I am DONE with the ?Hustle & Grind? culture that everyone is embracing right now.
This whole ?no days off?, work, work, work mentality is bogus.
Instead, I believe that life occurs in cycles and there are specific times to work and specific times to rest.
And I think nature naturally dictates those times to us.
For example, it?s November. We just had Halloween, Canada just had Thanksgiving, the U.S. is about to have Thanksgiving and then we have holiday party season, Christmas and New Years.
So? if you?ve just put yourself on a fat loss program, you?ve basically set yourself up for inevitable failure.
Calories at this time are ABUNDANT? that?s what Thanksgiving was traditionally? a means to celebrate and be grateful for an abundant harvest.
So going against the flow of nature and trying to lose fat in an abundant season will have you swimming against the current.
Instead, embrace the fact that life is a lot easier when we accept that there are things – natural forces – that are out of your control and that it?s a lot easier to go with the flow, than to fight against it.
(Keep in mind, that this is NOT the same as ?going with the herd? and being a sheep? that?s something totally different.)
Here?s what I mean?
When it comes to MY TRAINING PHILOSOPHY, I created the following graphic so that people understand how THE NATURAL FLOW of programming should work so that you?re not constantly fighting what occurs naturally.
CHECK THIS OUT…
?This is how I see long term planning when it comes to training.
There are seasons geared specifically to each physical quality.
Basically it breaks down like this (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere – North America & Europe)?
Winter (January, February, March)
In nature, calories are scarce because of the cold (nothing grows, nothing can be harvested).
Metabolism slows naturally because of the cold as well, so this is a good time for building PURE, slow neural strength and ?incidental fat loss? (because of natural low calorie consumption).
Your focus during winter should be slow grinds for exercise – presses, squats, deadlifts – things movements that require you to be patient with your strength. A 3-day per week ?slow strength? program is ideal here.
Incidental fat loss occurs because of the natural caloric deficit. Remember it?s winter? so calories, naturally, should be scarce.
Spring (April, May, June)
Spring is a time for planting seeds and for new growth.
New growth means changing the stimulus from the previous season and incorporating more explosive exercises (ie. planting new seeds).
Strength is still the focus, but using explosive exercises like snatches & Long Cycle Clean & Jerks will elicit major changes in the body that will allow for NEW MUSCLE GROWTH.
Managing your diet and the higher energy expenditure will also allow you to stay and get leaner in this phase.
This is ideal for a ?GRAIL? program Strength-Hypertrophy-Fat Loss Program (like FOY).
Summer (July, August, September)
Summer is the season for WORK and maintenance of the strength that you achieved in the previous 2 seasons.
The heat means the ability to produce effort. It?s time to really take conditioning seriously and stimulate your cardiovascular system and do a ?conditioning-based fat loss program?.
Summer is the time to do hill sprints, loaded carries, MetCon-based training, crawling and swings? lots of crawling & swings.
Strength-wise focus on bodyweight strength (relative strength).
Remember, calories are becoming more abundant? and so the higher effort is great for maintaining leanness and a transitioning into?
Autumn/Fall (October, November, December)
This is harvest time. Calories are it?s highest.
Abundance of food (in North America we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year?s all between Oct to Dec) means that there is usually a surplus in energy and resources.
This over abundance is great for storage and building so it?s a good time for STRENGTH-BASED HYPERTROPHY.
This is NOT a good time for fat loss? you?re going against nature if you?re trying to restrict yourself during this time.
This is how programming will be based in THE STRENGTH CLUB.
