Mainstream fitness calls it hybrid athlete training.

The science calls it concurrent training, defined as ‘the practice of combining both strength and endurance training into a single exercise program, either in the same session or on different days’

We call it concurrent training too, and it’s what we’ve been doing at GGA for well over a decade.

We think everyone should be training this way.

But there are right and wrong ways to do it...and unfortunately there's a lot of bad information floating around.

Let’s dive into what the science (and our experience) says if you’re looking to get into this style of training.

Here are 2 questions to ask, and a checklist, when choosing a hybrid training program:

athletics or aesthetics..what are you training for?

You may think these are the same thing, but they're not.

You can look good, but not be athletic (think certain bodybuilders)
You can also be really athletic, but that doesn't mean you'll be ripped.

Choosing the right program starts with defining what's most important to you.

You can look good and be athletic, but one still has to be the priority.
Because performance and physique don't always go hand in hand.

Bodybuilders have to sacrifice performance to look the way they do. Just as athletes have to sacrifice their peak physique to get more out of their performance.

The subcategory for this, which is important for different programs, is deciding between strength and hypertrophy.

Most programs will bias one or the other.

Strength is usually more performance based, and involves percentages of 1RM. Hypertrophy is usually more physique based, with the main goal to achieve a desired stimulus to the muscle.

Not a matter of right or wrong, better or worse..but still important to define.

is the program monkey see/monkey do?

Avoid these programs at all costs.

This is basically when someone (usually with an attractive physique and/or big following) shares their program to the masses.

The thought process is simple:
do what I do = get the results I have

This will get you average results at best.
At worst it will leave you overtrained or injured.

It's easy to underestimate how big of a fitness base these people already have under their belt. Most have been training for decades, and you following their program for 6 weeks (or even a couple years) won't lead to the same results.

make sure they follow science based concurrent training principles (the checklist)

• training goals: clearly define your strength and endurance goals, and which one you want to improve the most. This can change (and probably should change) across different training cycles.

• order: train the higher priority first. If you want to improve strength, do this prior to endurance work. If endurance is the priority, make sure you're performing this when fresh. If you're on the fence, do strength first.

• recovery: 6-24 hours recovery between strength and endurance sessions is where the literature points to minimize the interference effect. If schedule allows, you can split sessions up AM/PM or perform them on separate days (more important for advanced athletes or those with specific training goals). If you just want to look and perform better you don't have to worry about stacking these together in a single session (which is much more time effective).

• training volume/intensity: for strength, focus on moderate to heavy loads to improve 1 rep max without impairing endurance work. For endurance, focus on moderate to high intensity aerobic work (ex: vo2 max training) while balancing fatigue.

• exercise selection: prioritize multi-joint exercises (think squats, pullups, deadlifts, etc) for strength sessions. Include sport specific exercises if training for endurance (if you want to get better at running...you need to run).

• monitor fatigue and track performance: you need to keep a pulse on both strength and endurance domains as you increase volume and/or intensity. If you are moving backwards in either, adjust your recovery (rest more and/or do less volume)

• age and experience: concurrent training can lead to significant improvements in both strength and endurance in younger or untrained individuals. This is the ideal way to train younger athletes. Older/more experienced individuals need to be more cautious of the interference effect (not a huge deal for the everyday Garage Gym Athlete, more for those chasing very specific performance goals).

• periodization: make sure your program has alternating periods of high volume and high intensity to ensure continuous progress (and to prevent your program from becoming stale).

• consider taking breaks: use deload weeks, switch up training focus over a month/training cycle, and don't just redline all the time.

• strengthen your core: this is very easy to avoid but extremely important across performance (and injury prevention) in both running and lifting. When short on time, this tends to be what most people skip out on.

That's not an exhaustive list, but it should give you enough to reference when choosing a hybrid or concurrent training program.

We don't care if you call it hybrid, concurrent, or strength and conditioning.

Just go get it done.

Kill comfort.

Jerred and Dave

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There are right (and wrong) ways to do this.

First let’s talk about two walls that people run into when doing this (aka the wrong ways)…

Combining strength training with conditioning will make you better in more ways than one.

Whether your goal is general health, muscle building (without being out of shape), or being in great shape (without losing all your muscle)…combining these things the right way is key.

Because most people combining strength with conditioning see some great results at first…

Until they don’t.

Usually this is in the 6-12 month range where you start to notice problems creeping in:

• Poor performance

• Low recovery or overall energy

• Brain fog

• Difficulty building muscle

To avoid this, beware of running into one of these two walls:

Wall #1: pickles and ice cream

Pickles are pretty good.
Ice cream is really good.

You might be able to argue one way or another (probably not against ice cream), but here’s what this means for strength and conditioning.

Context is king.

Adding pickles to your burger is a great idea.
Some ice cream later that night…also not a bad idea.
Combining pickles and ice cream together?

Not the same.
But this is exactly how most people set up their workouts…

• You find a really good strength program (ex: 5/3/1, 5x5, conjugate, etc)

• You find a solid conditioning plan (or a bunch of solid but random metcons)

• You slap the two together, and expect great results (good + good = best..right?)

Fall into this trap, and you will certainly run into a wall.

Maybe a few weeks from now.
Almost certainly a few months from now.

Because these approaches aren’t siloed or independent from one another.
You have to adjust your lifting to your conditioning, and your conditioning to your lifting.

Wall #2: ruin the appetite

Have you ever had the perfect dinner, only to be so full by the time dessert comes?

You have two choices here:

1. Say no to some really good dessert, and miss out on it

2. Say yes to dessert, not actually enjoy it as much, and suffer the consequences that can come hours later

This is what happens when people put some more intelligent thought into either their strength or conditioning plan.

You might actually follow advice we’ve given around good strength programming and customize it to your needs: use progressive overload, prilepin’s chart, EMOMs, etc

Or follow a really well designed conditioning plan.

But by the time you finish the main course of your programming, you’ve got nothing left for the other.

Or you face the consequences of trying to stack too much on top of the perfect amount. Which is toeing the line of overtraining.

If you’ve prioritized your strength, but haven’t given any thought to your conditioning..results will suffer.

Enter the Gordon Ramsay Solution (not the actual name of our methodology, but you get where I’m going)

You might be annoyed by Ramsay..but he’s still world class. And this type of detail is what’s needed to avoid hitting the above walls and to make progress year after year.

Here’s where the 80/20 volume method comes in:

20% of your total session volume should come through your strength movements.
80% of your total session volume comes through your metcon, mixed modal work, etc.

Super simple in theory..but it requires some high level programming, a little math, and actually using your brain.

Total session volume is calculated through sets x reps x weight

So for simple math, if an average session is 10,000 lbs of total volume, get your sets x reps x weight of your strength work to add up to around 2,000 lbs (20%)

Then get your main volume (and conditioning) through a metcon or circuit that hits the other 8,000 lbs of volume (80%)

Take a look at how this actually looks broken down on paper, with a real example, right here.

If you want to get great results on your own, this is the kind of effort and intentionality you need.

If you have a busy life and other things you’d rather spend your time on, let us do it for you (try out our training free for 7 days)

This is the kind of effort and design we put into all of our programs to make sure people are seeing results right now and 10 years from now.

Or get your calculator out and try it for yourself.

Kill comfort.

Jerred and Dave

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Some overcomplicate this answer, while others oversimplify it.

The simple answer...lift weights.

