nutrition – Matt Shannon, Security Pro

First Principles of Performance Part IV

The Volume Spectrum

Understanding Maintenance Volume (MV), Minimum Effective Volume (MEV), Maximum Adaptive Volume (MAV), Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV), and Everything Between

Growth is determined not by how much work you perform, but by how much productive work you can recover from.

Introduction

Walk into almost any Olympic Weightlifting or power lifting gym, CrossFit affiliate, or even the standard Globo gym and you’ll eventually encounter two seemingly opposite philosophies.

One athlete believes progress comes from doing more: more sets, more repetitions, more accessory work, more conditioning, more training days. If some novel amount of work produces results, even more work should produce even better results.

Another takes almost the opposite approach: do as little as necessary to stimulate improvement, then get out and recover.

Curiously, both can point to successful athletes who appear to prove them right.

One can point to the CrossFit athlete training multiple sessions a day, the weightlifter accumulating hundreds of technically demanding repetitions each week, or the bodybuilder thriving on German high volume training. Then another points to an elite powerlifter progressing on surprisingly few max-effort lifts, or an experienced weightlifter whose training becomes more productive after unnecessary volume is removed.

So which approach is correct? Both and neither. Why? Because the question itself is flawed.

The body does not respond to volume in absolute terms. It responds to recoverable stress.

That distinction changes everything.

The objective of training is not to perform the greatest amount of work possible. It is to perform the greatest amount of productive work possible: enough to create the desired adaptation without accumulating so much fatigue that additional work stops contributing meaningfully to it.

There is a difference between training that challenges your capacity and training that simply consumes it.

Understanding where that line exists, and recognizing that it shifts according to the athlete, the adaptation being pursued, the type of training being performed, and where the athlete is in their development, is one of the most valuable skills an athlete or coach can develop.

This is where the Volume Spectrum begins.

More Is Better, Until It Isn’t

One of the oldest assumptions in strength training is beautifully simple: if ten sets build muscle, twenty must build even more. And if twenty works, why not thirty?

The problem is that biological markers rarely, like life, move in straight lines.

The human body is governed by diminishing returns. Initially, increasing training volume can produce greater adaptation. Strength improves, muscle grows, work capacity increases, and technique becomes more refined. But eventually those returns begin to diminish. Progress slows, then plateaus, and if volume continues increasing without sufficient recovery, performance can begin moving backward.

More work has become less productive.

The irony is that many dedicated athletes interpret this decline exactly backward. Feeling stalled, they assume they simply need to work harder, so they add another exercise, another set, another conditioning session, another “finisher.”

Instead of solving the problem, they’ve increased the very stress that caused it.

The Volume Spectrum

Training volume can be understood through four useful landmarks along a continuum. These should not be treated as rigid physiological thresholds or universal numerical prescriptions, but as practical regions that help coaches think about the relationship between training stress and adaptation.

Quick Reference: Training Volume Landmarks

MV (Maintenance Volume): The minimum amount of training needed to maintain current performance and muscle mass. Used during periods of reduced training, deloads, or recovery phases.

MEV (Minimum Effective Volume): The lowest training dose that produces measurable progress or adaptation. Anything below this threshold will not drive improvement.

MAV (Maximum Adaptive Volume): The “sweet spot” where training volume is high enough to maximize gains without causing excess fatigue or risk of overtraining. This is where most productive training occurs.

MRV (Maximum Recoverable Volume): The upper limit of training volume that the body can adapt to and recover from. Exceeding this consistently leads to stagnation, regression, or injury.

In short:

MV: Enough to maintain, not improve.
MEV: The minimum to make progress.
MAV: The most productive range for gains.
MRV: The most you can recover from, not to be exceeded.

Maintenance Volume (MV)

Maintenance Volume is exactly what it sounds like: the minimum amount of work required to preserve a current level of adaptation.

Notice what it is not. Maintenance volume is not intended to produce meaningful improvement. It provides enough stimulus to prevent meaningful loss.

This matters more than many athletes realize because maintenance allows training resources to be reallocated. A competitive CrossFit athlete may temporarily reduce upper-body hypertrophy work while emphasizing Olympic lifting. A tactical professional preparing for selection may maintain maximal strength while substantially increasing endurance. An older adult may temporarily reduce overall workload while attempting to preserve existing strength and muscle mass.

Maintaining an adaptation generally requires less training than developing it in the first place. That principle becomes one of the coach’s most valuable tools because no athlete can emphasize everything simultaneously.

Sometimes maintaining one quality is precisely what allows another to improve.

Minimum Effective Volume (MEV)

MEV represents the lowest amount of training necessary to produce measurable improvement. Think of it as crossing the threshold where training moves beyond maintenance and begins providing enough stimulus for further adaptation.

Importantly, MEV is highly individual.

A novice lifter may stimulate meaningful progress with relatively little training. An experienced athlete may require substantially more work simply to continue improving. Training age changes the equation because the stronger, more conditioned, and more experienced you become, the greater the stimulus may need to be before the body has sufficient reason to adapt further.

Success changes the rules.

Maximum Adaptive Volume (MAV)

Maximum Adaptive Volume describes the region where training produces the greatest return relative to the fatigue it creates.

Not necessarily the most work. The best work you can do, achieving the intended stimulus, and recover from.

Most productive training should occur somewhere in this range. Performance improves, strength or work capacity develops, recovery remains manageable, technique stays relatively sharp, and the athlete remains capable of continuing to perform quality training.

That distinction matters. MAV is not defined by exhaustion, it’s defined by adaptation.

Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV)

Eventually every athlete reaches a point where additional work creates more fatigue than useful adaptation. That upper boundary is Maximum Recoverable Volume.

MRV should not be treated as a target. It’s the ceiling.

Experienced athletes may intentionally approach that ceiling during concentrated training blocks before reducing workload and allowing accumulated fatigue to dissipate. Used carefully, periods of functional overreaching can have a place within training.

Living near or above MRV is another matter.

When training chronically exceeds the athlete’s ability to recover, familiar warning signs can begin appearing: declining performance, slower bar speed, persistent soreness or joint discomfort, deteriorating sleep, reduced motivation, worsening session quality, and increased susceptibility to minor illness.

The dedicated athlete may again interpret these symptoms as evidence that more work is required. Often the opposite is true.

Why These Landmarks Move

One of the biggest mistakes coaches make is treating volume landmarks as fixed numbers.

They aren’t.

Your MEV this year may not resemble your MEV five years from now. Your MRV during a period of low life stress may differ considerably from your MRV during a demanding work cycle, caloric deficit, competition season, or period of poor sleep. The amount of volume you can recover from for one physical quality may also differ substantially from what you can tolerate for another.

These landmarks move because the athlete moves. As the old saying goes, “You can’t be in fight shape all the time.”

Training Age

Beginners often require surprisingly little work to improve. Advanced athletes generally require a greater stimulus to continue adapting, while simultaneously becoming capable of creating considerably more stress during each hard working set.

Five sets of squats performed by an athlete squatting 135 pounds do not represent the same physiological event as five sets performed by an athlete squatting 500.

The volume may look identical on paper. The affect on the body is not.

Exercise Selection and Recovery Cost

Not all training stress is created equally.

Three sets of leg extensions, three sets of heavy back squats, three rounds of ring muscle-ups, ten minutes of EMOM barbell cycling, and a 5k row for time all qualify as training volume, but they do not impose the same demand.

Heavy compound lifting can create substantial mechanical and systemic fatigue. High-repetition gymnastics challenge local muscular endurance, connective tissue, grip, coordination, and the ability to maintain movement quality as fatigue (neurological and physical) accumulates.

Repeated cleans or snatches performed under metabolic fatigue combine muscular endurance with technical proficiency, strength, power, timing, and repeated force production. Longer aerobic work may create relatively little mechanical damage while still imposing substantial cardiorespiratory and metabolic demand.

This is why simply counting sets, repetitions, minutes, or meters can become misleading.

Programming volume requires understanding what quality the work is developing, how much useful stimulus it provides, and what it costs the athlete to recover from it.

The body doesn’t count reps, it accumulates stress.

Different Qualities Carry Different Costs

One of the greatest misconceptions in training is assuming every physical quality responds to volume in the same way.

It doesn’t.

Absolute strength and power require exposure to high levels of force and velocity. A strong baseline in movements such as squats, deadlifts, presses, pulls, and Olympic lifts provide a foundation from which explosive force can be expressed.

Muscular endurance requires something different: the local capacity of muscles and the nervous system controlling them to repeatedly produce useful contractions despite accumulating fatigue. In gymnastics, that may mean sustaining pull-ups, push-ups, toes-to-bar, handstand push-ups, or muscle-ups. With a barbell, it may mean repeatedly cycling cleans, snatches, thrusters, or shoulder-to-overhead movements while maintaining enough technical integrity to continue working efficiently.

Cardiorespiratory endurance and stamina place another demand on the athlete. Aerobic and anaerobic metabolism must continually provide energy across efforts lasting seconds, minutes, or hours, while the athlete develops the capacity to sustain output and recover between repeated demands.

Strength, power, muscular endurance, barbell endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, and stamina coexist, but they are not interchangeable.

A CrossFit athlete preparing for competition may intentionally increase muscular endurance, barbell cycling, aerobic development, and repeated-effort aerobic power and capacity training while maintaining rather than maximizing absolute strength.

