2020 was a year we would all like to forget. There was a period of a few months where I had to figure out where the money was going to come from. My teaching position got cut and it didn’t look like I would be training anyone in the near future, or ever again. It was just so sudden to think that after all these years of training and traveling that it was all just going to end.

Right before the pandemic, I ordered an elitefts power rack so I could do the big three lifts (squat, bench press and deadlift) at home. (Have to give a shoutout to Matt Goodwin for all the help setting up my gym. He told me back in 2017 that he would guide me on equipment whenever I was ready and he certainly came through.) The powerlifting craze was underway and every kid with their gummy bears and candy needed the rack or platform for more than hour. Then, when the pandemic started, we didn’t know when gyms would open up, so me and my brother, James, started designing a full gym where we could lift together with all of the necessary equipment. It kept us sane during that unusual year. Here’s what I wrote about the gym back in 2020.

The gym was designed for me and my brother, there was never any intention of training anyone else down there. For us, it gave us a chance to lift to together while watching sports. We would never miss another game because we were at the gym. But, around February of 2020, Mr. Palumbo kept putting the idea of training his daughter, Olivia, in my basement. She had a couple of paid sessions left over from the gym, so, after a couple of months, she started coming over that summer. She would train in my basement for the entirety of her college career and a lot of core gym memories happened during that time. She’s the second longest tenured athlete I’ve trained and the first athlete to train with me from middle school throughout college. I always believed in developing a system of taking athletes from the youth level and building them up gradually to prepare them for high school and college and she gave me the opportunity to see it through. The training was fun because it was really the first time we had access to everything without having to worry about other people using the equipment we needed. She worked so hard and always brought a positive attitude to every session. It was great watching her develop into a multiple time all-conference selection and a member of the 100-hit club. I didn’t realize it at the time, but she got the ball rolling on this next chapter of my training career.

Shortly after, Juliana Carrara reached out and she’s the one that gave me the idea to do speed and agility work at nearby Owl Hollow Park. Just like with Olivia, she had a few paid sessions left over from the gym, so I wanted to give her the opportunity to use them. At that time, I figured we would just do a few sessions and then she would be back at college. I didn’t realize she would come back during breaks and the summer and would become the first college athlete I’d train until they graduated. She brought that same never give up attitude that she showed in the gym and also I got to see the pointing when we trained outside. Then you had our indoor sessions, which were actually a break for her since she got to work out in the air conditioning and were sandwiched between individual work in the morning and evening team practices. Getting the chance to train Juliana again also meant I’d still get my occasional texts from Mare Bear.

It meant a lot that both girls reached out to train with me again. I’ve always wanted to show my athletes that I do truly care about them and the advice and support extends outside of the sessions. I was a little taken aback when I found out someone tried to take them from me, even after it was established that they were both working with me, but I appreciated that they told me right away who it was and never gave the offer a thought.

Positive momentum was building and it continued over the summer when parents of kids I trained started reaching out and asking if I was going to do any training. James Johnson’s mom, Melanie, was the first parent of my youth group to reach out. Olivia was the only one I was training indoors at the time and I wasn’t too sure about having kids train in the basement because the equipment wasn’t all there. The stuff I had could really only be used with my older athletes. Based on the idea that came from Juliana, I offered up outdoor training and she said that was no problem. My solo sessions with James turned into group sessions because she was helping spread the word and would bring James’ friends from hockey to join. One of his friends Jordan, would join James when we eventually moved indoors and would do solo sessions, as well.

It was the first time I was getting cash for sessions and it really opened my eyes. I was just taking things day-by-day during this time because I didn’t know when it was going to end. But, ideas started floating in my head and this made the idea of training on my own more real because I saw that I could run the business the way I wanted to. Since I was getting 100% of the profits from my sessions, I could keep it where I trained a small group of athletes over the course of a week and give them the full attention needed to truly learn them and help them develop.

While I was training James, Gabe Pimenta reached out and I started working with his son, Gabe, again, as well as his younger daughter, Juliette. This was around the time little Gabe was becoming big Gabe, but, unfortunately, they moved two years later. Like I said in the last post, Gabe was just an awesome person to have in my corner because he always supported what I did. Right before he left, he played a role in helping my client base extend outside of people I trained at the gym. I’ll always be thankful for him.

