We've already looked at the circumstances and context for the concepts of "more is more" and "less is more", and how they can be both a positive and negative on your fitness and performance. To summarise, it is about keeping balance between the combined stress of training and life, and the necessary recovery and adaptation required to move forwards and benefit from the work you've done.
The concept of Less is More is also about finding the balance in what we're doing, and a situation I am finding myself in currently...or rather, a situation I am evolving to as I respect the combined impact of age, life, etc. I've had a lifetime of fitness and endurance training, pushing my reasonable limits of training volume with consistency as an underpinning theme. To that end, I have lived the "More is More" concept to a large extent.
But in recent times, and especially this year, I have (finally) acknowledged to myself that this isn't working anymore. I have found not just that More is not More, but that More is Less as I find myself getting tired, not recovering, and performance declining. It's a reality check, and involves ample servings of humble pie.
So I need to take a Less is More approach. Reducing my volume of running (at least), including some less stressful cycling, spacing out hard sessions and keeping them a bit shorter. Not only can't I cope with the volume of hard training I used to, but I actually don't need it - I have a lifetime of fitness that I can tap into, and cap off with smaller amou mlnmnts of intense training to get fitness and performance benefit. This is a real-life case of Less is More. But it takes courage to swallow your pride like this, and do less than what you've become used it. And it will change more over time, just as you change with age. If you find yourself in a hole, try reducing your workload to re-balance things.