Getting stronger involves continuing to challenge your body, and use of an external load is the best way to do this.

But let’s buckle up today and break this down a little further, to do our best to not leave you with too simple or too complex of an explanation.

To get stronger, you can focus on one (or more) of the following:

1. Increase maximal strength

2. Increase maximal power

3. Increase muscle size

You can work on one of these, or you can work on all three.

Getting stronger does not guarantee you’ll be more powerful or athletic (think powerlifter able to move a big weight slowly)

Building bigger muscles can help with strength, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee it on its own (think bodybuilder that can’t lift very heavy loads or move quickly)

3 tried and true principles to make sure you’re increasing strength and power (and possibly muscle size as well, depending on other genetic factors and goals)

1. maximal effort method (lifting a max load)

2. submaximal effort method (lifting a load smaller than maximal effort a repeated number of times)

3. dynamic effort method (lifting a submaximal load at maximal velocity)

Powerlifters tend to favor maximal effort, to maximize true strength.
Bodybuilders tend to favor submaximal effort, to maximize muscle growth.
Olympic lifters tend to favor dynamic effort, focusing on moving loads extremely fast.

We prefer our athletes to train all 3 over the course of a training cycle (and over the course of the year).

Because this is how…

• You’re best prepared for whatever life throws at you

• You’re more durable and resilient

• You’re ready for a wider range of physical challenges

• You’re that guy/girl that just displays fitness everywhere you go…aka built differently than those around you

These principles are baked into all of our training cycles across our different training tracks.

These principles are also the foundation of our One Man system, where we take complex methodologies and turn them into a simple protocol you can do at home…with a single barbell, kettlebell, or even your own bodyweight.

For those that ignore the ‘don’t try this at home’ advice, and want to give it a try without our support and attention to detail...

Here are 6 proven methods we use in our programs to build strength:

Money Maker Method

goal: overall strength increase

example: One Man One Barbell week 1, using a max of 210 lb.

• 4 x 115

• 4 x 130

• 4 x 140

• 4(+) x 160

The (+) means taking that set to as many reps as possible, whether that’s 5 (or 12), followed by regular EMOM work used in our programs to accumulate volume (see next method)

That little (+) makes all the difference in the world.

Rest Time Reduction Method

goal: increased strength and power

We utilize volume lifting as time based, or every minute on the minute, in many of our programs and our One Man systems. This equates to the lifter being able to handle relatively heavy weights in a specific time domain, which increases the total time under tension, a.k.a under the barbell, for a sizable amount of volume in short time.

Ideally, the lifter would execute the volume work (individual sets/EMOMs) quickly, roughly 10 seconds, leaving around 50 seconds of rest before the next set.

Over time we can reduce this to every 45 seconds, and even 30 seconds, creating an incredible blend of both strength and conditioning

example:

Max Effort Method

goal: increased max strength

The best way to think about this is an extreme focus on operating at max effort.

Before we dive into the specifics, you must know that this method is extremely taxing both mentally, on your CNS, and on your body. It is best done with one cycle followed by a deload week, then another method of One Man One Barbell, before repeating the max-effort-emphasis method.

You have been warned…don’t try to be a superhero.

This method is aimed at gaining the most amount of absolute strength in the shortest amount of time.

example: deadlift max @ 455, using the Max Effort Emphasis Method:

Work up to a...

• 3-rep max for week 1

• 2-rep max for week 2

• 1-rep max for week 3

• Followed by a deload week.

The key here to executing this correctly is to take as many sets as needed to hit true max effort intensity.

Exponential EMOM Method

goal: increased work capacity, strength, and power

The exponential EMOM method is different and very unique.

This method is designed for those who have truly mastered our One Man One Barbell program and for those who need to be able to operate at high intensity (high heart rate) for prolonged periods while maintaining a level head (i.e. CrossFit competitors, first responders, special operators, etc)

example:

5 reps every minute on the minute for 5 minutes @ 50% of 1RM
1-MINUTE REST
3 reps every minute on the minute for 5 minutes @ 55% of 1RM
1-MINUTE REST
2 reps every minute on the minute for 5 minutes @ 60% of 1RM
1-MINUTE REST
1 rep every 30 seconds for 2 minutes @ 70% of 1RM
1-MINUTE REST
1 rep every 30 seconds for 2 minutes @ 75% of 1RM

Technique Method

goal: improved technique, mechanics, and efficiency

Our programs follow a 3 working week and 1 back off (or deload) week. This approach is best for long-term gains and should not be neglected or skipped. This method is another very simple method to help you maintain muscle memory and structured volume in your FOURTH WEEK, or deload week.

Some people really want to keep moving in the fourth week, which is okay…but often they move too much and perform too much volume. Working out in the fourth week is perfectly fine, but volume and perceived effort should be significantly decreased. Without a lack of structure in the fourth week, many feel as if they are wasting their time.

This is not the case, at all.

Your focus in the fourth week should be recovery and technique improvement.

example:

If you have a 300 lb squat you would multiply it by .75 (to get 75%)

A 300 lb. squat during a working week would be turned into 225 lb in a deload week.

So your EMOM would look like this:

Complete four reps every minute on the minute for 10 minutes @ 225 lb

This brings quality work, without the CNS strain.
All good programs that train hard incorporate deloads, and it's about so much more than just taking a week to chill.

Lactic Acid Training Method

goal: increase muscle

We utilize “Lactic Acid Training” sessions; which is a well documented and researched method for building mass, eliciting a hormonal response and inducing fat loss, or rather, high caloric burn.

Doing these sessions correctly is paramount.
Here’s how it works:

Your Target = 35 reps (in this example), so whether it takes you 3 sets or 10 sets you will work till you get to your target reps.

Your rep effort = 5-8 reps, this means on your FIRST set you should choose a weight in which you will be able to get 5-8 explosive fast-moving reps. This is how you will pick your weight used, based off of perceived effort.

Your second set, using the same weight, you may only be able to get 4 reps, and that is perfectly fine.
The rep effort is for that first set.

However, do not be confused by the rep effort. In this example it is not a 5 rep or 8-rep max. It is a weight that you can move VERY QUICKLY for 5-8 reps, not something you can move slowly for 5 reps.

In fact, you may be using a weight you COULD lift 15 times. The weight should be so manageable that you would not need a spotter

Squat Example:

Keeping with our squat example, say I pick 135 lb. for my LAT (Lactic Acid Training) Session.

I would move as explosively as I could with 135 lb., then I realize I am slowing down at 7 reps.
I will immediately stop.

Rest for EXACTLY 30 seconds.
Now, I have 28 reps left.

I will grab 135 lb. again and start squatting, but with fatigue and little rest I may only get 4 reps when I start to slow, so I immediately stop.

Rest for EXACTLY 30 seconds.
Now, I have 24 reps left.

Continue this until you have no more reps to perform.

Properly combining these principles and methods into an easy to follow protocol can transform your strength, fitness, and physique.

And this is just how we structure strength work in our sessions.
Layering in conditioning the right way will make you a whole lot harder to kill.

Try out these methods and principles on your own (or let us help you out)

Kill comfort.

Jerred and Dave

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Which is right?

As always, context is king (aka...it depends).

But because we hate just saying 'it depends', keep reading and we'll spell out how to best maximize strength gains while getting in better shape.

