Boy oh boy is training around the holidays easy.

If you are like me your days work out perfectly and you have 3 or 7 extra hours at the end of each day to smash your body every which way, have time for a post training rub (added tug if you’re feeling extra frisky), a cryo session and can even prep the perfect most “freshiest” recovery meal, chop full of local artisan ingredients.  

Insert giant NOT here!  

Gang, the holidays, all days, are stressful and jam packed.  I know if you are reading this blog you are just like me, overworked, under recovered, sleep deprived and still ambitious!

Here is the truth.  

You can grow a small business or work full time, be there for your kiddos, support your espousa, find a moment to hit a hard trainings session, and feel HAPPY.  

It’s crazy to me how tall an order healthy, happy and strong can be, but honestly it doesn’t have to be!

In order to shorten that stack and feel great about yourself you’ve got to begin doing one thing…

NOT BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW!

The biggest mistake I see when working with athletes is that they over program and try and do way to much.  I have yet to encounter a full time parent, soldier, lawyer, or garbage man who can handle 5 days of intense training.  

Stress is stress gang.  If you are feeling it at home, work and in the gym eventually burning the candle at all ends will catch up to you and you won’t be productive in any facet of your life.

In order to give your body a chance to make a deposit you have to make sure that your training program is something your body can handle.  This process starts with what you put to paper.  

I have begun the process of starting all of my clients out on three to six week programs, with three days training each week.  Each three days will have three primary elements and I will rotate those elements to take priority (be completed first) on a different day.  

The specifics on the elements, rotation, and goals of the programs are individual and like life are subject to change.  For a sample shoot me an email at joe@joesbarbell.com.       

With a simple programming structure like this you consistently hit elements, vary up the training stimulus, can easily make adjustments and at the end of the day feel great about accomplishing your full slate of work.  Often times, over the course of the 3-6 week period, folks get bonus work in – rather than junking the program all together.  

The goal is developing a manageable amount of work that looks inviting, not frightening.  Often times I find that athletes finish the week’s work before the weekend which allows them an extra moment to rest, spend time with those they love, play catch up somewhere else and/or do something fun. 

This of course is in stark contrast to always playing catch up and beating yourself up for not completing the work.

In a general sense the idea is to, at least on paper, under promise and then, performance wise, over deliver!  

Most folks get this backward and fill up every single moment of their day and then spend their days running around like a chicken with their head cut off.  

If you have ever spent a day in the life of a stay and home, business developing, happily married man, woman or pangender being, you know that things will arise and pull you away from the task at hand.  When that happens, getting back on track is easier if your plan was simple to start.      

Keep your programming simple!  Keep it short!  Keep it manageable!

Along the way pat yourself on the back for getting it done.  Doing so will make you feel better about yourself and you’ll be excited to train – instead of treating training like work, which none of us want to do.