Uncomplicated Fitness, Part 3
To excel, you must focus, which is to say you must exclude. Fitness programming should convey a clear objective and progressively overloaded means to obtain that objective while supporting global physical preparedness.
In this series so far we’ve covered energy systems (Part 1) to focus on developing, as well as session / program difficulty and intention selection (Part 2).
Now it’s time to put everything together and start designing longer training arcs. Whether that is a weekly microcycle, a periodized block (mesocycle), or an entire season (macrocycle) the same concepts apply.
Dan John says, “If you chase too many (two) rabbits, you go home hungry.” That means we have to focus. To excel, we must exclude, even if only temporarily. FOMO (fear of missing out) feeds on our need for instant gratification and dopamine circuitry.
High achievers aren’t afraid of missing out. They know what they want. They’re prepared to pay what’s required to get there.
The only way to “get better at everything all at once” is if you’re absolutely terrible at everything. Again, Dan John’s wisdom strikes; “everything works, for about 6 weeks.”
So, let’s take a look at a more intelligent and strategic approach to our fitness training without getting caught up in the hype and trends of the internet.
Program Design: Microcycles (weekly)
Oftentimes, in Jiu Jitus, I teach things in reverse; starting with the joint lock (break), then the escape, and then routes to achieve that position. In dog training this is called “back-chaining.”
In the same fashion we’ve gone from designing individual training sessions, to the next digestible interval of one week or 7-days.
Unless you have an extremely finely tuned and accurately validated intuition, you probably can’t just show up to the gym and instinctively “know” what you’re needing, lacking, or what you’ve overdeveloped if you’re under-recovered.
The world-tier professional MMA fighters Joel Jamieson works with only spar 2-3 sessions per week. Joel’s general recommendation though is for 2. Unless you’re that caliber of an athlete, I suggest you heed his words.
“Thinking” or “feeling” like you’re training hard is not the same as actually producing results sufficient for novel stimulus adaptation — progress. In other words, you can probably only recover from 1 or 2 truly hard “development” sessions per week (that are productive).
While one’s “ability to recover” inter-session can be trained, there is always a risk of regressing towards the mean — average performances that feel exceedingly difficult.
Joel has made the following microcycle recommendations in the past:
2/2/2: Two sessions each week of rebound, cultivation, and development difficulties (plus one passive rest day).
3/2/1: Three rebound difficulty days, two cultivation days, one development day, and one passive rest day.
Many of the programs I’ve reviewed seem closer to the 2/2/2 split. However, the closer I get to 40, the better I like 3/2/1 or 4/1/2.
For example, that might look like:
Monday: mobility and moderate strength (CUL)
Tuesday: endurance and mobility (RBND)
Wednesday: hard jiu jitsu (DEV)
Thursday: light jiu jitsu (RBND)
Friday: light endurance and mobility (RBND)
Saturday: hard jiu jitsu (DEV)
Sunday: mobility and light strength (RBND)
Program Design: Mesocycles (block)
Traditional periodization has fallen out of favor for a variety of reasons, but still has some validity on longer arcs (see below). Block periodization, or “phases” (yes, like “bulking or cutting”) are much more common.
From an athlete’s perspective, this may oscillate between fitness and conditioning (competition prep); though in- and off- season volumes and intensities will obviously vary.
However, our weekly template can be stretched and applied to a 12-month calendar as well. Generally speaking, 4 weeks isn’t enough time to really get into the groove of something.
There are countless 30-day challenges on the internet, and where have they gotten us?
I’d suggest an 8-week block which allows for 6 weeks of training, plus one week to rest-test-rest, and a final week to assess-and-plan the next block.
What this actually looks like in practice depends greatly on your sport or event of competition. However, generally in a given training block I’m looking to:
Develop a single attribute (at a time): I should be seeing progressive overload / improved output for whatever I’m developing (e.g. number of sets increases, miles ran increases, running pace increases, 1RM estimate increases, etc.).
Maintain other attributes: A good use of “cultivation” sessions is to “simmer” or maintain the attributes that aren’t in focus. However, it’s important to note that this shouldn’t overshadow the development focus (in terms of effort, time, or recovery need).
Avoid injury: This should be obvious, but it’s worth reminding everyone that nothing stalls progress like an injury.
Program Design: Macrocycles (season)
I don’t follow team/ball sports closely, but it’s my impression that nothing (or little) matters until the playoffs. This brings truth to the fact that you can probably only truly peak 3-4 times / year.
Even if the season is longer than that, truly outstanding performances aren’t common. Professional fighters commonly contract for 3 fights per year, 5 or 6 is very active, and typical shortens the career shelf life of the athlete.
Obviously, there is some overlap between “seasons” and “blocks” in sports where there isn’t a pre-defined season. From a programming perspective, not much changes then.
What should look different are the metrics you’re using and how you re/evaluate your training.
For example, if “my cardio is bad”, maybe endurance was the focus of several blocks of training throughout the year. For each block perhaps I capped it off with a timed 5K or 10K run.
That might indicate progress in that specific attribute, but did it make me better at my sport?
This is where we have to distinguish between synthetic and sport-specific tests. In terms of general health we might look at:
Bodyweight, body fat, blood glucose, VO2max, Max HR, HRV, Resting HR, etc.
General fitness is a little more difficult to establish thresholds for. Different sports have different contributions from and dependencies on various energy systems (see Part 1).
Now we’ve come full circle.
If running is my sport, then the answer to our hypothetical question is “yes, I got better at my sport.” However, we could easily flip the conversation to talk about strength training. The point is that we do need some general — God help me for saying it — “longevity” support.
It takes time to get good at things. You’ve got to survive long enough to get there, and your training should also support that objective.
For reference, I keep a log of the following PRs:
Strength (1RM): bench press, back squat, deadlift.
Power (1RM): power/snatch, clean and jerk.
Endurance (time): 10K run.
Aerobic capacity: 5K run or 10 min time trial (on bike).
The longest season is life (duh).
That’s where traditional / linear periodization becomes relevant again. Early (and late for that matter) in an athlete’s career general physical preparedness is extremely important. As training age increases and more of one’s potential is actualized, “sport specificity” and conditioning become more relevant.
Expert and elite athletes have highly specialized and indivdualized needs based on their individual talents, deficits, and what’s been ignored or overused in their career.
Remember that injury avoidance piece?
Choose Your Own Adventure:
Pick a general goal (e.g. fitness or conditioning) for the next 12 weeks.
Pick a specific goal to focus on for 6-week intervals that support your general goal (e.g. a specific conditioning skill set or fitness attribute).
6 weeks or so tends to the limit for holding focus, tension, intensity and interest on a single subject.
However, this can easily support and continue to build towards 12-week goal. Commonly this may look like a “volume block” and a “load / intensity block.”
Plan your training weeks:
1-2 DEV sessions / week.
2-4 REC sessions / week.
1-2 CUL sessions / week (be careful as these will suck energy from the two, but maybe required to keep morale high).
Choose your weapon(s):
DEV sessions should follow the same structure each week, so you’re “using the same measuring stick.”
REC sessions can have some variability, but you’ll like find what’s “tried, true, and reliable.”
Execute the plan.
Monitor change.
Measure the outcome(s).