An Olympic weightlifter may do almost the opposite, allocating considerably more training toward strength, power, technical consistency, and the competition lifts. A tactical professional may require substantial strength alongside loaded movement, cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular stamina, and repeated performance under fatigue.

An older adult may prioritize strength, muscle mass, aerobic capacity, mobility, balance, and resilience because the objective is preserving capability and independence rather than maximizing competitive performance.

None of these athletes are training incorrectly, they’re simply solving different problems. Volume only becomes meaningful when viewed through the adaptation being pursued.

Movement Quality Changes the Cost of Volume

There is another variable that sets and repetitions alone cannot explain: movement quality.

Before deciding that an athlete needs more squats, gymnastics, barbell work, or conditioning, the coach must understand whether the athlete can efficiently perform the movements being prescribed.

Can they squat through the required range of motion while maintaining position? Can they establish a stable overhead position and safely receive a clean or snatch? Do they possess the ankle, hip, thoracic, and shoulder mobility required for the task? Can they maintain trunk control and coordination as fatigue accumulates?

Flexibility and mobility are not decorative qualities simply sprinkled in at the beginning or at the end of a training session. Adequate range of motion allows the athlete to access the positions required for the task(s); mobility adds the ability to control those positions. Coordination, agility, and balance allow the athlete to organize movement, redirect force, transition between tasks, and preserve technical integrity under changing conditions.

These qualities are essential and non-negotiable under fatigue.

Walking on your hands while fresh is one skill. Maintaining a handstand walk after heavy cleans and/or several minutes of high-output conditioning is another. The same principle applies to receiving a snatch in a deep overhead squat, transitioning efficiently through ring muscle-ups, or maintaining clean mechanics while breathing heavily and losing grip strength.

Poor movement quality increases the cost of work. Efficient movement reduces it.

Two athletes can therefore complete exactly the same prescribed volume while experiencing meaningfully different training loads.

Sometimes the fastest way to improve work capacity isn’t adding more work.

It’s reducing wasted movement. Or, what we used refer to in CrossFit as seeking Virtuosity in movement.

Volume Exists in Time

Twenty weekly sets performed in one session are not equivalent to twenty sets distributed across four sessions.

Fatigue accumulates differently. Performance quality changes. Recovery opportunities change.

The same principle applies outside traditional resistance training. Twenty minutes of high-skill gymnastics performed while fresh is not equivalent to twenty minutes performed after heavy barbell work. Six sprint intervals distributed appropriately across a training week do not necessarily impose the same cost as those same intervals performed immediately after a demanding lower-body session.

Volume therefore cannot be separated from frequency, sequencing, and recovery. Where the work occurs matters, what happens before and after it matters. The body does not simply experience training volume. It experiences stress over time.

The Athlete Changes the Equation

Genetics, sleep, nutrition, age, life stress, occupation, training history, and movement quality all influence the amount and type of training an athlete can productively tolerate.

A firefighter working rotating night shifts may have a very different MRV from a college student sleeping nine hours each night. Two athletes possessing similar strength may tolerate very different amounts of training, and two athletes capable of completing the same workout may require entirely different interventions because their limiting factors are different.

One may lack absolute strength. Another may lack muscular endurance. Another may possess tremendous strength but poor muscular endurance. Another may have excellent local muscular endurance but insufficient aerobic capacity to recover between efforts. Another may simply move inefficiently which can make each training session twice as hard as it needs to be with the most basic of movements like air squats, pushups, pullups or burpees.

That’s why programming that ignores recovery outside the gym ignores half the equation.

And programming that ignores the individual misunderstands the other half.

Autoregulation: Listening Without Guessing

Perhaps the greatest weakness of rigid programming is the assumption that today’s body is identical to yesterday’s.

It isn’t.

Autoregulation recognizes that readiness fluctuates. Instead of blindly completing predetermined workloads regardless of performance, intelligent athletes and coaches adjust training according to relevant objective and subjective information.

Bar speed, repetitions in reserve, perceived exertion, heart-rate recovery, sleep quality, motivation, persistent soreness, session performance, movement quality, and technical deterioration under fatigue can all provide useful information.

No single metric tells the entire story. The purpose is not to replace programming with daily improvisation.

Autoregulation isn’t abandoning structure it’s allowing physiology to inform execution.

Deloads: Adaptation’s Forgotten Partner

One of the greatest misconceptions in training is that progress results from uninterrupted accumulation. It doesn’t. Progress often depends upon strategic reduction.

Deloads intentionally reduce training stress so accumulated fatigue can dissipate while much of the underlying adaptation is preserved. The purpose isn’t simply to rest. It is to restore the athlete’s capacity to perform productive training again.

A deload is not necessarily a step backward. Often it is the point at which accumulated fitness becomes visible beneath accumulated fatigue. We’ll discuss deloading, and its importance in more detail, later in this series

Pacing, Bottlenecks, and Productive Volume

More volume is rarely the solution to poor performance.

Sometimes the athlete needs more strength. Sometimes they need greater muscular endurance, a larger aerobic base, better gymnastic skill, more technical practice, or improved movement economy.

And sometimes they simply need to stop going out too hard. Pacing by itself is a performance skill. Athletes have to learn how much work can be performed now without any degradation in overall performance.

That means learning how quickly your breathing recovers, knowing when to stop just before grip or shoulder failure, or when technically efficient barbell cycling becomes increasingly expensive, and where local muscular fatigue or technical breakdown reliably appears.

Meaning, where is the bottleneck?

An athlete who repeatedly falls apart during the final five minutes of a 20min AMRAP, may not need another conditioning session. They may benefit more from not trying to win the first five minutes.

Likewise, an athlete struggling with high-repetition cleans may assume the problem is conditioning when insufficient absolute strength is making every repetition too expensive. Another athlete may possess enormous strength but lose time because poor economy of motion makes their receiving positions inefficient. Another may possess the engine and strength but lack the coordination required to transition efficiently between gymnastics and other external loading.

The workout reveals the symptom(s) and good assessments identify the cause(s). That distinction matters because training should target the bottleneck, not just accumulate more fatigue around it.

Volume Is a Conversation, Not a Competition

Perhaps the most important lesson from the Volume Spectrum is this: Volume is not something to maximize, it’s something to be optimized.

It’s a training resource to be allocated according to the athlete’s objectives, abilities, limitations, and capacity to recover. The strongest programs are rarely those that demand the most work. They are the ones that consistently produce the greatest useful adaptation relative to their cost.

That balance changes throughout a career. It changes across seasons and according to the physical quality being developed. It changes during periods of occupational stress, poor sleep, illness, caloric restriction, or competition preparation. And it changes as weaknesses become strengths and new bottlenecks emerge.

The best coaches therefore don’t ask: How much volume can this athlete survive?

They ask: How much productive volume can this athlete recover from?

And eventually, they ask an even better question: Where should that volume be spent?

Those are profoundly different questions. One measures work while the other considers adaptation. And that final question brings us to the next principle.

Looking Ahead

By now, we’ve moved far beyond the old argument that strength and conditioning somehow exist in opposition to one another.

We’ve seen that the interference effect is real but contextual. We’ve examined what performance programs actually look like and why athletes with very different objectives still develop many of the same fundamental physical qualities. And now we’ve established that even the amount of training itself exists along a spectrum, from the work required merely to maintain an adaptation to the upper boundary of what the athlete can productively recover from.

But volume alone still cannot tell us what to do.

Knowing that an athlete can recover from twelve hours of training each week tells us nothing about how those twelve hours should be spent.

Should we build absolute strength and power? Develop muscular endurance or barbell cycling skill? Expand cardiorespiratory capacity? Improve flexibility and movement efficiency? Develop coordination, agility, and balance? Improve movement quality or technical skill? Practice pacing? Attack a specific bottleneck?

Or should several of those qualities simply be maintained while training resources are concentrated on the one that matters most right now?

That is where coaching becomes something more than exercise selection.

A bodybuilder, Olympic weightlifter, tactical professional, CrossFit athlete, and older adult may all require some combination of strength, endurance, power, movement competency, and resilience.

But their needs vary in degree and application, not in kind. What changes is the proportion.

What changes is the priority. What also changes is the organization of stress across time.

Good programming does not ask which physical quality is universally best. It asks which quality matters most for this athlete, at this moment, how much of the others must be developed or preserved, where the athlete’s bottlenecks exist, and how those pieces can coexist without obscuring the primary objective.

That is why programming cannot be reduced to exercises written beneath the days of the week, and it certainly isn’t the random accumulation of difficult workouts.

Programming is the deliberate organization of stress in pursuit of adaptation.

It determines what to develop, what to maintain, what to temporarily deprioritize, how much work to perform, when to perform it, when to push, when to pull back, and when the athlete standing in front of you requires something different from what you originally wrote on paper.

In Part V of First Principles of Performance we discover how programming is not the science of writing workouts. It’s the strategic art of organizing adaptation, we bring those pieces together and examine how coaches actually organize adaptation: how strength, power, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory capacity, movement competency, skill, recovery, and the individual athlete become a coherent training system rather than a collection of disconnected workouts.

Because knowing the physiology is important, knowing the how and why we utilize MGW is foundational, and how and why knowing all of the movements is elemental. But, knowing how to organize them around the needs of the individual is where knowledge becomes art.

