Exercise and Recovery
Battle Plan
I. Getting Started and Building a Base
II. The Training Pillars
III. SMART Goals but a Smarter System
IV. Nutrition
V. Biochemical, Physiologic, and Genetic Optimization
Chapter I. Getting Started
The key to getting started is to get started. Quit reading this, lace up, and go get your heart rate up for 30 minutes. Doesn’t matter what you do - just go do it. Walk - Run – Ride- Swim – Lift – Climb – Paddle.
Start today. You never start until you start. 30 Minutes of Training Today. Get the heart rate up A little
Feel better?
Perfect! Now we can get started because I am also the king of analysis paralysis. I’ll research, organize, layout, and optimize a workout plan just to avoid working out. That’s probably what I’m doing right now typing this out!
The first thing is timing. The only time to work out [for most people/everyone] is in the morning. The morning is the only time that you own. It’s yours. No one can take it away from you. Read the 5 AM Club, read about morning routines from pretty much every influential figure, follow Jocko, but more important see what happens when you try to work out in the afternoons. Something always comes up. Wake up at 5am. Workout from 0530-0630. Problem solved. The first couple of days you’ll be excited. The next couple of days you will want to quit. Rich Roll has a nice saying that “Mood Follows Action”. The key is the action. Keep performing the action every morning and before long there is no way you will miss a morning. That morning workout will become a drug that you can’t avoid.
Building a Base
The most important thing for building a base is initial injury avoidance. Getting started always results in some type of injury. These range from minor soreness to back pain to more serious injuries. Microtraumas are OK. It’s normal to be sore and have some pain while adjusting to a new training routine. What we want to avoid are significant injuries.
Injury Avoidance Strategies
I. Warm up- doing box jumps 5 minutes after your wake up is not a good idea. I was running late one morning and immediately started into the workout. First jump and BOOM. I felt an explosion in my back and I tore some paraspinal muscles. I could hardly breathe for a week and it took about 3 weeks to recover. Lesson learned.
a. Exercises I avoid early in workouts: Box jumps, Prone leg curls (really activates the posterior column and has tweaked my back before), deadlifts
b. Exercises for injury avoidance: Zone 2 training- the most important long term work you can do, MYRTL hip routine, One leg squats (Bulgarian split squats), pretty much any exercise that builds lateral supporting musculature or addresses muscle imbalance (more on this later). Core strengthening twice a week. Check out Mountain Tactical
c. Yoga and flexibility training- I like the Down Dog App
II. Technique- Less weight and perfect form is key. There is no one to impress so don’t worry about the weight. It’s important to know your body and if you have pre-existing orthopedic issues then be careful. For example, I don’t do cleans because of my left shoulder. I have to use my left arm at work and it needs to work perfectly so I’m just not risking injuring it again. Am I weak? Absolutely! I’d love to see Ronnie Coleman’s Lumbar CT because (1) I’m pretty sure I could help him based on his gait (2) I know he’d make different decisions based on the amount of pain he is in now.
III. Patience- You must put the time in for strength and endurance training. It takes years! Cardiovascular conditioning and weight loss can happen more quickly. But, the expectation I set for most patient’s is that however long it took you to put on the weight is about how long it will take you to lose it and keep it off. Zone 2 endurance training epitomizes this concept of patience in training. Don’t ever be discouraged by appearance. Use data to monitor results. If what you are doing is not working based on the data then GREAT! You’ve just found out a method that doesn’t work for your physiology. Make modification, continue measuring, and the results will come.
IV. Variety- IT Band syndrome, plantar fasciitis and other overuse injuries come from running too much (too far, too fast, too soon). Solution: Run, Swim, Ride, Row, Ski Erg, Lift etc. Variety is king and combination exercises are the keys to the kingdom. The reason they call stacked workouts bricks is because they are like building a brick house. Stack one exercise on top of another to build a house that the wolf can’t blow down.
Build a base, Burn fat, and Become a lean, mean, Battle Cloud Ready Fighting Machine.
1. Put in the Time but Manage Your Energy
2. Be Patient, Work Hard
3. Stay Consistent, Add Variety
Start with 5 hours of training every week and then increase the intensity level as your conditioning improves (YES! Walking is training at first- more on heart zone training later). Don’t be discouraged out of the gate with your current state of fitness but let it motivate you. Track your progress so you can see the fruits of your labor (your reward!). When I first started training for the Ironman 70.3, I panicked. I literally thought I was going to drown in the river because I couldn’t swim. I didn’t know I couldn’t swim until I tried my first 50m lap. I was lightheaded, hyperventilating, and totally exhausted. I felt discouraged in the pool but angry when I go home at how much I sucked. That night I found Total Immersion Swimming and it changed my swimming life. An online course thought me how to swim and now I can swim for miles! Turn adversity and failure into motivation.
Just last week my wife told me that I “should re-evaluate my workout plan because she didn’t see any results over the last 14 months.” It didn’t crush me, It pissed me off! It made me re-evaluate what I was doing, add more cardio, cut out sugar, be more disciplined, etc. Getting punched in the face will happen, use it as fuel.
Here is an article that I read every year on January 1. I’ve read it for the last 20 years
It’s fuel: Twitching with Twight
Alright So let’s get started with the first 12-week
Goal of the first 12 weeks
The number one goal is to create an Atomic Habit. The literature is mixed on how long habit formation takes but 12 weeks is the key. ‘Mood Follows Action’ and that action needs to last 12 weeks. Then let 12 weeks turn into a lifetime of training. There will definitely be days where motivation is difficult. Just get up and let the routine take over.
Workout planning: The Options
Design your own plan
Word Calendar
Apps- Train Heroics or Training Peaks
Get a Coach or Trainer
Find someone local
Purple Patch- Matt Dixon online Squad coaching is a good option for personalized remote endurance coaching
Jacked Street on Train Heroics- if you goal is to get jacked!
Join a Class or training group
Peloton and Nordic Track both have apps/classes for their machines [we have the Nordic Track Treadmill and Bike]
Beachbody has apps (including on AppleTv) that do not require machines [my wife is doing the #muscleburnsfat on Beachbody right now and loves it]
Use an app:
Train Heroics- Awesome online training program with hundred of workout plans that you can search and find on that you like. Most of the good ones have a 7 day trial. Train heroics is the strength training equivalent of Training Peaks
Training Peaks- Great for endurance/cardio training
Strava, Strong, there is an endless list.
PLAN the next 12 weeks. Using one of the strategies above and pick a plan that excites you. It’s OK to mix and match. Write it down and Do it.
My Recommendation
1) Start with 8 weeks of Beachbody LIIFT4 or Start Walking 4-5 times a week. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as we get started!
2) Add Some more Cardio (Zone 2 is fine)
3) Weeks 8-12: 1-2 Days a week of Zone 2 (long duration, low heart rate) cardio and mixed in with 3-4 HIIT/weightlifting workouts
The literature is clear: weightlifting and high intensity interval training (HIIT) combined with cardio is the best way to burn fat, get in shape, and prevent the development/aid in the treatment of metabolic syndrome and it’s sequalae.