What is a scientifically sound way to break up a conditioning program into different types of days?
Quite simply, the body thinks and acts in response to stress, and the two variables that drive stress are volume and intensity.
That’s why my training programs are built around three training day categories, each with unique volumes and intensities for different purposes.
They are:
Stimulation: jump start the body. This category of training day uses a moderate volume with generally low-to-moderate intensity. When using high intensities, only do a few sets or a few reps. The purpose of a stimulation day is to jump start the body while avoiding too much fatigue or soreness. This is why Stimulation training is especially effective after a rest or recovery (rebound) day.
Development: push your limits. To take your conditioning up a notch, you have to use higher volumes and intensities. This is where development training comes in. These workouts use the highest volumes and intensities to force your body to rebuild and improve your conditioning along the way.
Rebound: shift your body into the recovery zone. Not only does recovery help prevent overtraining and injuries, it plays a huge role in the results you see from your hard work. Rebound training is a new twist on a traditional workout. It’s a specific way to train that accelerates recovery (instead of taking the day off).
My favorite weekly plan
The image below shows my favorite way to structure the training week:
I arbitrarily wrote this template with Development days on Tuesdays and Fridays, but you could easily move them to other days.
I’ll briefly go over the structure to explain the goal of each day (and why this template works):
Mondays & Thursdays: Stimulate
The goal of Mondays and Thursdays is to stimulate and shift the body into a higher gear without adding fatigue. Think of this as priming the body. This priming will help it handle the harder training session scheduled the next day.
Tuesdays & Fridays: Push to the max
The truth is that going hard at the gym every single day won’t work indefinitely. Our bodies aren’t designed to be crushed day in and day out.
Despite what countless magazine covers and articles suggest, fitness doesn’t work that way.
Most people who aren’t professional athletes should only train at the highest volumes and intensities two days per week. In my template, this appears as Development training on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Wednesdays & Saturdays: Rebound and recover
Recovery is where the magic of fitness happens and it’s a huge part of conditioning. It’s also an area most people are missing out on because they put far more energy into training than they do into recovering from it.
Rebound training is a specific form of training that helps shift your body into the recovery zone.
You can check out a sample Rebound training workout here.
Now, let’s apply the same system I used to build my training template as you write your own weekly plan…
How to build your training plan:
The simple system I use to write training plans consists of three steps:
- Start by designating 2 days of the week as Development days. This is when you’ll do your highest intensity training.
- Add a Rebound day immediately after the two Development days.
- Fill in the remaining slots in your weekly plan with Stimulation or rest days.
What if you’re training for a sport?
Your high-intensity practices or competitions will count as Development days. Adding two Development days on top of your intense sports training will place more stress on your body than you can recover from.
In other words, you need to account for the stress your sport-specific training places on your body by incorporating it into your outside training plan.
Today’s challenge:
Today, I want you to create your own weekly training plan using the 3-step process we covered above. Think about any outside activities or time constraints you’ll need to work around as you select each training day category.
Make sure to also take time to review the sample Rebound training workout, which you can download below.
File download: Rebound Training Template
Tomorrow, we’re going to select the methods and exercises you’ll use on each type of training day. This is where we’ll build your actual workouts.
In just 2 more days, you’ll have created your very own conditioning program that you can start using right away.
But if you want to train for different goals, seasons, sports, or environments, I want to show you how to do that inside my online conditioning coach certification.
The certification is my way of taking you beyond this basic program—which will absolutely deliver results, but is a starting point, nonetheless—to complete conditioning program mastery.
Inside the cert, I’ll get to show you how to manipulate and fine-tune program variables in just the right way to see the exact adaptations you’re looking for. Every time. With every client.
That’s why it’s my favorite thing to teach—you’ll see a dramatic change in the results you’re able to deliver to the people who call you “Coach.”
If this sounds like something you’re interested in, I’m reopening registration for my certification next week, on September 10th.
You can reserve your spot and save $200 off the full price by completing the form below:[/text_block]