Programming is not simply the science of writing workouts. It is the art of organizing adaptation. As always, the principles remain constant.

The application is the art. And that’s what quality coaching is all about.

First Principles of Performance – Part III

What Do Performance Programs Actually Look Like?

The same physical qualities. Different priorities. Intelligent application.

Part I, we dismantled the myth.

Part II explained the physiology.

Part III shows how to construct the program.

The Central Thesis

Programming is not the indiscriminate accumulation of desirable exercises. It is the deliberate allocation of finite adaptive resources.

Every athlete would benefit from being stronger, more muscular, more powerful, better conditioned, more mobile, and more resilient. The problem is that no one can maximize every quality simultaneously.

A sound program therefore asks:

What must be developed?
What must be maintained?
What may be temporarily deprioritized and for how long?
What forms of training deliver the greatest benefit with the least conflicting fatigue?

That’s where the individual disciplines separate.

The Framework

Before discussing specific populations, let’s discuss a common framework that can apply to anyone.

The Primary Objective

The primary objective determines what receives the athlete’s best energy, highest-quality practice, and largest recovery allocation.

General physical preparedness (GPP): broad competence without narrow specialization
Tactical readiness: resembles GPP but carries a different standard. Failure is not an option
Olympic Weightlifting: technical power, speed, athleticism, superior flexibility + stability at end ranges of motion, and maximal strength
CrossFit: develop broad competitive capacity across the 10 general physical skills and also have “home run” ability in several of those skills
Bodybuilding: hypertrophy, size, and muscular symmetry
Healthy aging and Wellness: preservation of strength, power, muscle, mobility, and cardiorespiratory fitness

Developing Secondary qualities

Secondary qualities support the principal objective but must not compete excessively with it.

For example:

An Olympic weightlifter needs aerobic fitness for recovery and general wellness, but not the capacity to run a marathon.
A bodybuilder needs conditioning, but not enough aerobic volume to take away from building muscle.
A tactical athlete needs strength, but not at the expense of sharpness of movement, the ability to endure, and engage and disarm enemy combatants, i.e. maintain occupational durability.
A more mature adult needs to build and/or maintain muscle mass, but also enough power, balance, coordination, flexibility, and aerobic capacity to remain independent.

Establishing the minimum effective dose

Not every quality requires maximal training volume. Some qualities can be developed with relatively little work. Others can be maintained with substantially less work than was required to build them.

This allows a coach to place most resources toward the current priority while preserving other capacities.

Control competing fatigue

The interference problem is not merely molecular. It is mechanical, neurological, metabolic, and logistical.

Two sessions may theoretically coexist but still conflict because they stress:

The same musculature
The same joints and connective tissues
The same energy systems
The same neurological resources
The athlete’s limited sleep, time, and nutrition

This is why modality, sequence, volume, and timing matter.

Sequence the training week intelligently

The highest-priority, highest-skill, and highest-velocity work should generally occur when the athlete is freshest.

A useful hierarchy is:

Technical and explosive work
Heavy strength work
Hypertrophy or accessory work
Conditioning
Supplemental mobility and tissue restoration

That order can change according to the sport, but it gives us a sound starting point.

How the application changes

CrossFit: developing breadth without creating chaos

CrossFit presents one of the hardest programming problems because nearly every physical quality matters.

Why does CrossFit usually present a problem for most coaches? We begin with the 10 general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.

Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance – The ability of the body’s systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen
Stamina – The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy
Strength – The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force
Flexibility – the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint
Power – The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time
Speed – The ability to minimize the cycle time of a repeated movement
Coordination – The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement
Agility – The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another
Balance – The ability to control the placement of the body’s center of gravity in relation to its support base
Accuracy – The ability to control movement in any given direction or at a given intensity”

So, a competitive CrossFit athlete requires:

Maximal and relative strength
Olympic lifting proficiency
Gymnastics skill
Aerobic capacity
Anaerobic power
Muscular endurance
Movement efficiency
Fatigue resistance
Rapid recovery between efforts, et cetera

The danger is confusing variety with randomness.

A well-designed CrossFit program should not simply expose the athlete to more movements and more suffering. It should develop identifiable qualities in a logical sequence.

Primary considerations

Strength and skill must be developed and then protected.
Heavy lifting, technical precision/near perfection in the Olympic lifts, and advanced gymnastic skill should not routinely be performed after unnecessary fatigue.

Conditioning requires structure.
The athlete needs distinct exposures to:

Low-intensity aerobic development
Threshold or tempo work
Short glycolytic intervals
Sprint interval training
Mixed-modal competition pieces

Not every metcon should destroy the athlete.
Some sessions should develop pace, transitions, breathing control, or movement economy without producing maximal fatigue.

The interference effect is managed through planning.
Heavy squats should not be surrounded by repeated high-volume running, jumping, and cycling sessions unless that fatigue is intentional.

CrossFit programming should develop the unknown and unknowable by building deep, transferable capacities, not by making every day unknowable to the coach.

Hypertrophy: condition the athlete without stealing from growth

For hypertrophy, the principal objective is clear:

Accumulate sufficient high-quality resistance-training volume to stimulate muscle growth, then recover from it.

Cardiovascular training should improve health, work capacity, and recovery without degrading lifting performance.

Best applications

Zone 2 bike/row/ski, jogging if you can maintain zone 2, or other similar cardiac demand work
MAP training or what I call “CrossFit aerobics”
Short tempo intervals
Carefully dosed sprint work
Sleds, carries, or machines that reduce eccentric loading
Conditioning performed after lifting or in separate sessions

Primary constraints

The bodybuilder or hypertrophy-focused lifter must manage:

Total lower-body fatigue
Caloric expenditure
Joint stress
Session duration
Interference with progressive overload

The appropriate amount depends on the athlete’s training age, caloric intake, exercise selection, and recovery.

The practical rule is straightforward:

Conditioning should leave the athlete better prepared to train, not chronically less capable of producing force and volume.

Bodybuilding: hypertrophy with greater specialization

Bodybuilding and general hypertrophy training overlap, but bodybuilding adds several constraints:

Muscular symmetry
Proportional development
High local training volume
Fatigue management across many isolation exercises
Contest preparation and caloric restriction
Preservation of muscle during fat loss

Cardio becomes more prominent during contest preparation, but recovery resources simultaneously decline.

That makes modality selection especially important.

Low-impact cardio often becomes preferable because it increases energy expenditure without imposing excessive eccentric loading or soreness. As calories fall, the athlete must also avoid the common mistake of increasing cardio aggressively while maintaining all previous lifting volume.

Bodybuilding programming is therefore an exercise in resource preservation:

Retain muscular tension
Preserve strength where possible
Manage fatigue
Increase energy expenditure gradually
Avoid turning every session into a test of willpower

The same physiology applies. The context changes.

General Physical Preparedness: build the widest useful base

GPP is not preparation for nothing. It is preparation for many possible things.

The objective is broad physical competence:

Reasonable strength
Useful muscle mass
Aerobic fitness
Anaerobic capacity
Mobility
Coordination
Power
Durability

A GPP program should avoid the extremes of narrow specialization.

The athlete does not need:

Powerlifting-level maximal strength
Marathon-level endurance
Bodybuilding-level weekly muscle volume
Elite Olympic lifting technique

But the athlete benefits from meaningful development in all of them.

A balanced GPP week might include:

Two or three strength sessions
One power or sprint exposure
Two aerobic sessions
One higher-intensity conditioning session
Carries, sleds, jumps, throws, crawling, or climbing
Regular movement-quality work

This is where first principles matter most. GPP should create optionality: the ability to enter a more specialized phase without beginning from zero.

Tactical readiness. The real unknown and unknowable.

Tactical readiness resembles GPP but carries a different standard. Failure is not an option.

The tactical athlete may need to:

Sprint – short, medium, and long distance, under load, taking and returning fire
Climb – 15 – 30 ft. ropes for multiple reps
Fight – from striking, to grappling, to weapons defense and disarming skill, and all must work under possible extreme fatigue
Drag or carry another person, possibly multiple people
Move large loads, long distance, and quickly
Operate for hours
Recover quickly
Make innumerable decisions under fatigue
Repeat near perfect efforts without warning

That’s the minimum standard and it requires far more than “being strong” or being “in shape” ever can.

The old saying is, the novice practices the movements so they don’t get them wrong. The professional has practiced them so often they can’t get them wrong.

Programming priorities

Relative and absolute strength
Loaded movement capacity
Grip and trunk endurance
Aerobic base
Martial Proficiency
Repeated sprint ability
Anaerobic endurance
Power and rate of force development
Durability under imperfect, and often austere, conditions
Recovery between multiple, unpredictable efforts

The program must also preserve technical and occupational skills. Fitness should support marksmanship, defensive tactics, movement, communication, and decision-making rather than degrading them through constant exhaustion.

The “unknown and unknowable” should be addressed by building robust capacities and occasionally testing their integration.

It should not justify random training. Uncertainty in the mission does not require uncertainty in the program. That should be one of the article’s anchor lines.

Olympic weightlifting: develop strength, speed, power, technical skill, and force production

Greg and Amiee – the early days of Catalyst Athletics

Olympic weightlifting is a highly technical, speed-strength, and power output sport.