The interference effect (and why it's overblown)

Those fearing combining running and lifting often cite something called the interference effect..based on a study from 1980 that showed that combining endurance and resistance training negatively impacted strength gains.

Much more research has come out since then, and those still telling you to fear mixing running and lifting are doing more harm than good.

However, this doesn't mean you can just run every day, lift every day, and expect to see great results (in your runs or lifts).

There's much more to setting your program up the right way, which we'll cover below.

If you're an elite powerlifter or athlete, it's probably best not to run 10 miles every morning and try and lift in the afternoon.

Most of you aren't trying to run 10 miles every morning (or ever again) anyways, so that probably doesn't apply to you.

The interference effect just doesn't matter as much as people think.
Especially if you're new to working out (or you've taken some time off).

It's even overblown for those that have been working out for a long time, unless you're chasing top performance in a specific area.

Marathoners don't care much about deadlifting 500 lbs.

Powerlifters don't care much about a sub 6 minute mile (or sub 6 minute rest times between sets).

If your goal is better health, performance, longevity...you should be doing some type of strength work AND some type of conditioning.

Here's how to combine lifting and running (or any conditioning) effectively:

1. separate by 4-6 hours, when possible

If you have the luxury of breaking up your strength and cardio work, this is ideal.

4-6 hours seems to be plenty to minimize the interference effect.

This could mean doing one in the morning, and one later in the day.

For most people, living outside of 'ideals' or 2x/day workouts, this could simply mean doing a heavy strength session one day, and a harder conditioning session a different day.

2. strength first, conditioning second (if doing in same session)

If you're combining strength and conditioning work in the same session, it usually makes more sense to do your strength work first.

You can still push conditioning pretty hard after some heavy strength work.

But strength work is typically going to take a hit if you do some cardio first.
All of our programs use concurrent training (combining strength and conditioning). And it's totally doable when programmed right.

3...ignore the last point if you don't care about getting really strong or have other specific goals (prioritize what matters)

If you are training for a race, or you simply want to prioritize your cardio or conditioning and don't care about top end strength, then prioritize whatever goal matters most first in the day (or first in the session).

Marathon trainers often do their runs first, because strength is secondary and the main purpose is to make them better at running. In these cases, you don’t want strength to be before a hard or quality run session.

If you are a tactical athlete, or your sport/job requires you to be very well rounded, then sometimes you have to ignore the 'rules' and train in a way that makes you more prepared for anything (like on our Hard To Kill Track).

4. mode matters

The mode (running/cycling/rowing/etc) matters a lot.

Hitting a run will impact your back squat or deadlift a lot more than a row (or ski erg). You can strategically train both if you can vary the mode from time to time.

5. duration and intensity matter

Even if your program is set up perfectly, doing too much is still overtraining.

Running an easy mile or two in the morning won't wreck your afternoon session.

A 60 minute easy run or some hard intervals will come at a cost.

6. nutrition, sleep, stress, and recovery

The more you dial in these areas, the more your body can handle.

Everyone still has a ceiling...but getting these things right will allow you to do more.

If you're a single guy with a flexible schedule, you can probably handle a bit more training stress.

If you're a dad of 5 that works 50-60 hours a week and sleeps 5 hours a night...your training stress will catch up a lot quicker.

7. speaking of, don't lose sleep over it (this probably doesn't apply to you)

Unless you're pushing your limits, or you're an elite athlete (hate to break it to you, but probably not many people reading this), you don't need to get too caught up in these details.

We've seen thousands of athletes get stronger, improve their VO2 max and reduce resting heart rates, drop body fat, and add lean muscle while combining lifting with running (and other conditioning).

We believe it's the best (and really the only) way you should be training.

If your goal is to be your best and healthiest, right now and for decades to come, don't ignore strength OR cardio.

If you have any questions about how this applies to your program, hit reply or leave a comment.

Kill comfort.

Jerred and Dave

P.S. If you can lift and run you will be harder to kill.

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If you've played the game of yo-yo diets and weight loss..only to gain weight back..you know what I'm talking about.

Focusing on weight loss, instead of building muscle and chasing performance, could be the one thing keeping you from the body you actually desire.

If you want to avoid being skinny fat or rocking a dad bod, your focus needs to involve chasing performance..not just losing weight.

I see too many people spin their wheels trying to lose weight only to continue to be unhappy with how they look.

Why focusing on losing weight kept me stuck for over a decade

I know hyperfocusing on weight loss doesn’t work, because that was me for a long time.

I was always slightly overweight growing up.

At a young age I learned how to diet (which I later realized caused a lot of problems for me physically and psychologically)

Thankfully I found myself to be pretty good at football, and because of that I quickly fell in love with the weight room.

I added a significant amount of muscle in my teens through my college football years, but because I was a bit undersized for my position, there was always a pressure to gain weight.

Between being an overweight kid, and always feeling like I needed to maintain or add weight to my frame, I still had a deep desire to get lean following college football.

I just wish I understood at the time what was really needed to get there.

Right idea, wrong approach

The problem wasn’t my goal, the problem was my execution.

Any time you focus on the number on the scale alone, you’re setting yourself up for failure from the start.

The scale is a great tool for tracking average weight, but it’s just one of several data points you should be tracking.

Because it doesn’t tell the whole picture, and can actually cause you to get off track if you’re not careful.

In my head I thought getting from 205 lbs down to 190 lbs would be the transformation I needed.

And if I got down to 185 lbs, I would magically be movie star ripped (I was wrong on both)

As I lost more and more weight, I only ended up disappointed that I still didn't look the way I wanted.

There are plenty of things I wish I would have known sooner, but the number one thing would have been the importance of adding lean muscle and continuing to train for performance (and not just losing weight)

Because I was consumed with a number on the scale, I stopped lifting heavy (and even stopped lifting altogether at times), I was usually focused on eating less and exercising more, and I found myself following unsustainable workouts or diets that kept me stuck.

The key to your desired body composition involves more muscle and better performance. Not just weight loss.

This is important for three reasons:

1. More muscle actually makes losing weight (and more importantly, losing fat) even easier. This is because more lean muscle is the number one thing within your control to improve your resting metabolism.

2. When you set a performance goal, the number on the scale usually solves itself. 99% of the time performance goals (better mile or Murph time, increasing your squat or deadlift, doing more pullups) are more satisfying to reach. They're also easier to see progress in along the way, keeping you motivated. And to cap it off, our athletes love the way they look once they achieve these performance goals, making a weight loss goal no longer important.

3. Weight loss does not equal better body composition. If you lose a lot of weight, but don’t add muscle in the process (or you don’t already have a lot of muscle on your body), you’re going to be disappointed with the way you look, and you might sacrifice overall health along the way (especially if you ignore #1 and #2)

If your goal is to be lean and athletic then weight loss is not enough.
You need muscle and performance.

There are other problems beyond how you look with focusing on losing weight alone:

Calorie deficits and chronic dieting cause physical problems

Spending too much time dieting can cause:

• A poor environment for muscle building

• Decreased physical performance

• Decreased energy, mood, or cognitive performance

• Decreased sex drive

• A negative impact on cortisol, testosterone, and other hormones

If you spend too much time dieting or focused on weight loss, you’ll sacrifice performance in the short-term and health in the long-term.

This gets even worse when it’s coupled with the next problem.

