Your workout should not be a job. Sure, you won’t want to work out some days. Often it will be a grind to get started, but exercise should not just be a long list of checkboxes standing between you and a preconceived notion of fitness.

This is the primary issue that limits success and fulfillment in life. We want some vague outcome, so we set up a plan with that outcome in mind. We have no real intent to grow as a person or experience the process. In school, we want good grades, but ignore the deep, meaningful learning experiences and cognitive skills that color our world more vividly. At work, we want to be good at producing, promoting, or selling some arbitrary product we may have never used because we want money. There is no surer route to sap your passion for life than the standard, purposeless drive to these flashy, yet empty outcomes.

You Were Made to Move

The optimal route in fitness, as in life, is to find great work. The goal is to learn to love the experience; to be guided by a purpose and a curious sense of play.

Why do you work out? Certainly, we appreciate the aesthetic results. No shame there. But for a lasting fitness practice and sense of joy in movement, the purpose must be deeper. Exercise is part of your humanity. It’s deeply rooted in your biology as an assumed part of existence, prerequisite to emotional and cognitive function. You were made to move, and are not whole without consistent movement.

Exercise, fitness, and health magnify every other area of your life. You will have more energy for your work, more excitement and purpose in your projects, and more levity and humor in your interpersonal relationships. You will be a role model for the people you love. With the right plan, you’ll start to see the world in a completely different way.

Your fitness plan can reflect a respect for human nature and play. Certainly, you will still have “punch-the-clock” days, and nobody’s saying it will be easy. Once we begin to honor our nature, we come to understand that our entitlement to comfort and convenience does not serve us. Therefore, an indispensable tenet of a fitness practice must be regular interaction with discomfort. Intentional development of your capacity for thriving in discomfort is part of the good life. It’s the type of funny tradeoff that seems to characterize the human experience.

Lift Forever, Anywhere, Anytime

With these principles in mind, I put together the Lift Forever, Anywhere, Anytime Plan. It is a mindful, skill-based approach that requires only a few kettlebells, parallettes, and a pull up bar. Every workout is full-body and has its own unique themes. It is a comprehensive, adaptable program that will keep you motivated. I must give credit to Max Shank, whose Ultimate Athleticism template inspired the organization for this plan, and Andrea DuCane, whose RKC prep program got me in the best shape of my life.

Daily Warm Up

• Rocking with neck nods (a la Original Strength) – 5/side
• Quadruped knee circles – forward and back – 5/side
• Bear crawls – forward, back, side to side – 20-60 seconds
• The Cal Poly Hip Flow
• Handstand kick-ups or crow practice

Day 1: Hells Bells Day

Always start the week with one of the toughest challenges, a buy-in that gives awesome momentum for the week. This is also my favorite workout to do outside. That changes everything!

Specific Warm Up

1-arm kettlebell swings – 10/side

Metabolic Block

10 Minutes of (2-arm) kettlebell swings (30 seconds on/30 seconds off x 10)

Strength Block

Turkish get ups – 5/side (alternating)

*get ups with tired forearms present a unique, fun challenge, but safety first

Finisher

Weighted carry variations – 6 x 30-second intervals

*I like to mix variations: farmer’s walks, seesaw carry, waiters walk, 1-arm waiters walks, bottoms-up 1-arm kettlebell carry, suitcase carry, rack hold carry, 1-arm rack hold carry. Lots to play with and much more interesting outside

Finish with 3-minute cold shower

Day 2: Ultimate Athleticism Day

Specific Warm Up

Turkish get up – 2/side (alternating)

Dynamic Block – 4 rounds

• Kettlebell snatch – 5/side
• 1-Leg RDL w/quad stretch – 5/side

Strength Block 1 – 3 rounds

• 1-Leg deadlift – 5/side (kettlebell, dumbbell, or barbell)
• L-sit to handstand progressions – 3 reps (if no parallettes just practice handstands and do hanging leg raises)
• Kettlebell deep squat to knee distractions – 5/side
• Kettlebell curls in deep squat – 5 reps

Strength Block 2 – 3 rounds

• Airborne lunge – 5/side
• Front lever progressions – 5 (if you struggle with pull-ups start with pull up progressions)
• PVC overhead shoulder stretch – 30 seconds

Strength Block 3 – 3 rounds

• Dragon walk, blast-off push ups, typewriter push ups or other push up variation – 10 reps
• Kettlebell/dumbbell rows, inverted rows, bent-over rows or other row variation – 10 reps

Finish with 3-minute cold shower.

