Don’t trust one-size-fits-all training philosophies

specially if the advice is dogmatic and contrary to conventional wisdom.

Nearly all approaches work for someone but no approach works for everyone all the time. It’s best to go with coaches or training philosophies that are open to individual differences and don’t talk in absolutes for everyone.

A great example of such an open philosophy can be found in the book Science of Running by Steve Magness.

An example of one-size-fits-all approach that is contrary to the usual wisdom and dogmatic to boot is Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster book, also known as the FIRST approach.

I’d also put Maffetone’s approach in the one-size-fits-all bag. In some ways, it’s very close to traditional training philosophy, but it’s dogmatic with some odd quirks.

If the arbitrary MAF formula works for you — as it’s bound to work for some — you’re in luck.

If not, you can be left wondering whether everything in the book is hogwash. You might even throw the baby out with the bathwater and turn to the opposite end of the spectrum and try something even crazier like the FIRST approach.

Non-running, jack-of-all-sport coaches who turn their hand to giving out running advice also often fit into this category. Brian Mackenzie and his book Unbreakable Runner come to mind.

So beware the one-trick-pony coach or training plan

You never hear about their failures or the athletes who simply stop showing up or drop the plan.

If a coach is dogmatic, they’re usually not being honest or have not objectively weighed up the evidence that would tell them that their approach doesn’t work for everyone all the time.

This is how it might go with such a coach:

1. “Try my approach. It’s the best.”
2. Athlete tries it and gets nowhere.
3. “Keep trying. It’ll work.”
4. Athlete still gets nowhere. Excuses and superficial tweaking from the coach. “Keep trying. It’ll work.”
5. Still doesn’t work. Athlete gets fed up and changes coach.
6. Coach forgets about the experience, writes it off as an anomaly or chalks it up to the athlete not carrying out the training properly.