Restrict - binge - restrict cycles cause psychological problems

This goes something like this:

• You want to lose weight, so you get extra strict on limiting calories or certain foods or adding in crazy workouts

• You find it’s not sustainable. When life gets busy, you get stressed, or your willpower is depleted you give into cravings. This often comes with a ‘screw it’ mentality that leads to binging out on the foods you were restricting for so long

• You feel guilty or gain weight back that you lost, so you jump back into another cycle of restriction or over-exercising

And the cycle continues.

This is not only extremely unhealthy emotionally and psychologically, but is leading to more fat gain.

• When you’re in a significant restriction cycle, you’re sacrificing muscle and hormonal health

• When that’s suddenly followed by a binge cycle, your body is even more sensitive to storing fat, so you quickly gain all the weight back you lost (or more)

• You not only got minimal results when in a restriction cycle, due to a poor environment for muscle building and hormones, but you lost muscle along the way making your next weight loss effort even harder

There is a better way if your goal is sustainable fat loss (and not just short-term weight loss)

If you do want to lose weight, but you don’t want to sacrifice your health, performance, or muscle in the process...focus on these things:

• Don’t cut calories too much (or for too long). If you are set on a weight loss goal, cut calories by 10% of your maintenance calories, and don’t diet for longer than 6-12 weeks at a time (in most cases). If you feel like you're spending the majority of your year dieting, you're doing something wrong.

• Focus more on strength and performance. Follow a program that focuses on adding muscle and improving overall performance. All of our programming tracks address adding strength and focusing on overall performance.

• Eat to fuel your body and your workouts. We did a whole podcast on how to fuel like an athlete (even if you don't consider yourself one). This includes getting enough protein, calories, fat, and fiber.

• Reframe your goals. Think about getting lean instead of getting light. Being strong instead of being skinny. Set goals that focus on performance within the gym and overall body composition, not just on weight loss.

If you need anything, leave a comment.

Otherwise..kill comfort (and weight loss mindsets)

Dave

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Improvements in this area can help your health, longevity, performance, and much more.

Even if you're not an endurance athlete (or you don't enjoy running).

Let’s dive into why you should care about your VO2 max, and how to improve it, to be more fit (and harder to kill)…

What is VO2 max?

This is the max amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise.

It reflects your aerobic fitness and cardiovascular efficiency.

Which basically shows you how well your heart/lungs/muscles work together during activity.

Why should you care about your VO2 max?

1. Highly linked to longevity. Some studies show it’s better linked to longevity than traditional risk factors such as blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol.

2. Improves your fitness by allowing you to train harder (and longer) before fatigue sets in.

3. Makes you a better human. You’ll have better recovery, be more prepared for anything, and crush performance goals (like a spartan race, hyrox event, half marathon, or anything else fitness related)

How to improve your VO2 max (not just by running)

Most get so caught up in specific intervals, rest times, etc (which we’ll cover below).

But you don’t have to overcomplicate it, especially if you’re newer to fitness or the concurrent training principles we implement in all of our programs.

Because VO2 max is your body’s ability to utilize oxygen…

You have to do activities that demand sustained use of oxygen

or…

You have to create an oxygen 'debt'

If the intervals or exercises are doing one of those two things, you’re on the right track.

Running/biking/rowing are common ways to do this.

But we also do this with kettlebells, EMOMs, barbells, mixed modal workouts, and much more in our programming.

Practical ways you can start improving your VO2 max today

If you’re just starting out, don’t overcomplicate it.

Get your heart rate up for a longer period of time (sustained), or do shorter bouts of activities that get you breathing heavy (oxygen debt)

The longer you get into training, the more you’re going to have to work to improve your VO2 max.

Here’s some ways you can get started with:

1. 60-70% HR max. This is your long duration and steady state activity that you might know as zone 2 training.

2. 70-85% HR max. This can be running or other cardio, but we love using high rep strength and concurrent training principles to achieve this (while maximizing efficiency in the gym).

3. 80-90% HR max. Tempo runs are how endurance athletes achieve this, we love interval weight training (IWT) to do this (if you missed it, here’s how to implement this in your program).

4. 85-95% HR max. This is sprint work or fartlek runs. This should last between 30 seconds and a few minutes, and use a 1:1 or 1:3 work to rest ratio.

5. High intensity interval training. Think circuits using burpees, jump rope, air dyne, and other 'fun' metcon type movements.

6. High intensity functional training. Think mixed modal workouts or Murph (we do both hard Murph and zone 2 Murph). Same workout, different benefits, and why your program should be intentional.

Pacing, recovery, and more tips for boosting VO2 max

Don’t just google or chatGPT a generic/cookie cutter program.
This is highly individualized based on your fitness level.

To customize this even further:

• A 1:1 or 1:3 work to rest ratio is a good starting point. Resting less than this will get you into anaerobic training, or lead to overtraining if your volume is too high. Most aren’t resting too long…but too short.

• How hard you go matters, so listen to your body. If your HR is still in zone 4 when you’re starting your next interval, you’re either going too hard, too long, or not resting enough.

• If you’ve been working out for a while, improving movement economy could be the best thing for your fitness. Better running mechanics or technique with bodyweight exercises will lead to better times in your workouts, and better VO2 max over time. This doesn’t matter as much at first, but becomes really important the fitter you get.

• Don’t forget about progressive overload. You can’t keep doing the same thing for 3-4 months, or keep hopping to new programs, and expect to see long-term results. To keep progressing you could add an interval, run/move faster, reduce rest time or any combination.

This is where programming becomes so important.

Here’s how we do it at GGA:

4 week cycles (3 weeks of progressions, 1 deload week, followed by 3 more weeks of new progressions).

We don't just run. Our programs mix running/rowing/biking, interval weight training, mixed modal work, different exercises and movements…all designed to keep progressing (and keep you from being bored)

If you want to try it out on your own, you’ve got all the steps to get started up above.

If you want to train with us, try 7 days for free.

Kill comfort.

Jerred and Dave

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But if you’re reading this you probably don’t get paid to workout for a living.

In an ideal world you know you should lift some weights, do some cardio, and be athletic enough to not get hurt kicking a ball around with your kids.

Knowing those things aren’t what's important though.

It’s knowing how to actually fit all those things into a program that doesn’t take 10+ hours a week.

And unfortunately most programs and workout classes are missing the mark on doing this well.

If you want to improve your strength, power, aerobic conditioning, and athleticism (in less time)…read on.

I want to explain one specific way you can apply all of these within a single workout (that takes less than an hour).

Something you can add right now to your current routine.

The concept is called Interval Weight Training (IWT), and it’s something we come back to often in our programming cycles.

We use IWT often because it’s incredibly efficient and effective for being really strong and well conditioned.

It’s been around since the late 1960s, but you’ve probably never heard of it.

And here’s why.

problem one: most people in the gym are doing either cardio or strength

If you look around the average gym, you’ll see two main types of people.

One of those is slaving away on a piece of cardio equipment.

With a high probability of getting caught up on social media memes or another netflix show.

The other one is following some version of the same bodybuilding workouts that have been floating around for decades.

Probably trying to bench 225 on Mondays (national chest day) and doing arm supersets in the squat rack.

problem two: people gravitate towards basic strength training programs that do very little for their aerobic conditioning

If you’re following a good strength program, focusing on compound movements, and getting stronger over time..you’re ahead of most when it comes to your health and fitness.

These programs are great for getting stronger. And adding lean muscle is one of the best things you can do for longevity, health, and how you look...so don't skip this.

