Category: training

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:

  1. What must be developed?
  2. What must be maintained?
  3. What may be temporarily deprioritized and for how long?
  4. 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:

  1. Technical and explosive work
  2. Heavy strength work
  3. Hypertrophy or accessory work
  4. Conditioning
  5. 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

opt ccp drugs
opt ccp brain on drugs

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

built rep after rep, brick after brick

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

unit
unit

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.

walk em down

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

PopulationPrimary EmphasisSupporting ConditioningMain Interference Risk
CrossFitBroad competitive capacityFull spectrumExcessive mixed fatigue and inadequate specialization
HypertrophyMuscle growthLow-impact aerobic and concise intervalsReduced lifting quality and recovery
BodybuildingMuscular size, symmetry, leannessProgressive low-impact cardioEnergy deficit plus excessive total volume
GPPBroad competenceBalanced aerobic and anaerobic workRandomness without measurable progression
TacticalDurable performance under uncertaintyAerobic base, loaded work, repeated effortsFitness fatigue degrading occupational skill
Olympic weightliftingSkill, power, maximal strengthMinimal effective conditioning doseLoss of speed, freshness, and technical quality
Healthy agingCapability and independenceAerobic base plus selected intensityUnderloading, 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.”

The Lion Killer

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.

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.

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.

Suggested Reading

“Deep Nutrition” by Dr. Cate Shanahan
A sharp breakdown of how traditional diets used fats well, and how we can reclaim that without getting lost in the noise.

Real-World Headline:

In 2024, a major study published in JAMA found that replacing just 5% of calories from saturated to unsaturated fat was associated with a significant reduction in cardiovascular risk. (Source: JAMA, April 2024)

Science Insight:

Regular consumption of omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish, chia, and flaxseed) is associated with improved heart health and reduced inflammation, according to the American Heart Association (2023).

Quick Fact:

Contrary to old myths, moderate whole-egg consumption does not increase heart disease risk for most people (Harvard School of Public Health, 2022).

Key Takeaway: Your hormones, brain, and cells are built from fats. Don’t fear them, but definitely manage them.

Key Anti-Hero Move: Use fat on your terms, not the food industry’s. Portion is power.

Empowerment Challenge:

What’s one fat source you’ll add back this week? Try it, track it, and notice the difference. Anti-heroes don’t just read, they act.

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.

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:

  1. Daily intake = most important
  2. Meal timing = performance lever
  3. Meal composition = precision tool
  4. 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.

Suggested Reading:

“Nutrient Timing: The Future of Sports Nutrition by Ivy & Portman
A classic foundation on how timing influences performance and recovery. A bit dated, but still useful.

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.

How Much Protein Do You Actually Need?

Forget hype. Here’s what science and results actually say.

Protein is the most misunderstood macronutrient in nutrition. It’s essential for more than just muscles or fitness; protein underpins your energy, brain function, and long-term health.
Most people fall into one of two groups:

  • Under-eaters, living off snacks, smoothies, and “light” meals.
  • Over-obsessors, hitting 300 grams a day and still thinking it’s not enough.

Both miss the point.

The goal isn’t to chase numbers; it’s to consistently eat enough to support muscle, recovery, cognition, and metabolic health.

Let’s walk through what actually matters and help you stop guessing.

The Real Job of Protein

Protein isn’t a magic fat burner. It’s not a cheat code. It’s a raw material, and your body needs it daily for:

  • Muscle repair and growth
  • Tendon and ligament recovery
  • Immune system function
  • Neurotransmitter production
  • Skin, hair, and tissue health

No fad diet, cleanse, or cutting phase changes that. Protein is required every day, not just “on training days.”

Think of protein as the bricks and mTOR as the foreman. Without enough bricks, the foreman can’t build or repair anything.

Trust “The Science“: Protein activates a pathway called mTOR, which acts as your body’s ‘growth command center.’ When you eat enough protein, mTOR signals your cells to repair, build muscle, and recover efficiently. Skimp on protein, and that signal never fires at full strength.

Multiple studies show that eating 25–40g of protein per meal maximizes muscle protein synthesis in adults (Morton et al., 2018). People who consistently meet their protein needs tend to retain more muscle as they age and recover faster from injuries.

Myth-busting:

Myth: “Too much protein will damage your kidneys.”

