Building Your Athlete Intuition
Training solo often means no coach to guide your effort in the moment—so athlete intuition is key, and it’s a key part of my coaching process to create resilient, independent athletes.
Knowing when to push and when to ease up prevents both undertraining and overtraining, both of which stall progress.
Are You Undertraining or Overtraining?
Undertraining Signs: Workouts feel too easy, no strength or endurance gains, no soreness, lack of motivation.
Overtraining Signs: Constant fatigue, workouts feel harder than usual, lingering soreness, poor sleep, mental fog.
Striking the right balance is about working just outside your comfort zone—not too easy, not extreme.
Assessing Readiness: The 3-Point Check
Energy Levels: Have you been eating, drinking, and sleeping enough?
Muscle & Joint Health: Feeling fresh or dealing with stiffness, aches, or pain?
Stress: Have you been going through it more than usual lately? Is it impacting your ability to be present?
Adjust Accordingly:
High readiness? Push intensity—go heavier, move faster, challenge yourself.
Moderate? Stick to the plan—consistent work leads to progress.
Low? Scale back, focus on quality movement, or prioritize recovery.
How Hard is Hard Enough?Use the RPE Scale (Rate of Perceived Exertion):
1-4: Great for warm ups and burnout sets, not so much for a main workout.
5-7: Challenging but sustainable—where most of your training should be.
8-9: Pushing limits—reserved for key sessions and/or experienced athletes.
10: Max effort—used sparingly, not every day.
Most of your training should land at 6-8 RPE, balancing effort with longevity.
Developing Athlete Intuition
Log how you feel before, during, and after training.
Notice trends—are you always drained, or do you recover well?
Trust yourself over arbitrary numbers—data is helpful, but your body knows best. And remember that RPE is for where you’re at today, not based off of your best-ever day.
Building this skill of self-assessment takes time, experimentation, and practice. That said, it can be a whole lot less daunting with a coach. If you need one of those, you know where to find me.