Road to 1900 #4 - Changes to my training method

My Current Training

Currently, as I've detailed in previous posts I am following the current regimen:
1 Aagard Calculation exercise
1 Aagard Positional exercise
0.5 hour endgames
0.5 hour openings
30+0 game with analysis.

What is good about this?

I feel like this covers all the key areas of chess, it definitely hits all of my weakest points as a player. This sort of comprehensive regimen is great for someone who wants to bring their game up cohesively, so as to avoid specialization in one specific aspect of chess. The game and analysis helped me to look on some gaping holes in my game process and this regimen got me to 1300 on Lichess classical.

What is bad about this?

I think the most obvious one, is the amount of time it takes. The two exercises might take me two hours, after my openings and endgames I've done four hours of chess, then, my game and analysis could add another few hours onto this already fairly intensive routine. It is simply too much, I don't have all day to dedicate to chess (although I would love to) and while it was effective, it was tiring, and when training time came, I found I wasn't looking forward to it, and instead I would slog through it, for the purpose of saying I had trained properly that day. Training is supposed to be enjoyable, not a chore, a job. So, I began to think of a new way of doing things. I should also point out that when I created this regimen, I was inspired by the whole 'GM's study 15 hours a day' myth, and me, who wants to be a GM, thought I should begin training like this too.

My New Way:

So, instead of trying to cram every aspect of chess into one training session everyday, I instead chose a healthier, and more focused approach. Now, I have split the week into different aspects of chess (you will see this in detail later in the post). I chose this approach because I felt it was more focused, and specific, giving me a very narrow lane in which to study, which (I believe) will lead to a better quality of thought, and a better quality of training. Before, I had to cover everything, so I was all over the place, with no real focus put into one area, I was hitting my weak points, but how effectively?

My New Regimen:

Monday - Calculation
2 Aagard exercises
20 min Lichess puzzles (for vision, and intuition, not deep calculation)
Tuesday - Endgames
1 hour endgame course (I found a really helpful A-Z of endgames on Google, if I can find it I'll share it).
30 min Endgame Puzzles
Wednesday - Positional Chess
2 Aagard exercises
30 min Aagard reading (in order to more deeply consume the techniques and thought processes in the book, in the hope it will carry over to my games)
Thursday - Master Games and Game Analysis
1 Fischer Game, analysed deeply
1 Training game (if I can find a sparring partner) and analysis.
Friday - "Fun" Day
1.5 hours opening theory (I love opening theory)
Saturday - Retrain day
On this day, I will go back over what I thought to be the weakest points of my training that week.
Sunday - Rest.

Comments on My New Regimen

As you can see, the amount of time has dipped significantly, but still, my sessions could take 2-3 hours. For people who say - You struggled with the hours before, and yet you still plan on doing up to three hours a day? I would say this: Yes, because it is specific and targeted. Now, my days have one specific focus, meaning the sessions will have a momentum, making them easier to complete. I will run this until mid-August, when I will post another update. Between now and then, I will have another quad, so I will see exactly how effective this plan will be.