The Busy Well-Rounded Athlete
I’ve been searching for a routine that satisfies most if not all aspects of longevity because of my own problematic experiences. I’ve trained in strength training and failed a fireman test. I did beat every other female and about half the males in North Dakota - BUT - I greatly lacked in my explosive and long-endurance energy muscle fibers. Being strong did make up for lost sprinting time, but it wasn’t enough. Yeah, I’m not a fireman now and don’t plan to be, but I do plan to have the best possible life as long as possible without it ending because of not being able to reach the medicine on the top shelf or falling too far away from a phone to call for help.
Like my past self, if you only train for strength or muscle size, you’re going to lack in cardio-respiratory health and explosive muscle fibers which allow for fast movement and are also important in longevity. If you only train for long-form endurance, you’ll lack strength in the areas of your body you’re not utilizing to do this long-form endurance.
For example, a runner will lack upper body strength in their bones and connective tissue. Grip strength is directly related to longevity. As we age, falling tends to become a higher and higher risk for end-of-life accidents or illnesses. Being able to grip or catch yourself from falling and injuring your spine, head or hip will mitigate this risk. Strength coaches will even use a Grip Strength Measurement Meter to assess their athletes’ strength or fatigue before beginning their training day in order to avoid over or under-training.
Dr. Andrew Huberman’s most recent podcast episode outlines a protocol specifically for longevity which also satisfies strength, hypertrophy, and fast and slow-twitch muscle fibers. It looks a little something like this:
Sunday: Zone 2 Cardiovascular work (while doing this zone, you can hold a conversation but you’d rather not because it’s kinda uncomfortable)
60-75 minutes
Nasal breathing only
Jog, bike, row, jump rope, sled, hike
If you have minimal equipment and can’t run long distances 🙋🏻♀️ - A 2-3 hour hike will be your go-to. If hiking is noneventful in your area or if you’d like to save some time, get yourself a weighted vest or put some heavy items in a backpack. This cuts that 2-3 hours down significantly when choosing the right weight. Anywhere from 10-50lbs will do fine. A full backpack works as well. Adding weight to your hike with a friend will also make things more equal in terms of effort if they are less active. This allows both your and your friend to get in the work that’s right for you and enjoy eachothers’s company at the same time.
Push yourself just past comfortable
Monday: Leg Training (Quads, Hams, Calves)
10-minute warmup
50-60minutes of hard work (struggling on the last few reps or going to failure)
Anything past 60 minutes could affect your recovery, keep things as close to 60 minutes as possible.
2 exercises per muscle group: 1 that contracts the muscle as it lengthens and another that reaches peak contraction as the muscle hits its shortest range.
For example, leg extensions & Hack squats
In between sets, bring the HR down as much as possible with 2 deep nasal inhales and 1 long mouth exhale.
5 minutes of down-regulation breathing for the cool down.
Tuesday: Recovery, Heat & Cold Exposure
5 Rounds of Heat/cold
Heat for 15-20-minutes (hot bath works)
Cold for 5-minutes *45-50 degrees. (cold enough that you’d like to get out but not so cold that you go into shock or injure yourself) - Cold shower works fine.
Walking most if not all days is never a bad idea. Getting in some more Zone 2 here would be fine since as humans, we need a lot of this.
Wednesday: Torso & Neck (Push & Pull)
10-minute warmup
5-60 minute intense workout
Neck training is essential here.
Any push-pull program will do fine here. If you’re trying to save time, a push followed by a pull will be more time efficient.
Exercise selection should be choosing a movement that gives you a stretch, like DB incline press, at the beginning of the movement, and another that gives you a contraction as the muscle is at its shortest, like cable cross-overs.
In between sets, bring the HR down as much as possible with 2 deep nasal inhales and 1 long mouth exhales.
5 minutes of down-regulation breathing for the cool down.
Thursday: 75-80% Max Heart Rate - Cardiovascular Training
5-10-minute warmup: Hike, Jog, etc. Really get a good sweat going - a sauna or hot bath can be used to aid in the warmup.