Day 3: Let Go

Typically I take this day for light mobility and active recovery. I also recommend a little meditation.

Day 4: Push Grinds

Specific Warm Up – 2 rounds

• RKC plank – 30 seconds
• Turkish get up – 1/side

Strength Block 1 – 3 rounds

• Kettlebell press- 4/arm (heavy)
• TRX feet-together, knees-together deep squat hold – 30 seconds

Strength Block 2 – 3 rounds

• Airborne lunge – 5/leg
• TRX chest stretch – 30 seconds

Strength Block 3 – 3 rounds

• L-sit to handstand practice – 3 reps
• Prone PVC wand extension – 10 seconds (lie on stomach, hold PVC pipe behind back, squeeze shoulders down and scapula together.
• Kettlebell deep squat to knee distractions – 5/side

Finisher – 2 rounds of Kettlebell Complex Pyramid

3 kettlebell clean, 3 front squat, 3 press

Perform in pyramid. Progress from: light bell, medium bell, heavy bell, medium bell, light bell).

(For me it is: 16kg, 24kg, 32kg, 24kg, 16kg)

Day 5: Earn the Weekend!

As with the beginning of the week, I always end the week with a gut-check challenge. I like to loosen the structure on the weekends. I’ve always thought that a little luxury is only enjoyable after its earned. Earn the weekend.

Specific Warm Up

• 1-arm kettlebell swings – 10/side
• Heavier 1-arm kettlebell swings – 5/side

Strength Block – 3 rounds

• Heavy 1-Leg deadlift – 5/side
• PVC overhead shoulder stretch – 30 seconds
• Front lever progressions
• Quadruped knee circles, forward and back – 5/side

Metabolic Finisher

Maximum 1-arm kettlebell swings in 5 minutes

Switch hands as much as you like. Men use 24kg, women use 16kg. This is a play on the RKC snatch test requirement. It’s a wonderful beast, but I prefer swings because you can do more and there is less that can go wrong. This is where you earn it.

Days 6 and 7

These are similar to day 3. I always intermittent fast and usually try to get out on a jog, or over to the park to play around a little bit.

I created this plan to optimally highlight everything I want and love in a plan. It is interesting, safe, environment-transforming, and always available provided you have just a few items. Bodyweight and kettlebell training require heightened body awareness for these fun and skill-based exercises. With a rekindled, child-like love for movement, you may start to play with little skills in throughout your day (handstands, crows, planks, fingertip push ups, front levers, or quick kettlebell flows). Regardless, this plan will enhance your life by promoting the multi-dimensional, multi-planar strength you need to thrive.

The post The Anywhere, Anytime Program for Lifelong Fitness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What’s With 70%?

In aerobic training there is something magical about aerobic runs at 70% of your maximum heart rate. The Kenyans spend 85% of their year doing ninety-minute, 70% MHR runs, with only 15% of their total volume left to hills and speed work. Then you see guys like Dan John suggest that most people would be better off on plans like his Easy Strength or 40-Day Program, where one of the key components is deliberately avoiding going too hard. He suggests something like 70% as the hardest it should feel.

Similarly Dan John has been talking about the difference between bus stop and park bench workouts for some time. The difference between the two is that one has a purpose, like getting ready for a competition, and the other is more of a sustainable program that you can follow for long periods of time before peaking again. Funnily enough the number thrown around for the park bench (sustainable) type training is usually around the 70% mark.

Looking back at traditional Russian weightlifting cycles, they show quite clearly that many lifters below the elite level benefitted greatly from keeping their training percentages around the 70% mark, too. That doesn’t mean every set is at 70% – that obviously won’t prepare the body for more intense efforts – but instead that the average effort is 70% over the full year of training.

The main benefit of going at 70% is that it prevents overtraining and injury, allowing more training to be completed in the same period of time. Programs such as Steve Justa’s singles program have led to many people pulling lifetime bests despite never training over that 70% mark. Strength freak Paul McIlroy has even used this plan for extended periods of time as it prevents burnout.

