Art Of The Micro Session

You may have seen the claim that you can get an effective workout in 10 minutes, or the ad about "burn away fat in 10 min per day." The purpose of this post isn't to support or reject these claims. The purpose is to expand on the technique that these claims use: the micro session.

Yes, it is possible to reach your fitness goals in as little as a 10 minute session, but you will most likely need more than just one in a day (at least on most days). I am living proof that you can achieve above-average fitness levels using this protocol. There are also a bunch of other athletes I train, or have trained with, who use micro sessions to achieve their goals. But I'm going to speak for myself.

I stumbled across the concept of a micro session by necessity, not choice. There was a time I could put in an hour and a half in the gym. Then...children. That chunk of time throughout the day became a premium. I could no longer do that on a regular basis. So I instinctively did a little here and a little there throughout the day. Then I came across a few blogs by athletes that were doing the same thing due to various reasons. That's when I realized this is actually a thing. Upon testing it myself and researching other people using the protocol, I found out that it wasn't just a way to manage time when you can't train "normally." It was actually superior in many ways. For me, the only way became the better way.

THE BENEFITS

There are many opportunities that a micro session creates. It promotes a laser focus. Because you will have multiple sessions sprinkled throughout the day, each session will have an objective. It may be to work on a movement or an aspect of fitness. Skill work thrives during these sessions. There is no time or energy for doing things that are "nice" or glamorous. It is strictly business.

Whatever time you take between your micro sessions will almost guarantee you are fully recovered before the next session. The fact that the body is fresh is a great advantage to this protocol. The nervous system is recovered. The muscles have buffered much of the waste produced during contraction. The body is just overall refueled, especially if a meal was consumed. Those who train 45 minutes or more, know they're not as fresh at the end of a session as the beginning. So exercises at the end of a workout will not progress as fast as the ones in the beginning. One remedy for this is to cycle the order of the exercises. But either way, something is going to suffer.

Let's say that you are only focusing on one exercise that day. The micro session enables the user to accumulate impressive volume. Volume is one of the main drivers of adaptation. Most athletes could manage doing 50 presses in one session, especially if they have some decent capacity to press. However, at some point on the way to 50, the athlete might need to drop the weight because of fatigue accumulation. So yes, they are getting in 50 presses, but a certain percentage is going to be a lighter weight with lesser quality. If that same athlete did two sessions of 25, the presses would be with a heavier weight, less fatigue, and better quality. In both examples, the athlete is doing 50 presses. However, over time, splitting it into two 25-rep sessions will result in better quality and therefore better results.

THE CHALLENGES

In order to be proficient at a micro session, the athlete needs to be proficient at the movement that will be completed. Granted, the micros session itself might be devoted to skill development. Let's say an athlete is looking to increase the amount of weight they can barbell back squat. If the athlete needs 20 minutes to loosen up the hips, ankles, and also prime the muscles, then the session will be long and move from micro session to full session. But if an athlete can hit a 20 sec prying position, do a few empty barbell sets, and ramp right up to working-weight safely, now we're talking. I came across a few things in literature during my time that claims in order to demonstrate movement proficiency, an athlete should be able to lift 80% 1rm for 1 rep ice cold. I tried it. Even though I was successful for a few movements, it's not for the faint of heart. Developing this proficiency takes time. This might force them to put other goals on the back burner, in which case the "regular" session is the better way to go.

Motivation during a workout is important. It's like a car traveling on a highway. If you are cruising at a steady speed, it takes little energy to keep going. Accelerating on the on-ramp requires the most energy. But once you are going, everything is usually fine...unless there is traffic. Your steady flow is abruptly halted and aggravation ensues. Unfortunately, this is how implementing micro sessions throughout the day can feel if you don't have the right mindset. You train, then stop. You train, then stop (over and over again like stop-and-go traffic). This can derail progress if you don't have enough discipline to keep at it. As previously mentioned, movement proficiency will help with the starting and stopping between sessions as you won't have to use extra energy with extended warm ups.

The micro session is a great tool for those who can do it, especially if you have been putting in longer sessions that kind of beat you down by the end. For those who can stay disciplined, your progress will accelerate.