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(Continued from Part 1.)

Anaerobic (non-oxidative) Conditioning

In the last 20 years with the popularity of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), CrossFit™, Bootcamps, and similar approaches, the anaerobic system has prominently been featured center stage in the world of exercise. While certainly meriting training and attention, this trend has in my opinion pushed the needle a little too far that direction. The Anaerobic system (comprised of many subsystems likely beyond the scope of the current audience’s interest, but if not resources will be listed!) is responsible for rapidly creating cellular energy to fuel high octane tasks. Throwing a baseball, lifting a heavy weight, sprinting 50-to-400 meters, are all tasks that primarily lie within the anaerobic domain.

When training in the anaerobic domain, the key is to find methods with which one can exert maximal and near maximum effort safely. Overly complex and technical movements are not your best bet here, because the skill to perform sed task will likely succumb to fatigue before we get to an optimum systemic stimulus.

My favorite methods include:

• Hill Sprints (possibly the all-time number 1)
• Sled Drags and pushes. (Limitless options for very inexpensive homemade variations!)
• Burpee Intervals
• Air Bike/Rower Sprints/Intervals
• Sprints (Be mindful of First completing a thorough warm-up)

There are countless methods and tools available, and many when used properly can create an absolute specimen of a human. The question in my mind is the learning curve and potential for maximal output. The above methods are simple, effective, and relatively safe. If I was working with someone who just wanted to be competent across the fitness domains and didn’t need excessive novelty in training, this is where I’d invest my time.

When it comes to the dose of anaerobic training again we have a massive window of variability depending on individual needs.

Some considerations would be:

• Aerobic fitness: If this is low, build it first, maybe adding in a single session of higher intensity work every other week
• Age: Anaerobic work is brutally taxing to recover from, the more an athlete ages the less I need them pushing into the red.
• Goals, at the time: Think of fitness like a DJ’s sound mixing table. The adjustment knobs can never ALL be at maximal, nor should all be at the bottom. We never want a knob (a specific fitness attribute) to be at zero, but there will be an ebb and flow depending on what is a current focal point, if an area is deemed higher priority (for example a lifelong runner may want to prioritize strength training in order to achieve a more balanced overall fitness profile). More on this in the “Putting it all together section.”

Again as a flexible rule 1-2 sessions per week ONCE you have established a minimum of 2-3 months of aerobic build up would more than cover your bases in this regard. Even for a high level performer, I’d rarely advise more than 3 sessions per week of maximal anaerobic work, unless they were peaking for some kind of event.Continue reading“Physical Resilience for an Uncertain Future – Part 2, by A.D.”

Oftentimes, in the circles of the preparation-minded, the focus centers around guns, grub, and gear. Areas most certainly worthy of attention, but in my opinion, second place to the state of one’s health, fitness, and overall capital in the realm of physical resilience. An individual with the best-prepared resources in the realms of food, water, and security yet neglecting their fitness and health, whether consciously or not, is missing a key component of their preparation program.

My personal definition of fitness is an ability to perform any desired labor or leisure task at any time, with physical competence, and recover from that task in order to handle whatever comes next. Fitness is more than muscle bulk, six pack abdominal muscles, marathon times, and vanity: it is the currency of physical aptitude. Our levels of fitness determine the breadth of our gas tanks, the larger your tank, the more you can handle on every level. Emotional and mental stress as well as the obvious physical stress all drain on that same tank, and a well-rounded base of fitness will ensure that your most important piece of equipment, your body, is prepared just like all other essential considerations of your life.

The copious volume of information currently circulating regarding the fitness and wellness space can be mind numbing and nauseating. There is a program for every goal imaginable, as the purveyors of this information seek to spin, twist, and transform every insecurity into a marketable product. It invokes paralysis by analysis and frustration in even the savviest of consumers. How do you know where to start? How do I know if what I’m doing is working? How to I properly progress? What is the right thing for me to be doing at my level? These questions and endless more are hard to get straight answers for. There are some brilliant minds in the world of fitness out there, but many struggle to get their message to the masses if they don’t have a platform on social media or a network television show because their sound, logical, science-based approaches aren’t as sexy or catchy as the latest trending fad gracing the cover of magazines.

What I will seek to do here is layout some tested, vetted principles and tangible actions that can help those at any level optimize their individual fitness and health regimen. These are principles I have personally seen bring boundless fitness into the lives of clients, friends, family members and myself. At the heart of all this is the desire to identify the correct fit for the individual that will lead to a lifestyle modification rather than a time-restricted window in which one seeks to cram 10 pounds of fitness in a 5-pound bag, in a hugely unsustainable push. Our discussion will focus on the following areas, which together form the synergistic approach to build a fortified human.Continue reading“Physical Resilience for an Uncertain Future – Part 1, by A.D.”