Reality: For healthy people, there’s no evidence that moderate-to-high protein intake harms kidney health. (See: National Kidney Foundation, 2017)

How Much Protein You Actually Need

Here’s what current science says, without the influencer fluff:

Sedentary0.6 – 0.8 g/lb
General Training0.8 – 1.0 g/lb
Strength / Hypertrophy1.0 – 1.2 g/lb
Cutting / Deficit1.2 – 1.4 g/lb

All ranges above are based on your target body weight, not your current weight, and definitely not your high school dream-physique weight. If you’re 180-200 pounds and lifting 3–5x/week, your target likely falls around 180–200g/day — not 300g+ and not 80g from “lean” meals and vibes. Now, depending on how much intensity you’re cranking up, you’ll have an additional need for carbohydrates, not protein.

Practical Ways to Hit Your Target

Protein isn’t just chicken breast and powder. Here’s what works for me and examples of how I actually hit my numbers every day without burning out:

Solid protein sources (per serving):

  • Chicken, turkey, smoked salmon, tuna, shrimp, beef, eggs
  • Greek yogurt, cottage cheese
  • Whey, casein, or egg white protein (smartly used, not overused)
  • Protein-forward meal replacements (e.g., a “complete” protein shake, a FairLife, RX bars, jerky only when needed/planned)

Underrated strategies:

  • Aim for 25–50g of protein per meal, instead of grazing on 10g snacks. A palm-sized portion of chicken, tofu, or fish is usually around 25g of protein—use your hand as a guide if you don’t want to count.
  • Don’t rely on just dinner to “catch up”
  • Use high-protein staples to plug into busy days (e.g. 8 oz chicken = ~50g, two scoops whey = 21-25g, ½ cup of yogurt + ½ cup of cottage cheese + 1 cup of fruit of your choice)

You don’t need a perfect plan. You need a repeatable system. A “protein-first” mindset simplifies the rest of your day.

Week Two Action Challenge:

Pick 3 protein staples that match your schedule and eat them for the next 3 days.

  • These should give you 30–40g per meal.
  • Rotate them between breakfast, lunch, dinner, or post-training
  • Make it frictionless, not fancy.

The goal: clarity, consistency, and a structure that supports your real life.

Protein isn’t just for athletes; it’s for everyone who wants to stay strong, energized, and resilient for life. Just like with your habits, it’s about building a system that makes the right choice automatic.

Coach’s Corner:

  • Protein is the most forgiving macro, but only if you get enough.
  • Hit your baseline. Track it once, then automate it.
  • Build around meals, not snacks.

Suggested Reading:

“The Protein Book” by Lyle McDonald
Dense, thorough, science-backed, and extremely useful for athletes or serious lifters.

Key Takeaway:

Protein isn’t about hitting a magic number; it’s about consistently meeting your needs so you can reach your life and training goals, whatever those are.

Once you get it right, energy balance improves, recovery speeds up, and hunger stabilizes.

Everything else becomes easier.

That’s all for this week. Let me know if this helps!

New Year’s Day: The Moment Between Who You Were and Who You’re Becoming

There’s a quiet, almost sacred moment in the days around the New Year, a pause between what’s behind you and what’s ahead.

A moment when the noise drops, the pace slows, and you can finally hear yourself think.

This is the place where growth actually happens. Not in the fireworks, not in resolutions shouted into the void, but in the stillness where you decide, honestly and without ego, who you want to be in the year ahead.

Before we talk about goals, habits, or protocols, take one breath and look back at the year you lived.

Not with judgment. With gratitude.

You made it through things you didn’t plan for and didn’t ask for.
You showed up on days when the last thing you wanted was responsibility.
You trained when you were tired, worked when you were stretched thin, and grew in ways you didn’t see happening in real time.

You earned wisdom this year, through effort, mistakes, repetition, and resilience.

Before stepping forward, be sure to honor what got you here.

What the Old Year Teaches Us (If We Let It)

Every year leaves you with lessons, most of which don’t announce themselves loudly:

  • You learned what drains you and what restores you.
  • You learned who adds to your life and who subtracts from it.
  • You learned which habits pull you closer to the person you want to be, and which ones drag you away.
  • You learned exactly how strong you can be when you don’t have a choice.

And if the year felt heavy? Good. Heaviness can teach, build, and help you reveal what’s real.

Gratitude doesn’t erase difficulty, but it can help you reframe it.

The Catalyst: Where Reflection Meets Action

Reflection is where wisdom is found. Action is where progress is made.

