Help · Your plan

Why your plan says what it says

Axial Fit explains every suggestion. Each advice card and each "Why?" link in the app opens the answer here. Your plan suggests; you decide.

Why one set less when you are sore or short on sleep?

Soreness that gets in the way, or a stretch of bad sleep and low energy, means the body has less to give the session. One set off each movement keeps the session and the habit and costs almost nothing in progress; skipping the day costs more. Axial Fit proposes it and never changes a session you have already seen. Keep it as planned if you feel fine.

Lighter today, in Adjust today, is the same idea when you choose it: one set fewer at the same weight, an easier version of a movement, or easy cardio instead (a walk, a ride or a row). It lasts for today only, and nothing moves up or down from it, so your next session picks up where you were. It is for an occasional rough day, not for a day your coach set, and never for pain: if something hurts, answer Yes to unusual pain in the check-in instead.

Why an easier session after unusual pain or a rough check-in?

When you report unusual pain, or your check-in points to a lighter day, your plan stops suggesting hard sessions and suggests an easy one. An easy session keeps your week and your habit going while the hard work waits a day, and that costs almost nothing in progress.

Nothing is locked. If you open a harder session anyway, it says so once and Start anyway starts it. That choice is yours and it is recorded as yours. Axial Fit does not diagnose pain: if it stays or it worries you, see a doctor or physical therapist.

Why space out hard conditioning sessions?

An all-out effort takes time to pay back. Do the next one too soon and it lands on a body that has not finished absorbing the last, so the same session buys less fitness for the same effort. Spacing them out lets each one count in full.

Why not more hard conditioning in a week?

A couple of hard sessions a week is where most of the benefit is. More adds more recovery cost than it adds fitness, and the cost shows up in the lifting and in how the rest of the week feels. Easy minutes carry the rest of the load.

Why does the order of lifting and hard conditioning matter?

Hard conditioning shortly before a heavy squat or deadlift session usually costs you the lifting: the legs arrive tired and the loads that were planned do not move. Lifting first on the day, or putting the conditioning on another day, is the easiest fix.

Why a full day between all-out sessions?

An all-out effort asks a lot of the body, and a full day off from that kind of work gives it time to catch up. After an all-out session, plan the next one for the day after tomorrow or later. This is a cautious habit and not a fixed minimum, and a session you choose to do sooner is yours to choose.

Why a day between wall sits?

The studies of wall sits had people train on days that were not back to back, so Axial Fit suggests the same. A wall sit is hard on the legs but it is not all-out work, so it can share a day with other training.

Why not more wall sits in a week?

A few sessions a week is what the studies used, and nothing in them says more helps. If you want one more, it is your week.

Why do wall sits go after strength?

A wall sit is extra work beside your strength program, not a replacement for it, so it goes better once the lifting is done and your legs are not already spent. If you want to do it first, it is your day.

Why a day between brisk sessions?

Brisk work, where you can only say short sentences, asks more of you than an easy session, so Axial Fit suggests a day in between. It is not all-out work, so it does not wait for the full day all-out sessions need. If you would rather go on back to back, it is your week.

Why not more brisk sessions in a week?

A few sessions a week is about what the studies of harder sessions used, and nothing in them says more helps. Easy minutes carry the rest of the week. If you want one more, it is your week.

Why does brisk work go away from leg days?

Brisk work does not cost you muscle or strength, but it can leave your legs tired for a heavy squat or deadlift the next day. Axial Fit places it on other days when it can. If it is the day you have, it is your choice.

Why a day between strength sessions?

Back-to-back strength days give the second one less to work with, because the recovery the first session asked for has not happened yet. Spreading them out gives the second session a fresh body and the same session more to show for it.

Why does Axial Fit build up to more strength days slowly?

Two strength sessions a week is where progress starts and it is the shape Axial Fit builds from. More days work when recovery holds, and the way to find out is one added day at a time, watching the second session of each pair. Your own program is your own; this is what Axial Fit would have built up to.

Why does Axial Fit add training days more slowly later in life?

Axial Fit builds up training days more slowly later in life, to be careful. It is a caution about Axial Fit's own pace, not a statement about you, and a program you wrote yourself is placed as you wrote it.

Why one long ruck a week?

A long ruck is a lot of loaded walking on the same tissue, and two in one week is more than the feet, shins and lower back usually absorb well. The second long walk of the week is easier to absorb unloaded, and it still counts as easy minutes.

Why not more loaded walks in a week?

Loaded walking is easier to overdo than it feels, because the load is spread over an hour rather than a set. Axial Fit keeps it to a couple a week, because more is where sore weeks tend to start. A plain walk keeps the miles without the load.

Why a settled rowing stroke before all-out rowing?

All-out rowing is hard to do safely with a rough stroke: the effort goes into the back rather than the legs. If your technique is not settled yet, the bike version of the same session gives you the same effort with nothing to get wrong. You can say your stroke is settled where you set up your equipment.

Why walk unloaded before you ruck?

Loaded walking asks more of the same tissue than walking does. Getting comfortable on unloaded walks first is the easiest way to find out your feet and shins are ready, and the easiest way to avoid a sore week.

Did this not answer your question? Email support