Its primary qualities are:

Technical proficiency
Explosive strength
Maximal strength
Speed-strength
Superior positional mobility
Well-developed neuromuscular adaptation

Conditioning is useful, but it must remain subordinate to performance in the snatch and the clean and jerk.

Productive conditioning

Low-intensity aerobic work
Short cyclical intervals
Sled work, carries, et cetera
Limited sprint exposures whether it’s running, rowing, bike erg assault bike, or ski erg
General body weight flow/movement and recovery work

Common programming error

A weightlifter can become so conditioned that the conditioning begins to impair the quality of technical practice, squatting, pulling, and recovery.

Conversely, poor aerobic fitness can reduce training density and the ability to recover between sets and sessions.

The goal is not maximal endurance.

It is sufficient conditioning to support greater quantities of high-quality weightlifting.

Healthy aging: train what age attempts to take away

Healthy aging may be the most important application because nearly every major physical quality declines without deliberate training.

The program should preserve:

Muscle mass
Maximal strength
Power
Bone density
Aerobic capacity
Balance
Coordination
Mobility
Confidence in movement

Power deserves particular emphasis because it often declines faster than maximal strength and is essential for preventing falls, climbing stairs, catching oneself, and moving quickly when necessary.

A complete healthy-aging program should therefore include:

Progressive resistance training
Safe explosive intent or power training
Zone 2 aerobic work
Some higher-intensity aerobic exposure
Balance and unilateral movement
Carries and gait work
Mobility sufficient for daily function
Practice getting down to and up from the floor

The objective is not merely extending lifespan.

It is preserving capability across the lifespan.

The 70-year-old and the competitive athlete are not performing identical workouts, but the underlying qualities remain the same. Load, velocity, complexity, volume, and risk are adjusted to the individual.

Again: different in degree, not in kind.

The comparative model

Population	Primary Emphasis	Supporting Conditioning	Main Interference Risk
CrossFit	Broad competitive capacity	Full spectrum	Excessive mixed fatigue and inadequate specialization
Hypertrophy	Muscle growth	Low-impact aerobic and concise intervals	Reduced lifting quality and recovery
Bodybuilding	Muscular size, symmetry, leanness	Progressive low-impact cardio	Energy deficit plus excessive total volume
GPP	Broad competence	Balanced aerobic and anaerobic work	Randomness without measurable progression
Tactical	Durable performance under uncertainty	Aerobic base, loaded work, repeated efforts	Fitness fatigue degrading occupational skill
Olympic weightlifting	Skill, power, maximal strength	Minimal effective conditioning dose	Loss of speed, freshness, and technical quality
Healthy aging	Capability and independence	Aerobic base plus selected intensity	Underloading, excessive caution, and lack of power work

The deeper lesson

This third article should not merely contain seven sample programs. It should teach the reader how to reason.

The reader should finish understanding that programming is a process of adjusting several variables:

Priority
Frequency
Intensity
Volume
Modality
Sequence
Recovery
Specificity

The exercises are not the program. The allocation of stress is the program.

That is how we prevent the article from becoming a collection of templates that readers blindly copy. We can include sample weekly structures, but each one should demonstrate the principle behind the arrangement.

The barbell, a bike, the rower, a sled, the track, or a pull-up bar are not competing philosophies. They are tools. Their value depends on the problem they are being used to solve.

A bodybuilder, Olympic weightlifter, tactical professional, CrossFit athlete, and older adult all require strength, endurance, power, movement competency, and resilience. The needs vary in application, not in kind.

Good programming does not ask which quality is universally best. It asks which quality matters most right now, how much of the others must be developed or preserved, and how they can coexist without obscuring the primary objective.

Programming is not the science of writing workouts. It is the art of organizing adaptation. As always, the principles remain constant. The application is the art and that’s what real coaching is all about

First Principles of Performance – Part II

The Interference Effect: Separating Physiology from Fitness Mythology

“Understanding what works is valuable. Understanding why it works changes the way you think forever.”

In the previous article, Cardio Doesn’t Kill Your Gains. Poor Programming Does, we challenged one of the most persistent myths in strength and conditioning.

The conclusion was straightforward.

Cardiovascular training does not inherently prevent muscle growth. Rather, poorly designed training, excessive volume, inadequate recovery, insufficient nutrition, and conflicting priorities, is what most often limits progress.

For the overwhelming majority of lifters, the question isn’t whether they should perform cardiovascular training. The question is how to integrate it intelligently into a well-designed program.

That practical advice is enough for most people.

But for coaches, athletes, and those who simply enjoy understanding why the body behaves the way it does, there is a much deeper story waiting beneath the surface.

That story begins inside a single muscle cell.

The Conversation Inside the Cell

Every training session asks your body a question.

Heavy squats ask:

“Can you produce more force?”

A sprint interval asks:

“Can you generate enormous amounts of energy very quickly?”

A thirty-minute Zone 2 session asks:

“Can you become more efficient?”

Your muscles answer each of these questions by activating different signaling pathways that regulate adaptation.

These pathways are often portrayed as opposing armies locked in constant battle. One builds muscle. The other builds endurance. One must win while the other loses. It’s an appealing narrative. It’s also an oversimplification because biology is rarely that binary.

Meet the Two Most Famous Molecules in Exercise Physiology

If you’ve spent any time reading about muscle growth or endurance training, you’ve almost certainly encountered two acronyms:

AMPK

and

mTOR.

They’re frequently described as rivals. While that’s directionally true, the relationship is considerably more nuanced than the internet often suggests.

AMPK functions as the cell’s energy sensor. Whenever energy availability begins to decline, as happens during prolonged or demanding exercise, AMPK becomes activated.

Its job is straightforward and that’s to restore energy balance.

It encourages the body to become more metabolically efficient, increase glucose uptake, enhance fat oxidation, and promote mitochondrial adaptations that improve endurance over time.

mTOR serves a different purpose.

Rather than conserving energy, mTOR responds to mechanical tension, amino acid availability, particularly leucine, and adequate cellular energy by promoting protein synthesis, tissue repair, and muscle growth.

One pathway asks,

“How do we survive this demand?”

The other asks,

“How do we become stronger for the next one?”

Both are essential an neither is the enemy.

Where the Myth Begins

Here’s where decades of misunderstanding started. Researchers discovered that AMPK can suppress certain components of the mTOR pathway.

That finding quickly evolved into a popular conclusion:

“Cardio turns on AMPK.

AMPK turns off mTOR.

Therefore cardio kills muscle growth.”

Simple but also wrong, or at least incomplete. Because physiology almost never operates like a light switch.

Biology Prefers Dimmers Over Switches

One of the most overlooked aspects of exercise physiology is time. AMPK responds rapidly to energetic stress. During demanding exercise, it rises quickly.

Then, once the exercise ends and energy balance begins to recover, AMPK activity declines just as rapidly, often within minutes to a few hours.

mTOR behaves differently.

Following resistance training, especially when combined with adequate protein intake, mTOR signaling can remain elevated for many hours and, in some cases, more than a day as muscle protein synthesis continues.

These aren’t two permanent states competing for dominance. They’re temporary responses to changing physiological demands. Your body constantly adjusts which pathway receives greater emphasis based on what it needs at that moment.

Location Matters

Another misconception is that these pathways somehow control the entire body equally at all times. They don’t. Many signaling responses are remarkably localized.

The muscle fibers performing repeated contractions experience different metabolic demands than surrounding tissues. The cardiovascular system responds differently than skeletal muscle. The liver behaves differently than adipose tissue.

Even within skeletal muscle, fiber type influences adaptation. The body isn’t issuing a single command. It’s conducting an orchestra. Different sections play different parts. Together they produce adaptation.

The Body Doesn’t Choose Between Building and Improving

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this entire discussion is that AMPK and mTOR are not always mutually exclusive. Under certain physiological conditions, aspects of both pathways can be active simultaneously. Cells routinely remove damaged proteins while synthesizing new ones.

Energy availability can improve while structural remodeling occurs. Recovery itself is an ongoing process of destruction and regeneration. Our physiology isn’t designed around choosing one adaptation. It’s designed around balancing competing demands with extraordinary precision.

What the Research Shows

This is where molecular biology meets coaching.

When researchers move beyond isolated signaling pathways and study actual athletes over weeks and months, the dramatic interference many people fear becomes surprisingly difficult to reproduce outside very high volumes of endurance training.

Concurrent training research consistently demonstrates that the magnitude of the interference effect depends on factors such as:

Total endurance volume
Exercise modality
Session timing
Recovery
Nutritional status
Training experience
Overall programming

In other words, the molecular biology doesn’t invalidate the conclusions from the previous article, it explains them.

Recent research confirms that the so-called “interference effect” is real, but its magnitude depends on how training is programmed. For example, a 2016 study by Jones et al. found that, while concurrent training can slightly reduce strength gains compared to strength training alone, the effect is modest and can be minimized with thoughtful sequencing and recovery (Jones et al., 2016).

Why Running Sometimes Differs from Cycling

One particularly interesting finding is that not all endurance training produces the same interference.

High-volume running often creates greater reductions in hypertrophy than cycling or rowing.

Why?

Part of the explanation likely lies in mechanical loading. Running introduces thousands of eccentric foot strikes that generate additional muscular damage and recovery demands.

