them each week and interfere with your muscle recovery.
In this article, I’ll share some tips you can put into practice to strike the right balance between weight training and sports, so you can build muscle and get stronger while enjoying your favorite sports.
Make sure you’re consuming enough calories
The first tip is the most basic for balancing weight training with other sports.
If your goal is hypertrophy, you need to consume more calories! Working out during the week will burn extra calories and use up the nutritional resources your body needs to recover and make gains!
The more intense your sport outside the gym, the more careful you need to be about replenishing that lost energy with good nutrition!
Separate your weight training and sports sessions
The second tip is to try to separate your weight-training sessions from the days you exercise for your sport, to maximize recovery.
When planning your gym program, be sure to consider the main muscle groups needed for your favorite sport.
Reduce or eliminate additional cardiovascular exercise
The third tip is to skip any additional cardiovascular exercise you may be doing.
If you want to build muscle and strength as effectively as possible and already exercise several times a week, there’s no reason to do extra cardio at the gym.
This is one of many mistakes to avoid. Instead, consider your sport a form of cardio!
Any physical activity that is properly prescribed and raises your heart rate will ultimately become an effective aerobic workout.
Reduce the volume and/or frequency of weight training
If you devote a lot of time and energy to your chosen activity (four or more days per week), the fourth tip is to reduce the amount and frequency of your weight training.
This will help ensure that you don’t overtrain.
For example, if someone trains in a particular martial art four days a week and doesn’t plan to reduce that frequency, and also does five weight-training sessions per week, I would suggest reducing the weight-training sessions to no more than three.
The work you do at the gym is just the “spark” that gets things going, but real growth happens during recovery. If you can’t recover properly, you can’t grow.
Reduce the volume/frequency of sports
Reduce your overall exercise volume and frequency.
If your sport is just recreational and weight training is a higher priority, slightly reducing how often you pursue your hobby may help optimize your performance, especially if you do it frequently during the week.
In general, it depends on personal preferences and goals.
I don’t recommend giving up a hobby that brings you pleasure and is good for your mental health, but if it slows your progress at the gym, cutting back may be a viable option.
Rest!
The sixth tip is to make sure you get a good night’s sleep every night.
No matter what kind of training you do, sleep is very important, but this is especially true if you regularly participate in sports and lift weights.
Long-term sleep deprivation can interfere with nearly every process related to recovery and growth, and make it difficult to maintain a consistent sports and weight-training routine.
Conclusion
If you want to balance weight training with other sports, that’s definitely possible in most cases. As long as you follow the steps outlined in this article, you can still build muscle and increase your strength effectively.
Even if you follow these tips, your performance may be slightly affected, but these tips will help ensure that any negative impact your chosen sport has on your performance is minimized as much as possible.
Remember! Never deprive yourself of a healthy activity or a sport you enjoy!
What did you think of this article? Do you plan to apply these techniques to your training routine to balance weight training with other sports? Share your opinion in the comments. #VEMPROTREINO.