But just like cardio on its own is incomplete, even the best strength programs are incomplete.

Only focusing on strength can leave you with similar aerobic fitness as a sedentary individual (even seen in professional lifters)

And strength training does very little to change your VO2 max (which is very important to be healthy now and for years to come)

problem three: most ‘hybrid training’ programs have a straight line approach

Of those that are committed to doing both cardio and strength, you’ll see a mixed bag of programs..mostly designed for those that have the flexibility to train for hours each day.

Most are random WODs or circuits just designed to make you sweat, but aren’t sustainable or even effective long-term.

Other hybrid athlete programs that combine running and lifting only train things in isolation.

Run one day, lift the next (or run in the AM, lift in the PM).

This is inefficient at best for those that have busy schedules.

And also usually at the expense of overall athleticism, as most approaches combine running or cycling (straight line activities) with traditional bodybuilding or powerlifting programs (also straight line in nature)

These can develop imbalances over time, making you less athletic or injury prone.

Now here’s the good part, and a strategy you can apply right away in your program to get the best of both worlds.

Interval Weight Training: a practical way to combine strength and conditioning (and athleticism) on a busy schedule

This is a form of concurrent training that is incredibly effective.

It simultaneously trains…

dynamic strength + muscular endurance + power

You do this through what’s called an anaerobic work interval and an active rest interval.

Here’s how this looks on paper (and how you can try it out):

1. choose a strength movement

This is a great place for a movement like back squats, front squats, bench press, shoulder press, etc.

If you are well trained with olympic movements, you can insert power cleans, snatches, here as well.

A good starting point is to aim for 12-15 reps across 3 sets.

Set 1: 50% of your 1RM
Set 2: 60% of your 1RM
Set 3: 70% of your 1RM

2. choose a monostructural activity (running, rowing, stationary bike)

You will go from your strength movement immediately into this activity.

You’re going to go hard (9/10 effort or 90% of your max heart rate) for 2-3 minutes.

3. rest and repeat

Rest 90 seconds to 3 minutes, and then move into set two.

In our programs, we’ll typically do two of these IWT circuits in a single session (one lower body strength and one upper body strength movement), followed by some accessory work.

bonus: mix in different athletic movements and planes of motion to improve athleticism and longevity

Combining our body geometry principles (progressions, contractions, planes) has been something we’ve seen incredibly effective for improving athleticism and longevity within the IWT framework.

These sessions are hard.

They’re not meant to be done more than 1-2 times per week. And they’re not something you can follow forever.

But when they show up in our new training cycles, our athletes see incredible progress in their strength, conditioning, and athleticism.

This is one way you can become really strong, fit, and athletic without spending your whole week getting there.

Try it out on your own and hit reply or leave a comment with any questions or to let us know what you think.

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While the 'rules' of the game (calories in vs calories out) haven't changed, the recommended approaches and beliefs around losing weight have.

There’s a more effective and sustainable way to burn fat (without sacrificing your performance).

Whether you want to drop 50 lbs or those last 5 lbs of belly fat.

Despite knowing how to eat healthy and exercise, I spent years spinning my wheels while trying to get lean.

I would lose the same ~10-15 lbs over and over again…slowly gaining it back each time.

It was frustrating.
And my efforts to see change weren't sustainable.

Once I understood what’s really needed to get lean (which I’ll outline below), burning fat has become easy.

It’s become predictable.

From when I started working out at age 15, until the time I was 30, I was almost always above 195 lbs.

I’ve always carried a lot of muscle, but never could get rid of the fat I wanted to despite regularly working out 4-6x/week and eating fairly healthy.

Now I effortlessly maintain a weight around 180 lbs, and am pound for pound stronger than when I was squatting 500 lbs as a college linebacker.

Here are some things I wish I knew sooner when it came to losing weight and getting lean.

Your body doesn’t want you to lose weight

Our bodies are adaptation machines.

Like it or not…it makes sense.

As important as you think your weight loss goals are, walking around at sub 10% body fat is not survival priority number one.

Our bodies are great at storing fat and energy.

A really good thing when food is scarce and you don’t know where the next meal is coming from.

Not so good when your cabinets are filled with easy to consume calories and even drive thrus are too much work these days (thank you door dash)

If you've tried to lose weight before, you know how this works.
And studies have shown the same things:

• Minnesota starvation experiment: 24 weeks of semi-starvation led to basal metabolic rate (BMR) drop of 628 calories. Which means even at 1,600 calories per day weight loss plateaued

• Biggest loser study: 30 weeks of extreme diet and exercise led to a significant reduction in total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). Their metabolism might never rebound, making weight re-gain easy and the ability to lose weight again even harder

• Race across the USA: participants ran a marathon 6 days per week as they raced from west coast to east coast. They saw a 600-1,000 calorie reduction in TDEE despite extreme levels of activity (if that doesn’t turn you off from running a marathon per day I don’t know what will)

Here’s why this happens.

The problem with diet and exercise alone

When you significantly reduce calories, increase exercise, or do both at the same time, your body pushes back.

This is why extreme diets or exercise programs/challenges very rarely lead to long-term weight loss.

Sure you can cut some weight in 6 weeks with these strategies, but rarely is that maintained 6 months later.

All of this comes back to something called non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT for short, although it doesn’t sound all that neat)

NEAT is the spontaneous movement throughout your day that burns calories without you realizing it, and it often accounts for more calories burned than exercise (even when you’re working out hard like our everyday athletes do)

When you cut calories aggressively, your NEAT tanks.

Bodybuilders are miserable leading up to a competition, and have to literally force themselves to move.

When you increase exercise, your NEAT drops to compensate.

This is why a morning Memorial Day Murph workout can leave you glued to the couch the rest of the day.

This is also why people that get up early to crush a workout, only to sit at a desk all day, can have a hard time losing weight.

What you can do instead (the new rules for weight loss)

This doesn’t mean that exercise or diet are not effective for losing weight.

But there is a better way to exercise and workout, which I don’t have time to cover in this post alone.

There is also a missing piece that most people ignore.
It’s the same thing I ignored for so many years as I struggled to get lean.

If you want to lose fat, and keep it off long-term, here is the better way:

1. Get your baseline

• Track how many calories you’re consuming. You don’t have to track forever, but you do need to know how many calories you eat over the course of a week

• Write down your current exercise routine. The more info the better (how many days are you working out, how many calories burned, average HR, etc)

• Take note of your daily movement. This is best done simply by tracking how many steps you get on average over the course of the week

2. Decrease, Increase, Increase

You have 3 levers you can pull to lose weight.

Pulling one might give you some results.
Pulling two is probably better.
Pulling all three is what’s really needed to see long-term results.

• Decrease calories consumed. Don’t go extreme here, we’re after long-term results. A 5-10% calorie reduction is a good starting point.

• Increase one thing from your current exercise routine. Add one more cardio or strength session per week. Or try and burn 50 more calories each workout session (which is exactly what all of our programs are designed to help you do)

• Increase your daily movement. The easiest way to do this is by increasing your daily steps. If your average baseline is 6,000 steps per day, set a goal to increase to 8,000.

3. Track your average weight

Don’t get caught up in day to day weight fluctuations.

Weigh yourself daily, or at least a few days per week (first thing in the morning) and take the average each week.

If you’re losing 0.25-1% of your bodyweight per week, don’t change a thing.