The training would extend over the Outerbridge and into New Jersey with Derek and Ava. Again, this whole training business was done on the fly and I didn’t have anything to offer them on Staten Island because I wasn’t working with kids indoors yet and I wasn’t going to back them drive down here to use the park. The Fernandez family couldn’t have been more accommodating. The reached out right before the school year was starting and they had the perfect backyard to train in and actually had more equipment than I had. Both kids were making progress and I can’t say enough about how good that family was to me. They made the trip to New Jersey well worth it.

Now, I tried to do this post in the order that everyone returned. So, the only reason it took this long to get to Mike Deats is because he came back right around the winter time. I can’t tell the story of my training career without mentioning the Deats family. In addition to being the longest tenured athlete I’ve trained, his family with Samantha and Alex have been ultra supportive of me and his dad, Dennis, helped me build my gym out. These are people that have truly been with me since the start. I’m forever grateful for that and it’s always a pleasure seeing the whole family at the Pavilion for Mike’s Farrell games. During my time at Intoxx Fitness, Dennis always told me that if I ventured out on my own he would help me build anything I needed. I wound up reaching out during the spring of 2020, not realizing the gym he was helping me build would be the new home of Guthrie Training.

I hadn’t seen Mike for a few months after Dennis helped me out and when I finally did, I thought he had an older brother that he never told me about. One thing Mike did during 2020 was grow. Mike transformed from a kid I trained to a man I had to get ready for high school. He had that focus and buy-in that you see from the best and he was, and still is, determined to be the best hockey player he can be. Watching him grow from a youth player at the youngest level into a city champion and two-time varsity starter at Monsignor Farrell High School has been a pleasure. I’ve had those moments watching him play where I say to myself in my head, “this is why you got into training.” If I ever say anything that sounds smart in regards to hockey, it’s because Mike taught me about it during a session. He loves learning about the history of hockey and he’s known to drop these hockey gems of information about teams, players and equipment from almost 50 years ago in-between sets of pull-ups and deadlifts.

It was great having all of my athletes from my time at Intoxx Fitness reach out to me to continue their training with me. I try my best to give everybody my all and show them that I care about their successes inside and outside the weight room and for them to think of me when it came to their training, meant a hell of a lot. Intoxx wasn’t done giving me clients because Mike Giliotti, once again, came through and delivered me a stud in Alex Diaz. Mike does not play around when it comes to training, so for him to reach out and give me a potential client that inquired with him because he thought I was the best choice for them is something I still think about to this day.

All I knew was Alex was a baseball player interested in training. I had no idea I was getting a family that lived and breathed baseball and a kid that was willing to do whatever it took to get better. Out of everyone I trained, Alex made the quickest transformation I’ve ever seen. His dad, Carlos, in addition to being a great person was a former body builder, but there’s something in that Diaz blood that makes them different. I just remember Alex laying on the floor after the first workout, joking that the session was tough. I was shocked because I never plan to make any session grueling, especially the first one. What took place over the next five months was something I couldn’t even predict. I will preface this by saying Alex came to me three times per week because he was home since his school was still doing remote learning. After that first session, he absolutely took off by bringing this intense focus that very few have and making great strength and speed gains along the way. He never missed a session.

Our sessions were long and he would still ask if there was more when we were done. My favorite story we got hit with a big snow storm my block was a private neighborhood so we were really snowed in. I had to cancel training because I had to help my neighbors shovel and I thought it was a pretty easy choice to make. I had to spend an hour through text convincing Alex not to come. He told he would walk through the snow to make it, but I really couldn’t do the session because I had shovel out a bunch of my neighbors. I knew he was determined, but that conversation is one I’ll never forget. Right there I was getting a lesson about what separates the great from the average.

So much happened from March to December and I appreciate everyone that came back to me from the gym for what they did for me. They turned a hectic year where we saw things we never saw before, into a turning point in my life. I went from thinking training was done to we’ll see how long this can last to I think we got a business here. The next post, which will be the final one, will show how the reach of my training expanded to outside of the circle people I knew from Intoxx.

One thing I always believe to this day is that if you are involved in something, no matter how small that role is, you have a chance to do what you want to do. To win the game, you need to be in the game. With training, even when things weren’t looking great for me, I felt that I always had a chance to do what I wanted to do if I could put myself in the right situations.

