Becoming an Athlete

Let's get honest for a second.  People who follow crossfit with dedication get a more balanced improvement in performance and body composition than people who follow periodized training plans.  I've pretty much always followed a basic periodization schedule: strength, size, definition, repeat. Here lately, I've been leaning a bit toward the crossfit model, but still programmed for the long haul. There is merit in training several physical qualities in a single workout. At any given moment, I can sign up and do a 5K, obstacle race, or Highland Games, all while remaining relatively lean. For the next 2 months, my training block looks like this: Monday: Power focus: Olympic lifts progressing from 4x8 to 4x4 depending on the day and week Stength focus: squats, presses, pullups - alternating weeks between 5x5 and 5,4,3,2,1 Hypertrophy / conditioning circuit: This is so money! ;-) Bodybuilding movements for the same movement patterns as Strength Focus.  3 circuits of 8-

I'm training with two other friends.  Man!  What a motivational difference!  I don't need motivation to lift heavy, but doing cardio with a couple friends definitely helps me push myself.  We did three stations, fixed distance for time. Stepmill: 30 floors for time:  6:03 Concept2 Rower: 2000 meter row for time: 8:48 Treadmill: 1 mile for time: 9:11 This wasn't very high total cardio output, but the intensity was fantastic, and doing each station for time motivated me to push harder.  I love knowing the harder I push, the sooner I'm done.

I'm stronger by any measure.  I've forced myself to do the things I hate and as a result I am in the best shape of my life and continuing to improve. The game-changers for me have been: Foam rolling and stretching before each workout.  Seriously!!  Who knew the impact would be so profound! I feel great and my nagging pains are going away slowly but noticeably. Starting each session with Olympic lift variants.  Just a few sets every day and my forearms, traps, mid back, spinal erectors, and glutes have added a ton of new size and density.  yes I said my glutes have size and density.  lol Conditioning circuits.  Though I hate CF as a sole training modality, hitting brief but intense MetCons after core lifting has done amazing things.  I'm leaner, more vascular, and have an improved work capacity. Cardio interval finishers.  This is the sugar free icing on the fat-burning cake.  5 rounds of 1 min high effort and 1 min low effort.  Cycles, treadmills, rowing, stepmill, wh