And New Year’s Day is the catalyst between the two, the moment you get to carry forward everything that served you and release everything that didn’t.

The turning of the calendar doesn’t magically transform you. It simply provides a precise date to keep measuring from.

It’s not a “new version” of yourself, just a more consistent one.

The New Year Activation Protocol

Your blueprint for the next 30, 60, and 90 days. These are the habits that actually move the needle.

These aren’t resolutions. They’re behaviors and behaviors build identity.

No more, “New year, new me!” Nonsense.

1. Choose Your Anchor Habit

Start with one non-negotiable daily action you can sustain even on your busiest days:

  • 20-minute walk
  • Protein at every meal
  • 10 minutes of mobility
  • 15 minutes of reading each night before bed
  • One short lift session – make it 10-20 minutes to help get the ball rolling if you have to

Your anchor habit becomes the spine of your discipline.

2. Clarity Over Motivation

Motivation is a spark, but sparks fade fast. Discipline and clarity are your compass.

Define your goals in behaviors, not wishes:

No: “I want to lose weight.”
Yes: “I’m hitting my protein target daily.”

No: “I want to get healthier.”
Yes: “I’m sleeping 7-8 hours per night (and make the necessary changes to make it happen)  and 15-20 minute walk daily. ”

Specific. Measurable. Repeatable.

3. Identity-Based Goals

Willpower is unreliable. Discipline is consistent.

Decide:

“I am someone who trains.”
“I am someone who eats with intention.”
“I am someone who gets up when life knocks me down.”

Then act in alignment, chasing persistence, not perfection.

4. Protein, Hydration, Sleep – the Unbreakable Trio

Forget New Year fads. These three change everything:

  • 30–40g protein per meal
  • 2–3L water per day
  • A sleep routine (sleep hygiene) that doesn’t involve doom scrolling – think reading…a book, that’s not on your phone!

These give you strength, recovery, mental clarity, emotional bandwidth, and energy.

5. The Rhythm → Not the Rush

Don’t sprint into January. Build a rhythm you can maintain into February, March, and beyond.

Your goal isn’t intensity, it’s consistency. Next thing you know it will be January of 2027.

Why This Year Will Be Different

Because this year, you’re not chasing perfection. You’re choosing persistence and consistency in your decision-making.

You’re not rewriting or “redefining” yourself, you’re simply refining yourself. You’re not waiting to feel ready. You’re starting *now* with small, steady, confident decisions.

This is the year you build momentum quietly, relentlessly, and intentionally.

And by the time you look up, you’ll be further along than you expected, not because you changed who you are, but because you committed to who you’re becoming.

Final Note – person to person

You don’t owe the world a reinvention this year. You owe yourself consistency.

Be thankful to yourself for showing up.
Be thankful to yourself for putting in the effort.
Be thankful to yourself for your strength, discipline, humor, humility, and humanity.

On the Lunar calendar, this is the Year of the Fire Horse. In Chinese tradition, the Fire Horse isn’t about luck or superstition; it’s about momentum. It’s about energy that moves forward on its own. Strong, independent, and restless in a good way. The kind of year that rewards people who are relentlessly moving forward and who enjoy the process.

So don’t rush. Just keep moving with a purpose. Do the work that matters to you. Build your momentum quietly and simply let it compound.

Keep fueling your fire and honoring your desires. May this New Year be steady and strong, full of the kind of momentum you earn, protect, and carry with you everywhere you go.

Happy New Year, my friend. Let’s make it count.

And remember: at midnight, open the back door to release the old year and whatever hardships came with it. Then open the front door to welcome the new year in, inviting luck, health, and fresh starts.

And be sure to wish your neighbors Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit!

Onward and Upward!

Rituals and Routines: How to Stay Consistent When Life Gets Loud

There’s a reason militaries train drills, martial artists bow before stepping on the mat, and serious lifters follow the same barbell warm-ups and setups every rep: ritual anchors action.

Every time I approach the snatch or clean and jerk, my warm-up is identical. But more importantly, before each lift, my mantra is the same: strong, smooth, execute. Strong off the floor. Smooth through the transition past the knees. Execute the finish as fully and explosively as possible. That’s not superstition, it’s neurological priming.

And it’s not because rituals are magical but because they’re neurological.