The Application of 70%

So how do you moderate your training so that the average intensity 70%?

Method #1

The simplest way to moderate intensity is to do as many sets above 70% as you do below. For example, doing a set at 60%, then at 70% and finally at 80% keeps the average intensity at 70%, as long as you do the same number of reps in each set.

For example: 60%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3.

If you want to do more sets at the top weight you need extra sets at the lower weights too. The lower weight sets are useful for building technical proficiency.

For example: 55%/3, 65%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3 x 2 will still give you an average intensity of 70%, while giving you exposure to higher loads too.

Method #2

When it comes to fixed weight objects, like kettlebells or sandbags, it becomes much more difficult to moderate the weight and a better method becomes moderating intensity through manipulating volume. Let’s say that you can press a 24kg bell five times just to make the math easier. If you do ladders of 2, 3, and 5 reps, then your average for each ladder comes out to 67%. That’s pretty good considering that kettlebells tend to come in large jumps in sizes and you can’t micro-load like you can with barbells.

The other way to do this is to play around with how many total ladders you do in a session. Let’s suppose that the maximum number of 2-3-5 ladders you can cope with at a given weight is five. If you have a week where you perform four ladders, then two ladders, and three ladders over successive workouts your average intensity is 60%. However, if you then perform five ladders, three ladders, and four ladders the following week you have an average of 80%. And when you look at the long-term effect of that you wind up back at our magic 70% intensity.

Stick With 70%

For many people this will feel like holding back, and you will feel that you can train much harder. Don’t fall into the trap of tough guy periodization that my friend Mark Riefkind talks of: hard, harder, hardest, injured…soft, soft, soft, hard, harder, hardest, injured. Instead, enacting deliberate moderation of your efforts will bring tremendous long-term strength and fitness and allow you to build an awesome base level of strength (or cardiovascular fitness if you follow a similar plan). Save your truly hard efforts for short periods of time such as peaking for a tournament, getting ready for a holiday, or the like, and walk out of the gym feeling better each day, not broken down.

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Why 70% Can Make You Stronger, Faster, and Healthier appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Part 1: The State of the Fitness Union

Part 2: Lineage and Longevity

Things we’ve already covered include Dan’s thoughts on the future of the fitness industry, his beginnings as an athlete, and his thoughts on coaching for longevity. In this last section of our interview we are going to look at more of Dan’s philosophy on coaching – specifically the differences in coaching athletes versus non-athletes.

In the book Easy Strength, co-authored by Dan John and Pavel Tsatsouline, athletes are categorized into four “quadrants.”

• Quadrant 1: Lots of activities, abilities, and skills, at a low-level. Basic physical education.
• Quadrant 2: Lots of activities, abilities, and skills, at a much higher level. This is the domain of the “collision athlete” and competitive team sports.
• Quadrant 3: Fewer activities, abilities, and skills, at a good level. This is where most people fall.
• Quadrant 4: The domain of the professional athlete. Few things, or even just one thing, at crazy-high levels.

As Dan explains:

The bulk of your clients in your career are going to be fat-loss clients. In my book I call that Quadrant 3. They have two qualities, one is their way of eating and the other is exercise. That’s it.

The way of eating – what diet works? Every diet works. Every diet works perfectly. Every single diet. I don’t care what you’re doing. There’s nothing worse than when people say, “You know Dan, I’m on the paleo diet, but I’m worried because I only took 73,000mg of omega 3 today. Am I going to be fat?” You’ve got to be kidding me. It doesn’t matter. Compliance is number one.

And on the other side of the equation is inefficient exercise. A lot of people when they first start training make good progress…when you first decide to start exercising you jump on a bicycle and you ride around the neighborhood. You’re so inefficient because of your size and your bad skill set; it’s a fat loss exercise. Five years later you’re in spandex, you’ve got your little hat on, and your super-duper bicycle; it might not be a good exercise anymore.

You see that in clients all the time. That’s why it’s so important to go months at a time of punch-the-clock workouts, just coming in. So when you do ratchet up the intensity you ratchet up a person of a higher level of strength.