I've seen too many people panic when they're actually on track (even if it doesn't seem fast enough)

Only make adjustments when you hit a plateau.
Not based on how you feel, but what the data actually shows.

First increase steps when able.
Then increase something from exercise.

And only then decrease calories...doing this first will give you less energy for number one and number two.

Little changes go a long way, don’t rush the process.

If you need any help with this, leave a comment.

If you want to see any more posts like this, comment 'weight loss' and we can dive deeper into the strategies that will help you burn fat (and keep it off)

I know how frustrating it is to feel stuck here, despite working hard with your diet and exercise.

As with most things..extremes don’t work.

Daily over decades is the recipe.

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But they’re also incredibly durable.

They don’t miss many weeks (or even days) in the gym. At least not due to injury.

They don’t ever seem to be hurt or even get sick very often.

So what’s the secret?
It’s not genetics or luck.

Working with over 20,000+ athletes over the last decade, we’ve had a very small percentage that have ever told us they’re cancelling due to an injury.

And we’re not selling Pilates programs. Our workouts are not soft or easy by any means.

If you want results, you have to train hard.

But it’s not just about being able to go hard for a few weeks or a few months. Even a few years won’t do it if your goal is to be keeping up with your grandkids or great grandkids.

You have to be healthy and durable enough to keep working out for decades.

Life will get busy, workouts will change…but you have to look beyond short-term results.

It's not enough to only think about weight loss or better fitness over the next few months. But also keeping joints healthy and your body running well so you can stay active for years to come.

That’s ultimately what freedom is when it comes to your health and fitness. Being able to do whatever you want to do, when you want to do it.

This applies today and when you’re 80 years old.

Here is how to be more durable in the gym (through the body geometry system we use within all of our programs):

1. progressions

Focus on strength and movement quality first.

Don’t do kipping pullups if you can’t perform strict pullups.

Don’t max out a back squat if you can’t complete a proper air squat.

Quit trying to bench 225 if you can't perform 25 perfect pushups.

This is obvious but often overlooked.

Because it takes patience and knowledge of where your weak points are.

If you can’t perform a strict pullup, instead of jumping to banded pullups or kipping pullups, you could spend some time strengthening your back and arm muscles through other compound and isolation movements.

It's a long game.

Don't be afraid to start slow so you can stay in the game for longer.

2. contractions

Train all 3 types of contractions.

These include eccentrics (lowering), isometrics (hold), and concentric (completing the rep).

Most people only focus on the concentric part.

That’s pulling your chin over the bar in the pullup, or standing the squat weight all the way up.

But neglecting to train the isometric and eccentric parts of the movements can lead to imbalances over time, which can lead to injury.

Not training all 3 contractions can also limit your performance.

One of our favorite ways to train these is through tempo training.

Take the same movement you’re doing, and simply change the speed of certain parts of the lift.

For example, in a squat, take a full 3 seconds to lower the weight down. Then pause for 1 second. And then move the weight explosively towards the top.

The possibilities are endless.

You’ll be surprised how much more challenging this is, and you’ll quickly see where you have weak spots in the movement.

3. balance

Train all 3 planes.

This includes sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes.

If you’re working out, I guarantee you’re performing sagittal plane exercises.
This is anything front to back: pushups, squats, bench press, curls, etc.

Most neglect the frontal and transverse planes.

Frontal plane exercises are side to side in nature, and include side bends, carries, side planks, etc.

Transverse plane exercises are rotational (or anti-rotational) in nature, and include pallof presses, rotational lunges, russian twists, etc.

Programming tip: include at least one frontal or transverse plane exercise in your warmup and/or workout each day.

4. deload weeks

All good (and hard) training programs incorporate deloads.

This is not to be confused with doing nothing or taking a week off from the gym.
Far from it.

This means intentionally reducing the volume and intensity of your training program to allow your body to recover, so that you can keep progressing and push it harder in future training sessions.

If you think you can only hit the gas and go hard all the time, your body will eventually push back.

Which means you’ll end up taking forced time off.

I'd rather choose my easy weeks instead of having an injury dictate them.

You can do this on a schedule, or you can listen to your body and incorporate them as needed.

But you can’t skip them altogether.

This could be every 4 weeks, 6 weeks, or based on how you're feeling/stress/around travel/etc.

At GGA, a deload week is where we overlap the above body geometry principles (progressions, contractions, planes) to build more durable athletes and humans.
This is a great time to work on weaknesses and balance out your training.

If you think you don't need a deload week...you might not be going hard enough to begin with.

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What if the secret to looking better, burning fat, having more muscle, or performing better was found in the 23 hours you’re not working out?

We’ve seen this to be true time and time again, with thousands of athletes, over the last decade.

But these aren’t the flashy things that grab your attention or sell workout programs.

If you look around social media, you’ll see influencers promoting fat burning workouts you can do in 20-30 minutes per day. Supplements or superfoods that ‘shed fat’.

Their marketing makes you believe you can look like them…but only if you follow their program or buy their products.

The first major problem is that these same influencers, with six pack abs, are rarely following the same programs they’re selling.

Arguably the bigger problem is that they’re leaving out all the things they’re doing behind the scenes to get the results that they’re getting.

Unfortunately there are a couple truths in marketing.

1. The sexy strategies and quick fixes will always get more views and clicks.

2. The boring but simple solutions (that actually move the needle forward on your progress) don’t go viral.

But we want our athletes to be better, smarter, and more effective than mainstream marketing or social media.

And to do that, it requires more than crushing your body in the gym.

The best athletes in the world treat their recovery as important as their practices and game.

Trying to only work harder, without taking care of your body, is not sustainable.

It's like trying to press down on the gas while also keeping your other foot pressed down on the brakes.

Here are some things that will catch up, sooner or later, when you push too hard while pretending recovery doesn’t exist:

• Your energy tanks (leaving you reaching for more caffeine or sugar)

• Your hormones suffer (poor libido, testosterone, irregular periods)

• Your performance takes a hit (you can’t push it as hard in the gym)

• Your body pushes back (you find yourself sick more often or with more nagging aches/lingering injuries)

• Your cortisol stays elevated (leading to more fat gain, less muscle built, and long-term health consequences)

You can get away with ignoring the elements listed below for a few days or a few weeks.

You can probably even get away with avoiding them for a few months (if you’re following a halfway decent program).

But eventually, this will catch up to you.

It has to us.

And it has to the majority of our athletes at one time or another.

Because consistently doing these is not easy.

Incredibly simple, but not easy.

If you’re like us, it can be hard enough to fit a workout in some days.

Being a good husband, dad, and business owner are demanding enough on their own.

But the cost of avoiding these things is too high.

Because it’s not just your health or fitness results that will take a hit.

It’s your ability to show up at a high level consistently…as a spouse, parent, employee/employer…and in your health and fitness as well.

So don’t fall for the trap of thinking you’re an exception to the rule.

You need these.

We need these…as much as we’ve tried to avoid it at different times.

If the best athletes in the world understand this, it’s probably worth paying attention to.

You don’t have to spend $1M per year on your recovery like LeBron does to get 80-90% of the benefits.

We’ve compiled a list of the most effective habits you can be doing, which we call The Elements.