Your brain craves predictability. When you repeat a behavior in the same context, you create neural pathways that make the action automatic. Decision fatigue drops. Willpower becomes irrelevant. The ritual does the thinking for you.

Routines are what you do. Rituals are what you become. And what you become is what earns you success in everything you do.

As we move into the tail end of the year, that time when holidays, social demands, stressors, and schedules swirl into chaos, it’s tempting to believe our nutrition, training, or recovery practices must go on pause.

That belief isn’t just unnecessary, it’s counterproductive.

What keeps progress intact isn’t perfection; it’s persistent, ritualized behaviors that stabilize and center the day, no matter what’s going on around you.

Build the Day on Behavioral Anchors, Not Outcomes

When people ask me how to stay consistent in “real life,” they usually mean: how do I not fall off the wagon when life gets chaotic?

The answer is simple: build it from the inside out.

Here are four anchors that form the bedrock of consistency:

  1. Movement Before Screens:
    It doesn’t have to be a full workout. But 5–10 minutes of movement (walk, stretch, bodyweight flow) before checking the phone, laptop, or email changes the tone of your entire day. Why? Because you’ve claimed the first decision. You’ve told your nervous system: I control my attention, not my inbox. That psychological win compounds throughout the day.
  2. Hydration Habit:
    A full glass of water (ideally with a pinch of sea salt and lemon if you don’t get enough salt in your diet) within 10 minutes of waking kickstarts your digestion, cognitive function, and blood pressure regulation, before that first dose of coffee.
  3. Protein-Priority Breakfast:
    Especially when life gets hectic, humans skip meals or over-rely on convenience. Anchoring your day with 30–40g of protein early (eggs/egg whites, Greek yogurt, turkey sausage, et cetera) improves neurotransmitter production and blood sugar regulation for hours. This isn’t bro-science, it’s biochemistry. Protein provides the amino acids needed for dopamine and serotonin synthesis. Skip breakfast, and you’re running on cortisol and caffeine until lunch. That’s not energy. That’s borrowed time.
  4. The 3 pm Prep Pulse:
    Set an alarm. Use it as a check-in: have I eaten enough? Do I need to prep dinner? Can I cut back on caffeine now to improve my sleep later? It’s not a full pause, just a quiet calibration. Most people crash in the afternoon because they’re reacting—grabbing sugar, slamming coffee, pushing through. The 3 pm pulse is proactive. It’s a moment to course-correct before the evening gets away from you.

None of these is radical. That’s the point.

The fitness industry profits from extremes. Thirty-day challenges. Transformation programs. Biohacking protocols that require a PhD and a trust fund. More complexity means more products to sell, more content to consume, more reasons to feel like you’re not doing enough.

But rituals win because they’re repeatable. And what’s repeatable is sustainable. And what’s sustainable is what actually changes your life.

Field Notes: Coaching in the Chaos

A few years ago, a CrossFit athlete of mine was juggling a full-time job, coaching mornings, and training for her first comp. Time was tight. Energy was tighter. She came to me overwhelmed, trying to follow a six-day training split, meal prep on Sundays, and track macros down to the gram.

“I’m doing everything right, but I feel like I’m failing,” she said.

The problem wasn’t effort. It was sustainability. So we simplified everything down to three non-negotiables:

  • Never skip breakfast (30g protein minimum)
  • Get one quality training session per day as prescribed (not six mediocre ones)
  • Set the coffee pot timer at night as a small win (and a moment of morning Zen)

That’s it. No macro tracking. No six-day splits. Just three rituals she could execute even on her worst days.

It wasn’t flashy. It was ritualized. She podiumed in her first comp three months later. Not because the rituals were magic, but because they were repeatable.

Full transparency: we also got her front squat, deadlift, and strength endurance up during that time. But here’s the thing, the PRs didn’t come from complicated programming. They came from consistent execution. Higher protein intake and quality training sessions made both the podium and the PRs possible. The rituals created the conditions for everything else to work.

Chaos Is the Test, Not the Excuse

Everyone can follow a plan when life’s calm. But performance, in sport, work, or life, is forged when conditions are not ideal.

Chaos doesn’t care about your goals. It doesn’t wait for January or “when things settle down.” Chaos is constant. Which means your rituals must be too.

The path forward isn’t motivation. It’s not willpower. It’s intentional design backed by disciplined repetition.

As the holiday season ramps up, resist the all-or-nothing mindset. Build your day on anchors, not apps. Choose a few small rituals, do them well, and repeat them until they’re part of who you are, not something you have to remember to do.