Cycling and rowing produce far less eccentric stress while still developing robust cardiovascular adaptations. The heart doesn’t particularly care how you elevate its workload.

Your joints and muscles often do. For athletes prioritizing hypertrophy, choosing lower-impact conditioning modalities can preserve more recovery capacity for strength training.

The First Principle

Understanding physiology should never replace good coaching.

It should explain it. The interference effect is real. But it is conditional, contextual, and frequently exaggerated. Most athletes don’t need to fear cardiovascular training. They need to respect recovery.

They need to understand adaptation. And above all, they need to remember that physiology doesn’t reward extremes. It rewards appropriate stress followed by appropriate recovery. That’s how stronger muscles are built. That’s how better cardiovascular systems are developed.

And that’s how thoughtful programming transforms isolated workouts into long-term performance.

Closing Thoughts

Perhaps the greatest lesson from the interference effect has nothing to do with AMPK or mTOR. It is a reminder that biology rarely conforms to the tidy, binary explanations we often prefer.

Strength or endurance. Cardio or muscle. Building or recovering. These are useful categories for conversation, but they are poor descriptions of how the human body actually functions. Our physiology is not governed by absolutes. It is governed by balance, adaptation, and context.

The best coaches understand this instinctively. Science simply helps explain why.

Next time we’ll discuss what performance programs actually look like. They’re the same physical qualities, simply applied with different priorities.

As always, the principles remain the same. The art is in the application of that knowledge.

References
Jones, T. W., Howatson, G., Russell, M., French, D. N., & Thomas, K. (2016). Performance and physiological differences between concurrent training and strength training. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 116(3), 665-678.

First Principles of Performance –Part I

Cardio Doesn’t Kill Your Gains. Poor Programming Does.

“The first principle isn’t choosing between strength and conditioning. It’s understanding what adaptation you’re trying to create.”

Cardio Doesn’t Kill Your Gains. Poor Programming Does.

For decades, one of the most persistent myths in strength training has been deceptively simple:

“If you want to build muscle, avoid cardio.”

It sounds reasonable. After all, endurance athletes tend to be lean, while bodybuilders are muscular. Somewhere along the way, many people concluded that cardiovascular training and muscle growth must exist at opposite ends of the same spectrum.

Like most fitness myths, there’s a grain of truth buried beneath a mountain of oversimplification.

Can excessive endurance training interfere with maximal hypertrophy? Yes.

Can intelligently programmed cardiovascular training improve your health, enhance your recovery, increase your work capacity, and have little meaningful effect on muscle growth?

Also yes. The difference isn’t cardio. It’s programming

The Wrong Question

People often ask, “How much cardio can I do without losing muscle?” It’s the wrong question. The better question is: What adaptation am I trying to produce?

Every training session asks your body to solve a problem. Heavy squats ask it to produce more force. Tempo intervals ask it to become more efficient at clearing lactate.

Sprints demand explosive power. Long easy efforts improve aerobic efficiency.

These aren’t competing identities. They’re simply different physiological adaptations. Understanding that distinction changes everything.

First, Let’s Define “Cardio”

One reason this discussion becomes so confusing is because we use the word cardio as though it’s a type of exercise.

It isn’t. It’s a physiological demand.

Your cardiovascular system doesn’t know whether you’re running, rowing, cycling, carrying sandbags, or performing twenty-rep squats. It only knows that your muscles require oxygen, nutrients, and energy.

Think about workouts like:
– The Standard (Grace – 30 clean and jerks at 135/95, 30 ring muscle ups, Isabel – 30 snatches at 135/95)
– Heavy sled pushes
– Oly complexes of 5 reps or more
– 2k row for time
– 5k run
– Fran
– 20 rep max back squat
– Murph

Nobody finishes those wondering whether their cardiovascular system was challenged. Weight training can absolutely become cardiovascular training depending on how it’s programmed.

Intensity.
Density.
Rest intervals.
Exercise selection.
Volume.

These variables determine the cardiovascular demand, not whether you’re holding a barbell or running shoes. The conversation isn’t “weights versus cardio.”

It never was.

Where the Myth Came From

The concern isn’t entirely imaginary.

Researchers have long studied what’s known as the interference effect, the observation that combining endurance and resistance training can, under certain conditions, reduce some strength and hypertrophy adaptations compared with resistance training alone.

Notice the language. Can. Under certain conditions.

Not: Always. Those conditions matter.

A competitive marathon runner performing sixty miles each week while trying to maximize leg hypertrophy faces a very different challenge than someone lifting four days a week while adding two thirty-minute conditioning sessions.

Those are not the same training problems. Yet they’re often discussed as though they are.

What Actually Interferes?

For most lifters, muscle isn’t lost because they jogged. It’s lost because recovery becomes the limiting factor.

Poor programming often looks like this:
Heavy lower-body lifting followed immediately by long-distance running.
High-volume conditioning layered on top of already excessive lifting volume.
Poor sleep.
Insufficient calories.
Inadequate protein intake.
Eventually something has to give.
Trying to train near maximally, whether it’s loading or intensity, 4-6 days per week.

If training continually exceeds your ability to recover, progress slows—not because cardio is inherently bad, but because the total stress exceeds your adaptive capacity.

The Research Is More Encouraging Than the Internet

Fortunately, the research is considerably more nuanced than the internet. Much of the fear surrounding cardio comes from laboratory discussions about molecular signaling. You’ll often hear that endurance exercise activates one pathway while resistance training activates another, and that these pathways “fight” each other.

There is truth here. But physiology is rarely as binary as social media suggests.

These signals are temporary. They’re influenced by nutrition, training age, exercise selection and most important, recovery.

And they’re often localized to the tissues being trained rather than acting as a simple on-off switch across the entire body.

More importantly, when researchers look beyond the molecular biology and examine actual training outcomes, the picture becomes much less dramatic.

For the overwhelming majority of recreational lifters, and even many competitive athletes, well-designed conditioning has little meaningful effect on muscle growth.

Programming matters far more than the mere presence of cardiovascular exercise.

I hope the archive of this blog never disappears.

Optimum Performance Training (OPT) James Fitzgerald

Numerous studies support the idea that cardio, when programmed intelligently, does not meaningfully hinder muscle growth. For example, a 2015 meta-analysis by Dr. Brad Schoenfeld and colleagues concluded that combining strength and cardio training results in only a negligible impact on muscle and strength gains, provided programming is sound (Schoenfeld, B.J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J.W., 2015, Sports Medicine).

Cardio That Supports Muscle Growth

If hypertrophy is your primary objective, conditioning should complement not compete with your lifting.

Generally speaking, it could look like the following:

Shorter, more intense sprint work.
Use interval-based conditioning where appropriate.
Row.
Cycle.
Throw med-balls.
Use the SkiErg.
Carry odd objects.
Push and pull sleds.
Perform tempo intervals.
Carry heavy implements.
Include sprint interval training when recovery allows.
Separate demanding conditioning from heavy lower-body strength sessions whenever practical.

Most importantly, keep the main thing, the main thing.

Conditioning exists to improve health, increase work capacity, and support recovery, not to leave you so fatigued that tomorrow’s strength session suffers.

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

The best programs are surprisingly disciplined. They know exactly what they’re trying to improve. Everything else exists to support that objective, not distract from it.

One of the greatest mistakes athletes make is assuming every session must improve every quality simultaneously.

It doesn’t. Training is about emphasis or specificity to the individual and their goals. Some phases prioritize maximal strength. Some emphasize hypertrophy, aerobic capacity gymnastic or Olympic Weightlifting skill. A skill Ive always referred to as barbell gymnastics because of how skill dependent they are.

The art of coaching isn’t teaching every quality simultaneously. It’s knowing which qualities deserve emphasis today, and which can simply be maintained until tomorrow.

That’s programming.

Paleo - BJJ - white belt - black belt - earned not issued

The First Principle

Cardio doesn’t kill your gains. Poor programming does. If your training reflects clear priorities, if recovery matches workload, if nutrition supports adaptation, if conditioning complements rather than competes with strength, then you can become stronger. You will then become stronger, healthier, and better conditioned.

Not because you avoided cardio, but because you finally stopped asking whether strength and conditioning are enemies.

They never were. They simply need a coach who understands how to make them work together.

The principles remain constant. The application is the art.

If you’re curious why all of this works, not merely what to do, we’ll step out of the weight room and into the physiology laboratory. There we’ll explore the molecular conversation taking place inside skeletal muscle every time you lift, sprint, row, or recover, and discover why the story is far more nuanced than the internet would have you believe.

References

Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2015). Effect of concurrent aerobic and strength training on maximal strength, power, and hypertrophy in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 45(5), 697–708.

Wilson, J. M., Marin, P. J., Rhea, M. R., Wilson, S. M. C., Loenneke, J. P., & Anderson, J. C. (2012). Concurrent training: A meta-analysis examining interference of aerobic and resistance exercises. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(8), 2293–2307.

Nutrition for Female Athletes: Building Strength, Performance, and Longevity

Nutrition for female athletes is about fueling strength, performance, and long-term vitality, not restriction or “losing weight.”

Performance Over Perception

Most nutrition advice aimed at women is still built around restriction, aesthetics, or outdated assumptions about metabolism and training. Training for ladies varies in degree, not kind.

That’s a problem.