If you want your body and results to transform, do these 9 things daily, as consistently as possible:

1. sleep: 7+ hours per night

2. hydration: 50% of your bodyweight in oz of water

3. nutrition: meat+veggies in at least 2 meals

4. blood flow: 12,000+ steps or light activity outside of normal training

5. sun: 10+ minutes of sun exposure (even if it’s cloudy it counts)

6. digestion: chew food, slow down, limit liquids around meals

7. meal timing: 12+ hours fasting to give digestion a break (ex: 7pm to 7am)

8. warm-up/cool-down: 5 minutes of each

9. downregulation (a fancy word for mindfully chilling out): meditate, breathing exercises, journaling, limiting phones/tv/bright lights at night.

How do you stack up?

We’re big fans of gamifying things around here.

Maybe it’s just the way we’re wired, but we know competition (even if it’s with yourself) brings out the best.

See how many of these you’re consistently doing each week.

Consistently means 6 out of every 7 days you’re doing that habit.

First just take an audit…see where you're at.
Then try and add one more until it becomes easy.

And another.
And another.

If you’re hitting 7 or 8 out of these consistently, you're crushing it.

Challenge yourself to hit them all and see how you feel.

If you’re starting out at 0/9 of these habits, you’re not failing.

You just might have never been told how important these really are.

Just pick ONE you can do consistently, and don’t add another until it becomes easy.

Now you’re already getting better.
Just keep going and don't stop.

Kill comfort (even in the incredibly boring and non-sexy ways),

Jerred and Dave

p.s. how many of the 9 elements are you consistently hitting each day? let us know how you scored

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If your goal is only to grow your arms, PR your back squat, or run your fastest mile time, your program should be pretty specific.
There’s nothing wrong with any of these things, as long as you’re getting healthier and not hurting yourself.

But what if you want a little bit of all those things (and more)?

If you want a step by step breakdown of a well rounded fitness program, we’ll walk you through it today.

We’ve put an incredible amount of effort into building an actual system, one that’s repeatable, that we believe to be the most well rounded fitness program out there.

Because our athletes don’t want to have to choose between performance or aesthetics.
Between strength or conditioning.
Between being hard to kill and ready for anything right now or in 30 years.

This is probably just review for all of our athletes.
They just keep showing up, logging the workouts, and seeing progress in all these areas month after month and year after year.

Here is a high level overview to our programming, and what separates it from all the influencer noise and random programs out there.

Our Hard to Kill system at Garage Gym Athlete

Our programming is science based, but it’s not something you’ll see in any textbook.
This is tested and has evolved coaching over 20,000 athletes…and is certainly not random WODs pulled from chatgpt.

Big picture: we do concurrent training...which basically means blending strength and conditioning simultaneously.

The problem is, concurrent training, or more commonly known as hybrid training these days, is incredibly vague.

Running in the morning and lifting in the afternoon is concurrent training.
A bodybuilder doing fasted cardio is concurrent training.
CrossFit, Hyrox, and most athletic training programs are concurrent training in nature.

But not all of these programs are created equally, and not all will prepare you for life (or even keep you well rounded).

When done right, you should be incredibly more healthy and fit…but as you’ll see this is much more than bigger arms and more miles logged.

Here is how we systematically create incredibly well rounded athletes:

• major/minor: every cycle has a focus. This can change, but too little focus = too little results. We include 2 domains to focus on each training block, and we rotate them every 3 weeks. This is where most programs stop. They have one, maybe two things to focus on and they never change them (ex: running and hypertrophy, and that’s it). That’s not enough to be effective long-term.

• strength continuum: we program strength, strength speed, speed strength, and speed every 3 weeks.

• endurance: muscle endurance, strength endurance, power endurance, aerobic endurance also included every 3 weeks.

• gain/pain/sustain: this is energy systems training, incredibly important for overall health and athletic performance. You’ll see the following energy systems…alactic, glycolytic, oxidative…which rely heavily on work to rest ratios and RPE in our programming (most programs only focus on one or two).

• mixed modal aerobic/anaerobic work: this is what comes to mind when you think of CrossFit (ex: barbell, bodyweight, and conditioning mixed together). We lay out work to rest ratios and are very intentional with how these fit into our programs, and are far less random than CrossFit.

• z-lift: this is stabilization work, incredibly helpful for improving performance and resiliency (ex: carries, lunges, unilateral, odd objects or loads).

• daily essentials: core, low back, isometrics…the basics to keep you healthy long-term.

We program in 12 week cycles, and 4 week waves.
Every 3 weeks hits all of those things listed above (without needing to workout for more than an hour)

Every 4th week we build resiliency with our body geometry principles

• these are our ‘deload’ weeks, but they are far from easy or active recovery.

• we balance planes of movements, muscle contractions, and variety of movements. This avoids being one dimensional and reduces likelihood of imbalances or overuse injuries.

• you’ll also see more zone 2 work here, the HR specific zone to improve overall health and fat oxidation.

If it sounds like a lot…it is.
And at the same time it isn’t.

Because we have this down to a system.
A system designed to make you well rounded and incredibly fit, both now and for years to come.
We’ve got several tracks, all with one goal.

Endure will bias more conditioning.
​Strength will bias more heavy lifting.
​Shred will bias hypertrophy and body composition.
​Hard To Kill will balance all of these.

All will make you more stronger, more conditioned, and more balanced.
Both now and for years to come.

None are easy, but our athletes don’t sign up for easy.

If you want to build a well rounded fitness program on your own, make sure to include everything listed above.

If you check all those boxes (or even most of them), you’ll have a very well rounded program.

But that’s not really helpful.
Most people struggle with discipline AND motivation.
They have no idea it is something that can be harnessed.

We’ve been working on this concept for over a decade.
It’s become our “lifeOS”, or life operating system.

It’s how we manage to...
show up for our families.
train 5 or 6 times per week.
run multiple businesses.
and do it all without breaking.

it’s called “daily over decades”
and it’s a system. not a thesis statement.

let me introduce you to Daily Over Decades.

How Daily Over Decades Started

I’ve been a strength and conditioning coach since 2011.
Back then, I was naive.
I thought people just needed a good plan.
I give you the plan, you do the work. That’s it.

But many struggled.
Consistency breaks for most people.
Maybe they string together a week or even a few months.
The people with the weakest foundation always broke.

This sent me down a new path that wasn’t meal plans and program design.
I started to heavily study psychology.
I landed on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT).

From the self-determination theory site:

“Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a psychological framework exploring human motivation and personality.”

I won’t bore you with all the details, but this was a major unlock for me as a coach.
In 2012, I launched courses to go along with the training.
I framed “Self-Determination Theory” solely as mental toughness.

We called it the mental toughness militia back in 2012.
And it evolved slowly.

The Mental Toughness Militia shifted to a phrase we used called, “Killing Comfort.”
Which then became a book I published in 2020.

A few ideas turned into a framework.
The framework turned into a system.

That system we now call, “Daily Over Decades.”

But you’re probably wondering... does it work?
Short answer: yes.

We don’t dabble in theory.
Only reality.

This system has been implemented in my coaching for over a decade.
Over 20,000 athletes have experienced it.
I’ve taught and certified over 100 coaches in the methods.
They’ve used it with their clients and athletes.

And here’s what we see when implemented properly.
Higher stick rates.
In fact, our online coaching has 2x the normal stick rate compared to similar programs.

Longer stick rates.
We measure our most successful athletes in years of training with us, not months.

More autonomy.
People understand the ‘why’ and they choose to keep going.
They don’t feel forced.