For the Quadrant 3 trainee, fitness is about compliance – compliance to the dietary guidelines that are chosen and compliance in showing up regularly for their workouts. For the Quadrant 2 athlete, the collision athlete, it’s about compromise. As Dan explained:

Quadrant 2 is the collision sports and the collision occupations. On that side it’s all about managing compromises. The NFL guy has to say, “Yeah I can get a squat up to 800 pounds and I can get my clean up to 400, but I’m also expected to be over there doing wind sprints, and making tackles, and there’s all these skills, and five hours of meetings.” Compromises. Compromises.

I think that’s the biggest mistake we’re making in the industry right now. For one thing, if you’re a Navy SEAL you’re a Navy SEAL. You don’t have to train like one – you are one. To be in the NFL you have to be so touched by God at conception that really there’s only so much I can do to help you. But what happens in the industry is people look at the NFL guys, you know, they’re all badass and have tattoos, and actually there’s some value in training like that. There are some things they do that have value. But they, the NFL guys, are making compromises constantly.

The problem is if you’re not in a Quadrant 2 occupation, you’re not a Navy SEAL, you’re not an NFL player, you’re not a fighter, you should be managing options, not compromises.

When it comes to Quadrant 3 clientele it’s all about compliance and simplicity. According to Dan it’s quite possible if you just stuck to kettlebells three days per week and followed a sensible nutrition plan, you could achieve a decent level of fitness and body composition. But, nutrition is key and not negotiable in Dan’s mind:

The mistake we make on the fat-loss side is whatever the diet is it’s options. Pick one and stick with it. Our job as coaches and as personal trainers – if I believe the food diary is most important, then we don’t start training until that food journal is fixed. If I have to take 45 minutes of an hour, and I charge $1500 an hour, and I take 45 minutes of that hour talking to you about all the missing foods, what am I telling you? I think it’s important.

From that point on it becomes managing options. Most people will never be Quadrant 2 or Quadrant 4 athletes, so they need to decide what they actually do want to accomplish and focus on. Essential to that is a trainer’s job of managing expectations:

I have this thing I always talk about in my workshops, it’s called Point B. I love working with elite athletes because elite athletes always know where they’re going. They are clueless about Point A.

So I’m an athlete, I always want point B. My job as a strength coach is to come in and say, “You don’t have a full squat pattern. I don’t care if you can half-squat 500 with your knees together, I want you to have a true squat pattern.” So with this elite athlete we find out you’re not mobile enough, you’re not flexible enough.

Most people know exactly where they are – their point A. Edna says, “I feel fat, my husband won’t touch me, I hate who I am.” But their problem is then they pull out a magazine, the cover of People Magazine, and say I want to look like Courtney Cox or one of those sisters who filmed their sexual activities.

My elite athlete wants to get to Point B, but they don’t know where Point A is. The average person knows exactly where they are. But their Point B is Point V! Are you crazy?

So this former athlete comes in and says, “I want to look the way I looked in college.” Oh, in college? When someone else made you three meals a day and you had seven coaches. Oh, all that self-discipline you had with all those coaches telling you what to do.

So you’ve got this former college cheerleader who put on 40 pounds. She says, “I want a program that in two weeks I look like I looked my freshman year in college.” She hadn’t even hit secondary puberty yet. Her hips were this wide. Now she’s got three kids. The Q angle has changed! And so what happens is you’ve got this person whose vision is Point Z. Your job with someone who has high expectations is to get them back on Point A.

In the end, for most of the clientele that the average trainer or coach will service, it is about managing options and managing expectations. In other words, fitness, health, and longevity, which is what most clients will benefit most from, are achieved through balance – balance in our fitness, balance in our nutrition, balance in our lives.

Or, as better stated by one of Dan’s “coaches”:

When I was in second grade Sister Maria Assumpta walked to the board and put down four words, like a compass: work, rest, play, pray. And she said if you could keep those in balance in your life, you’d do okay.

Read Dan’s article, an excerpt from his book –

Increasing the Deadlift for the Collision Sport Athlete.

Read parts one and two of our feature interview series with Dan:

Dan John, Part 1 – The State of the Fitness Union

Dan John, Part 2 – Lineage and Longevity

To follow Dan’s workouts here on Breaking Muscle follow this link:

Strength & Conditioning Workouts from Dan John

The post Featured Coach: Dan John, Part 3 – Quadrants and Clients appeared first on Breaking Muscle.