If you are training 3–5 days per week, lifting with intent, and layering in conditioning, your body is not asking for less. It is asking for structure, consistency, and sufficient nutritional intake to support your output.

This is not about eating less. It’s about eating appropriately for what you demand of your body.

Myth vs. Reality

Myth: Eating more carbs or fats for performance will automatically lead to fat gain.

Reality: Adequate carbs and fats are essential for training intensity, hormonal health, and recovery. Under-fueling is far riskier for female athletes.

What Changes for Female Athletes?

Physiologically, women:

Oxidize slightly more fat at rest and during lower intensity work
May rely more heavily on carbohydrate during higher intensity training
Are more sensitive to low energy availability, which can disrupt:
- Hormonal health
- Bone density
- Recovery and performance

This makes under-fueling a much bigger issue than over-fueling.

Key concept: Performance nutrition for women is not scaled-down male nutrition. It requires adequate intake and consistency, not chronic restriction.

Caloric Baseline – Your Starting Point

For most beginner to intermediate female athletes:

~12–16 calories per lb bodyweight/day

Adjust based on:

Training frequency and intensity
Body composition goals
Recovery and energy levels

Macro Quick Reference (per lb bodyweight)

• Calories: 12–16/day
• Protein: 0.8–1.1g
• Carbs: 1.5–2.5g
• Fat: 0.3–0.5g

Protein: The Non-Negotiable

Recommendation

0.8 – 1.1 g per lb bodyweight per day

Why does it matter?

Protein supports:

Muscle repair and growth
Tendon and ligament integrity
Immune function
Hormonal signaling

Women often under-consume protein, especially earlier in the day.

Distribution

Aim for:

25–40g per meal
3–4 meals per day

This supports repeated stimulation of muscle protein synthesis (MPS).

Scientific Support

Morton et al., 2018 (Br J Sports Med)
→ ~1.6 g/kg (~0.7 g/lb) minimum, with higher intakes beneficial for active individuals
Areta et al., 2013 (J Physiol)
→ Even protein distribution improves MPS vs skewed intake

Carbohydrates: The Performance Driver

Recommendation

1.5 – 2.5 g per lb bodyweight per day

Adjust based on:

Conditioning volume
Training intensity
Recovery demands

Why Carbs Matter

Carbohydrates:

Fuel resistance training and conditioning
Support glycogen replenishment
Improve performance output and training quality
Help regulate cortisol post-training

For Hybrid Training (Lifting + Conditioning)

With 2 days of added metabolic work:

Bias carbs around training windows
Slightly higher intake on those days

Scientific Support

Kerksick et al., 2017 (JISSN Position Stand)
Carbs critical for performance and recovery in high-intensity training
Burke et al., 2011 (J Sports Sci)
Glycogen availability directly impacts training capacity

Fats: Essential, Not Optional

Recommendation

0.3 – 0.5 g per lb bodyweight per day

Why It Matters

Fats support:

Hormone production (including estrogen)
Brain function
Nutrient absorption
Long-term health

Chronically low fat intake in women is linked to:

Hormonal disruption
Menstrual irregularities
Reduced recovery capacity

Scientific Support

De Souza et al., 2014 (Br J Sports Med)
Low energy and fat intake linked to endocrine disruption

Nutrient Timing: Useful, Not Obsessive

Pre-Training

Protein + carbohydrates
Example: Greek yogurt + fruit, or protein + oats

Post-Training

Protein + carbohydrates
Example: whey + fruit, or whole meal

Evening Eating

Avoid large meals too close to sleep.

If needed:

Smaller protein + carb option
Example: 1 serving of fat-free Greek yogurt, 1 serving of your favorite protein powder + 1 serving of fruit

Hydration & Electrolytes

Especially important for:

Conditioning sessions
Longer training days

Baseline

~0.5–0.7 oz water per lb bodyweight daily

Add electrolytes if:

Sweating heavily
Training in heat
Doing longer sessions

Common Mistakes That Limit Progress

1. Under-eating protein
2. Avoiding carbohydrates
3. Skipping meals and “catching up” later
4. Relying on snacks instead of structured meals
5. Treating food as a reward or a punishment

Practical Daily Structure

Example Day

Meal 1

Eggs + oats + fruit

Meal 2

Chicken + white rice + vegetables + olive oil

Meal 3 (Pre/Post Training)

Protein shake + banana

Meal 4

Salmon + potatoes + vegetables

Action Challenge

For the next 3 days:

Hit your protein target
Add carbohydrates to support training
Eat 3–4 structured meals

No tracking perfection required. Just consistency.

Coach’s Notes

You don’t need a perfect plan. You need a repeatable one.
Consistency builds performance.
Intensity in training requires support from nutrition
If you feel constantly fatigued, flat, or under-recovered, you are likely under-fueling

Suggested Reading

“Roar” by Stacy Sims — Focuses on female-specific physiology and performance nutrition.

One athlete I worked with spent years fearing carbs and eating as little fat as possible. When she finally fueled for her training, hitting just her protein and carb targets, she broke her plateau, gained strength, and recovered faster than ever. Performance nutrition changed her body and her confidence.

Key Takeaways

Lifting and conditioning place real demands on your body.

If you want:

Strength
Performance
Longevity

Then your nutrition must reflect that and not focus on eating less to “lose weight” or simply “be skinnier.”

Ladies, Lifting Weights Won’t Make You “Bulky,” It Will Make You Stronger, Healthier, and Harder to Break

Ever take a look in the mirror after your first week of serious lifting and thought, “Wait, am I getting bigger?” Here’s what’s really happening…

The Real Problem Isn’t Lifting, It’s Perception

Most women don’t avoid lifting because they’re lazy. They avoid it because they’ve been given the wrong framework. Somewhere along the way, strength training got tied to a single fear:

“If I lift weights, I’ll get bulky.”

That belief isn’t based on physiology. It’s based on misunderstanding. And if the foundation is wrong, every decision built on top of it will be, too.

Think: Understand What Actually Drives Muscle Growth

Muscle doesn’t appear by accident.

It requires:

Progressive overload
Sufficient calorie intake
Adequate protein
Consistency over months and years

Even under ideal conditions, muscle growth is slow.

Now layer in reality:

Women have significantly lower testosterone levels
Most people are not eating in a surplus
Most training programs are not optimized for maximal hypertrophy

The result?

Most women don’t accidentally get bulky. They struggle to build muscle at all.

Lift: Train for Strength, Not Fear

If your goal is to be healthier, stronger, and more capable, your training should reflect that.

That means:

Lifting with intent
Progressively increasing load over time
Training consistently across weeks, months, and years

Not:

Avoiding moderate to heavy weightlifting
Staying in low-intensity comfort zones
Making decisions based on appearance fears

Because here’s the reality: Strength training builds overall capacity, not excess.

Quick Facts: Muscle vs. Bulk

– Muscle gain is slow and is achieved intentionally, not accidentally.

– Most women gain strength, improved muscle tone, and confidence, not size.

– Temporary changes (pump or water retention) fade within hours to days.

What most women experience when they lift properly:

Improved muscle tone
Better posture
Increased strength
Reduced body fat
Higher confidence in movement

That’s not bulk. That’s functional strength.

Live: Strength Is a Long-Term Investment

This is where the conversation shifts. Not aesthetics. Not trends. Outcomes.

If you don’t build strength over time:

Muscle mass declines with age (sarcopenia)
Bone density decreases
Injury risk increases
Daily tasks become harder
Metabolic health worsens

This isn’t hypothetical. It’s guaranteed to happen to everyone.

Now flip that and you’ll find that strength training supports:

Longevity and independence
Bone density and joint health
Metabolic resilience
Cognitive and emotional stability
The ability to live life without unnecessary limitation

Strength training isn’t just about today’s confidence, it’s your ticket to stronger bones, better balance, and staying independent for decades. That’s why a change in mindset is important.

Thinking before: Avoided weights, worried about getting ‘big.’

Thinking after: Trained with intention, gained strength, energy, and self-assurance, no bulk in sight.

What “Bulky” Actually Means and Why It’s Misunderstood

Most people don’t define “bulky” clearly.

In practice, what they’re reacting to is:

Seeing muscle definition for the first time
Temporary muscle fullness (“pump”): This can cause a temporary feeling of ‘swelling’ or looking puffier, don’t panic. It’s just increased blood flow and water retention in the muscle, and it fades quickly.
A change in body composition they’re not used to

Actual muscular size:

Takes years to build
Requires intention
Requires nutrition to support it

You don’t drift aimlessly into it, and you couldn’t even if you tried.

The Reality Most People Don’t Say Out Loud

Many women would benefit from more muscle, not less.

In fact:

Many struggle to gain even a few pounds of lean mass
Many under-eat relative to their activity
Many never train with enough load to stimulate growth

The result isn’t “too bulky.”

It’s:

Underdeveloped strength
Lower resilience
Missed potential

Action: Train Systematically, Not Emotionally

Scientific Insight:

A 2022 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that women who strength trained 2–4x per week improved bone density, confidence, and body composition, without significant increases in body size.

The World Health Organization and American College of Sports Medicine both recommend women include strength training at least two days per week for optimal health, resilience, and longevity.

If your decisions are driven by fear, your results will be limited.

Instead:

Train 2–4x per week with resistance
Focus on progression, not perfection
Eat enough protein to support recovery
Give it time

Let outcomes guide adjustments, not assumptions.