2-6minutes of hard work (lower than max) - Rest the same amount of time worked - Repeat as much as you can 1-8x - Preferably for a total of about 35 minutes
Sled push, KB Circuit, Sprints, Bike, Rower, Could be burpees, Jump rope or Jumping jacks, or even running/walking fast upstairs
Breathing is hard to do through the nose, but you should try to get all breathing through the nose.
We want this to be much more difficult than zone 2 so if jumping rope is easy for you, you could try doing double-unders for 35 minutes instead of single-unders.
5 minutes of down-regulation breathing for the cool down.
Friday: High-Intensity Interval Training ( 2nd time we’re hitting legs indirectly)
Get up to that max or near max heart rate
95% max is safest for those that don’t know how to sprint or do their choice of exercise, with PERFECT form
20-30s. ON with 10s. OFF - Ideally 4-8 rounds total but one is fine.
Assault bike, airdyne bike, rower, skier, sprint to jog, sprint uphill, Burpees for about 90s., On a track - run the straight & walk the corners
Get to the point where you can’t increase speed anymore
Be careful with sprints. You could get pelvic pain or sciatica
5 minutes of down-regulation breathing for the cool down.
Saturday: Arms & Calves & Neck (2nd time we’re hitting torso indirectly)
10-minute warmup
50-60-minutes work
Utilize your Monday calf work and your Wednesday Neck work here
Dips and chin-ups with different grips would be great to add here such as wide and narrow, retracted or protracted
In between sets, bring the HR down as much as possible with 2 deep nasal inhales and 1 long mouth exhales.
5 minutes of down-regulation breathing for the cool down.
Of course, it’s no good to do the same routine all the time so feel free to adjust the rep scheme from strength to hypertrophy. This would look something like 3-8 reps for 4 weeks at close to maximal effort and then 8-25 reps at close to maximal effort. As you can see, since the reps are still close to maximal effort from 3-25, you’ll need to greatly adjust the weights or exercises you use each month. This will allow for strength adaptions as well as muscle gain during your hypertrophy months.
For sets, if you’re doing low reps or you’re in a strength phase of 3-8 reps, you’ll need to increase total volume by doing 4-6 sets. For the months you’re doing 8+ reps, 3-4 sets should be sufficient.
If you miss a day, it’s pretty simple to shift the rest of the training days over one. Or you can combine a few. Any deliberate heat or cold exposure will be beneficial. Be sure to check out when to use both, but as long as they’re well before training, you should be fine. And of course, allow enough rest between leg days and torso days when combining days to get a sufficient amount of recovery.
Minimalist Training Strategy & Benefits
If you’re still worried about the gains being made during a program such as the one outlined above, I encourage you to check out Jeff Nippard’s recent video on Minimalist Training. Receiving 64% of maximum gains in strength & hypertrophy is as simple as doing 1-4 sets per week per muscle group. 84% can be achieved with as little as 5-9 sets. ✅✅
Doing a lot less in terms of volume means you’ll need to make up for lost time with intensity, sound familiar ☝🏻☝🏻? Failure should be hit or in close proximity often.
As far as health and wellness is concerned, just 30-60 minutes of lifting per week can significantly reduce your risk of all-cause mortality, Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Diabetes. Let’s put another check on this protocol. ✅
Maintenance in gains can be achieved with as little as 1/9th the effort you did at baseline.
Summary of Minimalist Training - Time Reduction Strategy
Push yourself harder than usual since you’re doing much less volume. Less volume means more intensity.
Drop sets can be used to increase training volume while decreasing training time.
Supersets that utilize different muscle groups will allow for a shorter training session. For example, hitting a set of Nordics before doing lat pulldowns. Or Hack squats with presses. Or bench with rows!
Gradually decrease your rest time by 15s. each week until you get to 1 minute of rest between sets to reduce training time.
Warmup up dynamic movements for 3-5 minutes. Choose exercises that need fewer warmup sets. Instead of Squats, maybe try leg presses with 2 warmup sets.
I hope this helps.
Both Andrew Huberman’s protocol and Jeff Nippard’s minimalist advice have made me feel a lot more reassured about my training program. No more guessing if enough is enough. No more guessing if I’m hitting all the vital points in my health. I sure hope this breakdown has helped you, as it has me. Shoot me an email if you have any questions or concerns about this topic. I’d love to help you understand your body a little more.