More competence.
The nature of our training and methods cannot be mastered in a few weeks.
People experience mastery, growth, and the sense that they can meet challenges.

So let me introduce the system to you.
You can implement some or all of it today.
I’ll even give you access to our app where we put the ideas into practice (for free).

First, your goals

This part gets a little in the weeds.
It’s a critical first step.
But if you feel you are good on your goals, you have purpose, etc.
You can skip to the KC3.

The AMP Process: Aim, Motivation, Purpose

Most people set goals backwards.
They pick something to chase before they’ve ever stopped to look at where they actually are. The AMP process fixes that.
It stands for Aim, Motivation, and Purpose...
but before any of it, it starts with one honest question.
Are you content or complacent?

Start Here: Content or Complacent?

Go through the big areas of your life... finances, spiritual life, health and fitness, relationships, business, and your personal life, and ask: am I content, or am I complacent?

Content means you’re happy with where things are.
Could you earn more or be a little more dialed in?
Sure. Everything can be improved.
But if you look at an area and think, “I’m good here right now,” that’s content.

Complacent is when you’ve gotten comfortable.
You’re not putting any real attention into an area, you’ve let it ride, and deep down you know it’s something you want to work on.
That’s the stuff worth circling.

This isn’t about beating yourself up.
The goal isn’t to decide you suck at everything.
You can want to grow without tearing yourself down.
It’s just an honest snapshot, because you can’t set a good goal until you know where you stand. The areas where you’re complacent are the obvious place to aim.

Once complete, you move to the AMP process.

A - Aim

Aim is where that honesty turns into goals.
Pick an area and set your sights way out:
Where do you want to be in ten years? Dream a little.

Personal and professional.
Three goals each.
Keep it focused; don’t chase a dozen things at once.

Then work backwards.
If that’s the ten-year goal, where do you need to be in five years to be on track?
And one year from today?
That’s your mile-marker system.
Once it’s set, you can almost forget the sheet.
Because now everything you do day-to-day is already pointed the right direction.

M - Motivation

A goal without a reason behind it won’t survive a hard day.
Pick one of your ten-year goals and ask why five times.
Each answer feeding the next question.

Say the goal is to be competitive in an Ironman.
Why? It keeps me healthy.

Why does that matter? So I’m around for my kids a long time.
And so on.

Nobody actually wants to “lose ten pounds” just to be lighter...
push past the surface answer and you’ll find the real fuel.
Don’t skip it.

P - Purpose

This is the piece that pulls you through.
Your aim tells you what to do next.
Your motivation keeps you fired up.
But your purpose is the recurring theme of your life.
The thing you’re always drawn to, no matter what you’re working on.

Mine is to help build better humans.

There’s no clean step-by-step to find it.
You have to do the mental work yourself.
Take your best stab, write something down, and revise it over the years.

When you tie your purpose into everything you do, goals get easier to reach.
And the hard days don’t hit as hard.

Going through the AMP process is simply setting the sail.
Next, we get to the daily work.

Second, the KC3 (the foundational habit)

The KC3, or, the three pillar habits of Killing Comfort.

The KC3 are:

• Hard Thing

• One Thing

• Hormesis

You do each one of these every day.
Further explanation of each:

Hard Thing:

In my book, Killing Comfort, I wrote “the hard things equation.”
Which is, pushing forward against your own desire + daily over decades = a hard thing.

A hard thing is something you do, that goes against the grain.
If your desire is to sit, then you walk.
If your desire is to eat pizza, you have a vegetable.

But you don’t perform a random hard thing each day.
A hard thing needs a time frame.
That’s where “daily over decades” comes in.
You commit to the hard thing until it is no longer hard, or it becomes a habit.
Automatic.

For some this can take a month. Others a year, or years.
Once it’s automatic, you’re not done.
You pick a new hard thing.
Practice putting yourself in uncomfortable situations and doing the thing anyway.
In a decade, you will have stacked enough hard things to change your life for the better.

One Thing:

A commitment to doing ONE THING today that connects to the future version of you.
Some call it goal setting.
But this is goal achievement.

Anyone can set goals.
This is the daily discipline of doing.
One thing every single day that drives you towards your goals.
No matter how small the thing may be.

Hormesis:

By definition, Hormesis is a biological phenomenon where mild or moderate exposure to a stressor triggers an adaptive response, ultimately making the organism more resilient.

Short version: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

If a human being were to come with an operating manual, hormesis would be chapter 1.
But people treat it as optional.

Want to increase your fitness? Hormesis required.
Want to lose weight? Hormesis required.
Want to build a business? Hormesis required.

Anything worth doing will run you through a hormetic cycle.
You should do one thing each day that counts as hormesis.
For me, that’s often fitness, but it comes in many forms.

If you did ONLY one thing from the DOD system, I would recommend the KC3.
It is a foundational habit set that can transform your life.

Third, the elements + grid + training

This is where the “daily doing” gets spicy.
Simple, not easy.

For most, I say master doing the KC3 before you attempt to add the elements, grid and daily training.

But once you are there, this is the next level.

First, the Elements.
Nine daily habits for a better life:

1. Sleep: 7+ hours a night.

2. Hydration: half your bodyweight in ounces of water.

3. Nutrition: meat and veggies in at least two meals.

4. Blood flow: 10,000+ steps or light activity.

5. Sun: 10+ minutes of exposure, even if it is cloudy.

6. Digestion: chew your food, slow down, limit liquids at meals.

7. Meal timing: 12+ hours fasting to give digestion a break.

8. Warm-up and cool-down: five minutes of each.

9. Downregulation: meditate, breathe, journal, kill the screens at night.

These are incredibly simple. They are not easy.
You can ignore them for a few weeks.
Maybe a few months. But it catches up to you.
It has to me. It has to most of our athletes.

Check off as many as you can each day.
The goal is not to go 9 for 9.
Think of it more like collecting.
Collect as many elements as you can each day.
They compound on their own over time.

Start small.
Pick one element.
Do it until it is easy.
Then add another.

The Grid

The grid is simple.
It is extra movement during the day.
Drop and do some pushups. Some squats. Some situps.
Do it when you wake up. Do it before work. Do it on a bathroom break.
You do not have to fill the whole grid.
A few spots are fine.
At the end of the day, add up your reps.
I did 168 pushups today.
It counts toward your blood flow element above.
And it gets you moving when you cannot train.

Training

Lastly, track your training too.
Write down how many minutes you trained.
Then mark your completion.
Red dot if you did not train.
Orange for a partial workout.
Green for a full one.

Simple.
Honest.
Every day.

Our goal is typically 300 minutes per week.
200 minutes is also a perfectly acceptable goal.

30-day challenge + putting it all together
(in an app, for free)

Does this all seem like a lot?
It can be.
Until you see how easily it can be put into action.

Here is my challenge to you.
Use our app for 30 days.
Every habit.
Every check mark.
Every single day.

YOU GET ACCESS TO THE APP WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THIS SUBSTACK.
IT’S IN THE WELCOME EMAIL

If I had to guess, most people will not finish.
They quit at day 5, day 10, day 14.
They find a reason.
They make an excuse.

Do not give me that half-ass effort.
Even if you think this is the dumbest app in the world...
Can you do it for 30 days without missing a day?
That is the point.
Do something hard.
Do something against your desire.

I am throwing down the gauntlet.
30 days. Get after it.
Let me know if you actually finish.
Most will not.

-JM