Coach’s Notes

Muscle is difficult to build and easy to lose. Act accordingly.
Strength is protective. It supports everything else you do.
If you ever reach a point where you feel “too muscular,” you can adjust. But, fear not, 99% of the population never even get close to that point.

Final Thought

I doubt Olympic Weightlifters like Olivia Reeves or Mattie Rogers ever think twice about “getting too bulky,” and you shouldn’t either. Strong women aren’t bulky; they’re confident, capable, and resilient.

The goal is to become stronger and more capable. That means more strength, more tenacity, more control over your body, and your overall well-being.

So always remember, lifting weights won’t make you bulky. It will make you unbreakable.

What Do Performance Meals Actually Look Like?

Picking Up Where We Left Off

In Week 3, we learned that nutrient timing matters for performance.
In Week 4, we reframed carbs not as villains but as essential performance fuel.
In Week 5, we cleared the deck on dietary fat, not evil, not unlimited, just essential when used right.

This week, we put it all together.

Now that you understand why macros matter, the next question becomes:
“Okay… so what does a real performance meal look like?”

That’s what we’ll answer today, without rigid rules, caloric obsession, or influencer mythology.

Ever find yourself staring at a fridge full of random leftovers, wondering how to build a meal that actually fuels you? That’s where the performance plate turns chaos into confidence.

The Goal: Balanced, Functional, Repeatable Meals

A performance meal supports:

Training intensity and output
Smart recovery
Stable energy
Hormone balance
Cognitive performance

A performance plate isn’t perfection; it’s consistency with intention.

The Anatomy of a Performance Plate

Instead of calories, think in functional portions:

1. Protein — the Foundation

25–40g per meal
Purpose: repair, rebuild, satiety
Examples:

Skinless chicken, turkey, lean beef
Fish/seafood
Eggs or egg whites
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese
Whey, casein, and high‑quality protein powders

2. Carbohydrates — the Fuel

Enough to support your output

Pre‑training: moderate → high
Post‑training: moderate (to replenish glycogen)
Low‑intensity or rest days: moderate → low

Good sources:

Rice, oats, potatoes, sweet potatoes
Fruit
Whole‑grain bread/pasta
Beans, legumes

3. Fats — the Modulator

Small, intentional amounts

Avocado
Nuts & seeds
Olive oil, nut oils
Fatty fish (salmon, sardines)

Fats slow digestion and support hormone signaling, but not 100% of the time.

Anti-Hero Myth:

Carbs are not just for athletes; your brain and muscles both need them, especially after training. Skipping carbs post-workout is one of the fastest ways to sabotage recovery and performance.

A Simple Performance Plate Template

Protein	~25–40g	Repair, maintain muscle, recovery
Carbohydrates	Moderate	Fuel, glycogen resynthesis
Vegetables	Generous	Micronutrients & fiber
Fats	Modest	Hormones, satiety, absorption

Quick Performance Meal Summary:

1 palm-sized serving of protein (chicken, fish, tofu)
1 fist-sized serving of carbs (rice, potato, beans)
1 thumb-sized serving of healthy fat (olive oil, avocado)
Unlimited non-starchy vegetables
Hydrate: 12–16 oz of water with every meal

Example Plate (Post‑Training)

6 oz grilled chicken (~35g protein)
1 cup cooked rice (~45g carbs)
1 cup mixed vegetables
1 tbsp olive oil (~14g fat)

Example Plate (Rest/Easy Day)

5 oz salmon (~30g protein + healthy fats)
1 sweet potato (~30–40g carbs)
Large salad with olive oil

How This Adjusts for Different Days

Training Day (Morning/Afternoon)

Higher carbs around training
Moderate protein
Light fats pre‑workout

Training Day (Evening)

Moderate carbs in the afternoon or post‑session
Protein at every meal
Fat later slows evening digestion

Non‑Training Day

Maintain protein
Scale carbs to activity (lower than training days)
Maintain healthy fats

Action Challenge

For the next 3 days:

Construct at least one performance meal per day using the template above.
Log it with a simple note on intention:
- Was it pre-training fuel?
- For recovery?
- A rest day meal?
Reflect:
- How did you feel 2–3 hours after eating?
- How was your training quality?
- Any energy lows or highs?

This isn’t about perfection; it’s about pattern recognition and learning what works for your body and schedule.

Coach’s Corner

Protein at every meal makes everything else easier.
Carbs are your performance currency; spend them where they matter (training/mental load).
Fats are intention modifiers, not fillers.
A structure beats motivation every time.

Suggested Reading

“The Performance Cortex” by Zach Schonbrun
Not a diet book, but a deep look at how nervous systems and fuel interact. It’s perfect for understanding how food enables performance.

Science Insight:

A 2022 meta-analysis in Sports Medicine found that balanced meals with protein, carbs, and healthy fats significantly improve training recovery, sustained energy, and muscle adaptation compared to single-macro meals.

Key Takeaway

A performance plate is not a restrictive template, it’s a balanced framework that supports energy, training, recovery, and long‑term resilience. Build one intentional plate every day, regardless of chaos around you. Consistency beats perfection, every time.

Once you understand how to build a meal based on function, not fear, your nutrition becomes simpler, more repeatable, and far more effective.

You don’t need to eat perfectly; you eat purposefully.

Fat Isn’t Evil: It’s Essential

Picking up from where we left off last week — we’ve already dismantled the myths around protein and carbohydrates, now it’s time to put the final macronutrient into proper context.

In Week 3, we covered nutrient timing and why eating with intention matters. In Week 4, we cleared the air around carbs, showing they’re a necessary tool for fueling performance, not something to fear.

This week, we’re doing the same with fat, one of the most demonized and misunderstood components of the human diet.

Why This Matters:

Most people trying to ‘eat healthy’ unknowingly sabotage their energy, focus, and results by fearing fat. Understanding the truth lets you make smarter, less stressful choices in and out of the gym.

The Problem: Fat Got Blamed for What Sugar (and Sedentary Living) Did

The war on fat started in the 1970s and 80s, pushing people toward fat-free everything, from cookies to frozen dinners. What happened next?
• Obesity skyrocketed.
• Type 2 diabetes surged.
• People got sicker, not healthier.

Why? Because removing fat didn’t remove the problem. It just made food more processed, more sugary, and less satisfying.

Question:

Ever skip the avocado on your salad because you thought it was ‘too fattening’, then ended up hungry an hour later? Now, youre beginning to pick up what I’m puttin’ down.

What Fat Actually Does in the Body

Fat isn’t the enemy. It’s a required nutrient for:
• Hormone production (testosterone, estrogen, cortisol)
• Brain health and cognition
• Joint lubrication and recovery
• Fat-soluble vitamin absorption (A, D, E, and K)
• Cellular structure (yes, your cells are literally built from it)

But here’s the key: fat is fuel for low-intensity output and recovery, not high-performance explosive training. That’s where carbs step in.

Quick Fat Facts:

• Unsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, avocado, fatty fish) support heart and brain health.

• Saturated fats (animal fats, butter, coconut oil) are fine in moderation, especially from whole foods.

• Trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils) are in a different league; avoid them entirely. They wreak havoc on cholesterol and inflammation.

You need both fat and carbs, but at the right doses for the right goals.

Data Point:

Fat slows gastric emptying, helping you feel fuller for longer—a secret weapon against late-night snacking (British Journal of Nutrition, 2021).

Why “Healthy Fats” Doesn’t Mean “Unlimited Fats”

Yes, olive oil, avocado, nuts, and salmon are great, but overconsumption is still overconsumption.

Fat is energy-dense.
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories
• That’s more than double protein or carbs (4 calories per gram)

So while you need it, you don’t need as much as you might think, especially if you’re already fueling with protein and carbs.

Most Common Fat Mistake:

Dousing salads, veggies, or “healthy” bowls with extra oil or nuts. Even good fats add up fast, so measure, don’t guess.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Swap:

Instead of fat-free salad dressing (loaded with sugar), use olive oil and vinegar for flavor, better absorption of nutrients, and longer-lasting energy.

Here’s how to build smart, balanced fat intake into your day:

• Add a thumb-sized portion of fat to your main meals (nuts, oil, nut butter, avocado)
• Don’t dump oil or butter onto every dish “for health;” it adds up fast
• Keep fats lighter pre-workout, so digestion doesn’t slow you down
• Post-workout, prioritize protein + carbs, not a heavy fat load
• Evening meals can include more fats to help slow digestion and promote satiety

You don’t need to avoid fat, you need to respect it.

Visual Analogy:

Think of fat as the steady-burning logs on a campfire versus using pine needles: the dry pine needles can get the fire going, but don’t last. The logs are for warmth that lasts all night.

Now that we’ve set the record straight, here’s how to use fat like an anti-hero: deliberately, strategically, and never just because the label says “healthy.”

Action Challenge

For the next 3 days:
• Track how much fat you’re eating (rough estimate is fine)
• Identify where it’s coming from (meals vs snacks vs sauces/oils)
• Adjust one meal per day to intentionally include a measured fat source (e.g., 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 avocado, or 10 almonds)

You’ll start to see how easily fat sneaks in and how powerful it can be when used deliberately.

Coach’s Corner

• Fat is a recovery nutrient, not a performance one.
• Don’t go to war with it, just don’t treat it like a free-for-all either.
• Balance is your ally. Fat has its place, use it like a tool, not a reward.