I didn’t know what was going to happen when I made my first trip to Virginia. But, by making the trip, I met some great people and it opened me up to a whole world that I didn’t even know existed. Plus, when you’re around positive people who are good at what they do, you leave with a completely different mindset and it has a compounding effect.

Two months after that trip, I went from having no clients that were athletes to getting my first group of youth athletes. This group led to three kids sticking with me and, along the way, I’d pick up momentum and get clients during this four-year stretch that stuck with me for the next six-to-eight years.

John Errichello offered me the opportunity to train a youth hockey team called the Bayonne Rangers that were coached by Mike Smith. It was a group of seven and eight year olds that included Mike Deats, James Johnson and Smith’s son, Christian. It started off as a group of about six-to-seven kids per week, but, with any group of young kids trying a training program, the numbers dwindled down after a couple of months. It was definitely a learning experience training a group of kids that young, but it led to me keeping Mike, James and Christian as long-term clients. Throughout my 10 years, Mike Deats is actually the client that’s been with me the longest. I’ll have more on him in the next post.

Mike Smith was helpful as I was getting started because he was a parent that saw the importance of strength training and would spread the word that parents should send their kids to me, which was huge. James’ parents, Melanie and James, were also very helpful and would send me some of James’ friends to come and tag along. All of a sudden, every time you saw me in the gym, I was with a group of kids and was getting known as someone who offers youth training.

As I was working with them, I started my work with the Palumbo family. Robert Palumbo, who was my assistant principal, sent his son Christian, a hockey and baseball player at St. Joseph by the Sea, to me. Christian worked hard and could make the lighter sessions look intense because of how much he sweat. He was great because he was always the first session I’d have right after school. I’m already tired from school and session will dictate the rest of my day and he made the time fly by. He wouldn’t be the only family member I trained as his younger sister, Olivia, signed up a year later. She’s been with me for seven years, which makes her the second longest tenured athlete I’ve trained. Olivia and Christian were just two athletes that were all go for the entire session. I had to force them to take breaks. She was another determined athlete who would come to sessions in full uniform right after games to get her work in. The only thing that I’ve seen stop her in seven years was a polish sandwich. I’ll have more on her in my next post because she was one of the main reasons behind the training at the home gym getting started.

Another valuable member of the team who would join Olivia for some of my best group sessions and soon became the first college athlete I trained was Juliana Carrara. Three things I always think about with her are her finger pointing, dry sense of humor and mental toughness. The story I still think about to this day is the one I posted on Instagram a little more than a month ago. She had a two-hour plus drive back and forth to set up for college, but was feeling very sick. She self-diagnosed herself with the “plague” and texted me at 3 p.m. that she would be unable to make the session. She never cancels, so it was never a problem, but then, about 90 minutes later, I got a text that she would be there for the session. When you’re dealing with kids like that the training part is easy.

The high school training would continue to pick up with the additions of Ethan Bloom and Mike Stumpf. The one of the highest compliments I could give anyone I trained is they made the job fun and that was the case with Ethan, the baby goat. He was a lacrosse player at Tottenville and kept me up to date on all the lingo the kids were using. Training wise, I’m most proud of how he took things to the next level in college. He set a goal for himself and just got after it hard on his own and you can’t teach that. He came back for some training over the summer when he was in college, but the job was easy because he was doing so much on his own. Mike was another one who just brought the intensity every session. He was getting ready to go to Navy and already had a long day because he went to school at Xavier in the city and was on the swim team. We had to train later at night and you would never know how long his day was because of the way he attacked every session. Mike was a guy that made the most of every minute of every session. We had a goal to reach and a short amount of time to do it and we got it done because of the intensity and consistency he brought.

Towards the end of this stretch, the youth training picked up a nice boost from some good people at the gym. Gabe Pimenta sent over his son “Little Gabe”, who’s definitely not little anymore. It took a while to get Little Gabe to talk to me, but he came to work, just like his dad did every day in the gym. Big Gabe was always an advocate for my training and it really meant a lot to me when he trusted me to train his son.

I got another confidence boost when the owner of Intoxx Fitness, Mike Giliotti, referred his niece and nephew, Ava and Derek Fernandez, to me. I hadn’t mentioned it yet, but Mike, like John, is someone I’ve known at the gym since I started training there in high school in 2002. It was always good talking to Mike about the new gym equipment he was getting and talking about the seminars I went to. He always made me feel valuable. If you’ve ever seen him, you’d know he’s someone who takes training seriously, so it was an honor that he sent family to me. Ava and Derek came from New Jersey to train with me and you couldn’t ask for two better kids to work with. There was none of that brother-sister bickering and they were nothing but respectful and hard working.