Then repeat them until you can’t get them wrong.

Consistency doesn’t come from a spreadsheet or a thirty-day challenge. It comes from rituals that show up for you when everything else is falling apart.

The reward isn’t external. It’s internal. And that’s something worth protecting.

BCAAs Are Overrated — Here’s What to Do Instead

There was a time when tossing a neon scoop of BCAAs into your shaker cup felt like a secret code, like a sign that you were truly “dialed in.” Fast forward a few years, and the science is pretty blunt: if you’re already eating enough high-quality protein, those branched-chain amino acids aren’t doing much besides lightening your wallet.

Let’s break it down.

1. You’re Already Getting Plenty

BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, valine) are just three of the nine essential amino acids your body needs to repair and build muscle. They’re naturally found in every solid protein source: meat, fish, eggs, dairy, and even plants. In fact, most whole protein sources already contain the 2-3 grams of leucine per meal needed to maximize muscle protein synthesis, making isolated BCAA supplements redundant.

If you eat real food and hit roughly 1.6–2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, you’re already covered. Studies keep confirming it: supplementing with BCAAs doesn’t outperform simply consuming complete protein. Here’s why: muscle protein synthesis requires all nine essential amino acids to activate mTOR signaling, the metabolic pathway that triggers muscle growth. BCAAs alone can’t complete the job. Without the full amino acid lineup, your body can’t finish the muscle-building process.

Unless your diet is severely lacking protein, that fancy powder isn’t rescuing anything.

2. Pop Culture Made It Cool — But Not Useful

Let’s be honest: a lot of this stuck around because of marketing and muscle culture. The fitness industry turned hydration into a brand identity with bright colors, bold claims, and goofy influencers sipping between sets like it’s rocket fuel.

It looks serious. It feels like doing something extra. But feeling busy isn’t the same as being productive. In truth, most BCAA use today is psychological, the ritual of “recovery in a cup” more than any measurable physiological edge.

Field note: I’ve worked with hundreds of lifters and athletes and not one of them ever turned a corner in strength, body comp, or recovery because they added BCAAs. But I’ve seen countless athletes break plateaus when they fixed their sleep schedule, added 20 grams of protein to breakfast, or simply trained with more consistency. The wins come from the boring fundamentals, not the colorful supplements.

3. The Paleo/Keto Twist

Here’s where a lot of people overcomplicate it.

If you’re following Paleo or keto and already eating quality animal protein, steak, tuna, salmon, eggs, you’re getting plenty of BCAAs naturally. The supplement is redundant.

But here’s the real issue: many low-carb folks turn to BCAAs because they’re afraid strategic carbs will derail their progress. They won’t. If you’re training hard two or three times a week, your muscles need readily available fuel. Natural carb sources like fruit, bananas, berries, oranges, apples, et cetera, around your training window will do more for performance and recovery than any BCAA powder.

That’s not breaking Paleo. That’s being smart. And it’s cheaper than another tub of supplements.

4. When Supplements Actually Make Sense

To be fair, there are scenarios where amino acid supplementation has merit but even then, BCAAs aren’t your best option.

If you’re training fasted (early morning workouts before you can eat), recovering from an injury where whole food intake is compromised, or genuinely struggling to meet your protein needs through diet alone, a full EAA supplement or quality whey protein makes far more sense than BCAAs.

Why? They deliver the complete amino acid profile your body needs to rebuild tissue and trigger muscle protein synthesis, not just the marketing-friendly three. You’re getting the full toolkit, not just a hammer.

Otherwise? Eat real food, train with purpose, sleep hard, repeat. Oh, and if you’re a vegan or vegetarian, you will need to use supplements to meet your BCAA and EAA needs, but that’s a story for another time.

The Takeaway

Most people sipping BCAAs are already getting what they need from their plate.

The supplement industry thrives on making simple things feel complicated. They profit when you believe that food alone isn’t enough—that you need their powders, their timing protocols, their proprietary blends to unlock results.

But the truth is simpler and cheaper: eat quality protein, train consistently, sleep well, and your body will handle the rest. The fundamentals work. They’ve always worked. And no neon powder changes that.

Save your money for real food, a good night’s sleep, or maybe a new pair of shoes for the trail. If you’re eating enough quality protein, you’re already doing what BCAAs promise — only better, and for less.