What’s Coming Next

You’ve now got a full picture of the big three macros, but how do you put them together? In Week 6, we’ll map out what a real-world performance meal looks like, and how to adjust it for your goals, whether that’s training, leaning out, or staying sharp at work.

In Defense of Carbs: Energy, Recovery, and the Science You Need

Most people fear carbs because they’ve been sold the idea that carbs equal fat gain. But for anyone who trains, thinks deeply, or recovers with intent, carbs aren’t optional; they’re essential.

This isn’t about eating gummy bears or Pop-Tarts and calling it “fuel.” It’s about understanding the physiological role of carbohydrates and using them to enhance output, mood, muscle retention, and recovery.

Let’s break it down.

1. Carbs = Performance

Glycogen (stored carbs) is your muscle’s preferred fuel during strength training, sparring, sprints, or any high-output effort. Without enough:

Strength drops
Endurance tanks
Motor control falters

Carbs refill that tank. Fewer reps and less intensity? That’s not a motivation problem; it might be a glycogen one. There’s a term known as “bonking” in a workout. To “bonk” in a workout is to reach the functional depletion of glycogen, brought on by exercise. In other words, it’s the condition in which your muscles run out of fuel, with profound effects on performance and well-being. And how do you avoid it? Adequate carbohydrate fueling for your level of performance.

Science Sidebar: When you eat carbs, insulin helps shuttle glucose into muscle cells to refill glycogen. This is why carbs matter most around activity, not when you’re sedentary. Research shows that athletes and active individuals who time carbs around exercise have better performance and recovery (Burke et al., 2011).

2. Carbs = Cognitive Clarity

Your brain runs on glucose. Low-carb fog is real. It shows up in several ways, such as decision fatigue, irritability, difficulty focusing, and a short attention span. Yes, ketones can serve as a backup fuel, but they’re not the most efficient during high-stress or high-focus days.

Carbs sharpen cognition, boost mood, and reduce stress response.

3. Carbs = Recovery and Muscle Retention

Carbs after training:

Restore depleted glycogen
Support protein synthesis
Lower post-training cortisol

They’re also “protein-sparing,” meaning your body doesn’t need to break down muscle for energy.

4. Carbs = Hormonal Stability

Low-carb diets for too long can suppress:

Thyroid output (especially T3)
Leptin (your satiety and metabolic rate signal)
Sleep quality and parasympathetic recovery

Especially for athletes, hard trainers, or people under high stress, this is a deal-breaker.

5. Carbs = Better Sleep

Moderate carbs in the evening:

Support serotonin → melatonin conversion
Lower cortisol
Help shift the body into parasympathetic mode.

Sleep: Carbs help lower cortisol levels and promote relaxation. Carbs also help raise serotonin, a neurotransmitter that supports relaxation and sleep. It’s one reason why a small carb snack before bed can improve sleep quality for some people. This is why low-carb diets can sometimes disrupt sleep.

Pro tip: Avoid eating after 8:00 PM. If you must have something, keep it light and digestible:

1 banana
1 scoop whey
1 Fairlife 26g protein shake
Optional: 1 tbsp PB2

That’s ~350 kcal – just enough to support recovery without interrupting your sleep cycle.

The Real Issue Isn’t Carbs, It’s Unstructured Eating

People don’t “gain fat” from potatoes. They gain fat from:

Chronic snacking
Emotional eating
Under-fueling during the day and overeating at night

Carbs are fine; reactivity and randomness aren’t.

Coach’s Notes: Carb needs vary from person to person; listen to your body and adjust based on your activity, stress, and recovery.

Start with structure, not restriction.
Place carbs around output: morning, post-training, early dinner.
Observe how your sleep and recovery improve when you fuel with intention.

As silly as it may sound, a palm-sized portion of rice, potatoes, or fruit is a good place to start if you don’t want to count grams. Use your hand as a guide for portions.

Bonus tip: Carbs that are high in fiber, like fruit, potatoes, and whole grains, not only support performance, but also feed your gut microbiome, helping with digestion and immunity. And just in case you need a reminder, any fruit or vegetable is a carbohydrate source. Some are better than others, but the key is to eat the ones you like vs. trying to force yourself to eat anything you don’t like.

Suggested Reading:

Good Calories, Bad Calories – Gary Taubes
A well-researched, critical look at nutritional dogma and food myths, especially around carbs and fat.

Myth: Carbs make you fat. Truth: Excess calories, not carbs, drive weight gain.

Carbs don’t kill gains; they help sustain them. Used wisely, they improve output, cognition, mood, sleep, and recovery. However, as with any caloric intake, excess leads to consuming more calories than you burn, i.e., a caloric surplus = “weight gain.”

Action Challenge:

Track your carb intake for 3 days, but not just the grams. Track when and why you ate when you did:

Was it training-related?
Emotional?
Habitual?
Based on energy need?

Awareness creates clarity, and clarity can help drive consistency.

Next Week: You’ve dialed in protein and carbs. Now we’ll cover the most misunderstood macronutrient of all: fats.

How to use them for satiety, hormones, and cognitive support without overdoing it.

Does Nutrient Timing Matter? Yes, But Not the Way You Think

Stop obsessing over windows. Start building systems.

If you train hard, care about body composition, and want real-world energy, you’ve probably heard people say:

“You have to eat protein within 30 minutes of lifting.”
“Don’t eat carbs after 8 PM.”
“Fasting boosts growth hormone, just train fasted.”
“Breakfast is optional if your willpower is high enough.”

None of this is completely wrong, but none of them is 100% valid or effective for all, so don’t waste any mental space on them and focus on what’s been proven to work over decades.

Let’s cut through the BS.

The Truth About Nutrient Timing

Nutrient timing can matter, but it’s not the magic some claim, and it’s not completely useless like others claim.

It doesn’t override your daily totals. But it does influence:

How well you train.
How fast you recover.
How consistent is your energy, mood, and hunger?

Here’s the simplified hierarchy:

Daily intake = most important
Meal timing = performance lever
Meal composition = precision tool
Supplement timing = tiny bonus

Myth: If you miss the post-workout window, your workout is wasted.
Fact: Muscle protein synthesis remains elevated for hours; what matters most is your overall daily intake and rhythm.

Science Sidebar: Why does timing matter? Protein synthesis is elevated for several hours after training, so spacing protein throughout the day maximizes muscle repair. Carbohydrates around workouts help refill glycogen and lower stress hormones like cortisol.

What You Need to Know

1. Protein Timing

Protein intake is about distribution, not hitting a “window.”

Aim for:

25–40g of protein per meal
Every 3–5 hours
Starting within 1–2 hours of waking
Ending within 2 hours post-training

Even distribution improves muscle protein synthesis, recovery, and satiety. Research shows that even protein distribution (every 3–5 hours) is linked to greater muscle protein synthesis and recovery (Areta et al., 2013).

2. Carbohydrate Timing

Carbs are fuel, especially around training.

Pre-workout: 30–60g (1–2 hours prior)
Post-workout: 30–60g + protein (within 1–2 hours)

This replenishes glycogen, blunts cortisol, and enhances recovery.
It’s not “dirty.” It’s just useful.

3. Fat Timing

Fat slows digestion. That’s helpful during the day but not ideal around training.

Keep fat moderate pre-workout. Go higher-fat during lower-carb meals later in the day.

Fat: It’s less about timing, more about portion. Eating a high-fat meal before training can slow digestion and make some people feel sluggish. Experiment with your pre-workout meals to find what feels best.

Generally: moderate fat at main meals, lower fat pre/post-workout.

Example Timing Strategy (Strength Training Day)

When I started having a balanced meal within 90 minutes of training, my recovery and afternoon energy noticeably improved.

8:00 AM: 3 eggs, oats, berries (protein + carbs + fat)
12:00 PM: Chicken, veggies, avocado (protein + carbs + fat)
3:00 PM: Pre-workout shake 1 scoop whey + 50g carbs from a fruit source
5:00 PM: Train
6:30 PM: Post-workout, beef and sweet potato + Kerry gold butter (protein + carbs + fat)
730/8 PM: Greek yogurt + whey or casein and a handful of nuts

Total protein: ~180-200g
Balanced carbs, front-loaded around training
Fats used to stabilize energy later

Action Challenge:

Pick one meal to move closer to your training time and one post-workout meal to optimize.

Your goal:

Protein: 30g
Carbs: 30–50g
Minimal fat
Eaten within 1–2 hours of finishing your workout

Coach’s Corner:

Don’t try to “hack” your metabolism with clever meal timing.
Build rhythm that supports your output.
Use timing to reduce stress, not increase it.

Key Takeaway:

Nutrient timing isn’t magic; it’s just another way to support what matters most: consistency and recovery.

Timing isn’t a rulebook. It’s a framework. Daily totals matter most, but if you train hard, timing helps you show up stronger, recover faster, and stay more consistent.

Next Week: The Carbohydrate Question

Once your daily intake is dialed in and you start thinking about timing, the next question always comes up:

“Do carbs still matter? Or should I be avoiding them?”

That’s where we’re headed next. In Week 4, we’ll break down the truth about carbs. Not hype. Not fear. Just what they actually do, and how to use them to train, recover, and function better in daily life.