Stop Drowning In Volume

Here’s the trap I see Masters athletes fall into time and time again: chasing volume. More reps, more exercises, longer sessions, another “bonus” workout squeezed in. The idea is simple—if you just do more, you’ll get better.

But the reality? For most Masters athletes, piling on volume doesn’t make you fitter or faster. It just makes you tired.

There is no magic number of kilometres, kilograms, or hours that you need to cram into the week.  What matters is how well you can adapt to the work. And once you tip past the point of productive stress, you’re no longer building yourself up—you’re breaking yourself down.

That’s why so many Masters athletes feel like they’re “working harder than ever” but aren’t seeing progress. They’re mistaking fatigue for performance. The grind becomes the goal, rather than actual improvement.

The athletes who get this right take a different approach. Their sessions are tighter, sharper, and more focused. Their weeks aren’t overloaded with volume, but built around the work that really moves the needle. They finish workouts feeling energised rather than destroyed, and they show up to the next one ready to perform—not just survive.

And here’s the important bit: the older you get, the more this matters. You don’t bounce back from massive training weeks the way you did at 20. Recovery isn’t a weakness—it’s the key that allows adaptation to actually happen.

When you strip away the excess, something powerful happens. Training becomes sustainable. You stay fresher, faster, and more consistent. Progress shows up again.

The Masters athletes who embrace this are the ones still hitting personal bests in their 30s, 40s, and beyond. The ones who cling to the “more is better” mindset? They stay stuck in the grind—tired, sore, and wondering why nothing’s changing.

So here’s the message: volume for volume’s sake is a dead end. Focus on what matters, cut out the fluff, and stop measuring success by how wrecked you feel at the end of the session and the end of week.

Quality over grind. Precision over punishment. Results over volume.

That’s how Masters athletes can keep improving long after others have plateaued.

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