how to build a well rounded program (step by step)
the system built to keep you fit now and 30 years from now.
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.