Looking back at the end of 2019, it was unbelievable how far things had come for me in the youth/high school training department. It went from a pipe dream to it becoming something I was starting to get known for.

ADULT TRAINING WAS STILL GOING

Even though youth and high school training was my focus, I did enjoy training adults. Working in schools, I’m around kids all day, so it is nice to talk to people my age every once in a while.

I wasn’t a big fan of training people late at night, but one guy who made it worthwhile over the summer was Joe Ursini. I was working at a camp during the day and was usually pretty tired by night time, but Joe made it worth it. Joe was a pretty laid back dude, but he didn’t mess around during his sessions. I only had him for the summer and some time over the winter, but he made every session count. He worked in the city during the day and couldn’t get to the gym until late at night, so you’d think the sessions would be pretty easy going and not trying to do too much. The effort he put in and the progress he made left me with another problem, it was hard falling asleep at night because I would be amped up at 10 p.m. He was the first person I got to bench press 225 pounds, which if you knew what I was benching during that time, you’d know it was a big deal to me. He’d come in to the session saying we should take it easy, then the weights would start flying.

Just as I was finishing with Joe, Brian MacIver, a friend of John, came along. Brian, who had a nickname we aren’t allowed to say here, was the first person to give me cash for sessions. That right there put him at the top of the list. But, in addition to being a good person, he was willing to do whatever I had planned. He would deadlift, push the sled, use the ropes or whatever other thing I had in mind. If I learned something new and needed someone to try it out, he would do it for me. Whenever I went to a seminar, he would joke and ask me when we were going to be doing that.

Then, a friend from school, Stephanie Tritto, now Micciulla, signed up for training to get ready for her wedding with the great Andrew. Stephanie helped get me through graduate school, so it was only right that I do something in return. Stephanie would jokingly break my chops, but she was another one who would do whatever I asked. She would push the prowler in all directions, trap bar deadlift and any other exercise that works, but you wouldn’t associate with leaning down for a wedding. She was always accommodating and would come right after school or later at night, if it worked better for me. I could do longer sessions with her because Andrew loved working out and the longer I was with her, the more work he could get done. The last adult client I’d have during my time was Cheryl Lafer, who signed up because of the recommendation from Camille Faccio. Like Camille, she made great progress, losing 40 pounds in six months.

PERSONAL GROWTH

During this time, I accomplished some big personal goals of mine. I’ve written about them on here previously, so I’ll just add the links so I don’t have to rehash it again. I know coaches have their thoughts on certifications, but one certification I always wanted to have was the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the NSCA. This was one that I saw that a lot of the coaches I followed had and one necessary if you ever wanted to work with pro or collegiate teams. I couldn’t take it when I started training because you were required to have a degree in an exercise related field. When I saw that they switched the requirement to just needing a bachelor’s degree, I jumped on the opportunity and passed the test in 2017.

For a couple of years, Justin Kavanaugh offered to write a training program for me to follow. He always told me he would, but I felt bad asking him to do it. Finally, in 2017, I reached the point where I needed something new and wanted to see what his programming would do for me. It was a game-changer. It got me into the best shape I’ve ever been in, taught me a lot about programming and made me the strongest I’d ever been. The trend of me taking my training up a notch started because of this program. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of my time on his program.

I didn’t realize it at the end of 2019, but Ava and Derek were going to be a part of a core group of youth, high school and even collegiate athletes that took my training to the next level. They joined Mike Deats, James Johnson, Olivia, Juliana and Gabe in taking a career that I thought was finished to the next level.

In August of 2013, I was driving up to my dad’s house in Pennsylvania and it was a ride that took my life in a different direction. I get a lot of thinking done on long car rides and, on this one, I was contemplating what to do with my life. I was soaking in the last bits of summer before another high school football season was to begin, and I didn’t know how much more I had left in me. I wasn’t enjoying it like I used to.

At the time, the newspaper business was a six-to-seven day a week grind. That usually wasn’t a problem for me, but the business was changing. A big part of what made the grind fun was all of the friends I made along the way and they were gone. They either moved on to another field or company or were let go. The new people that came in were cool, but the total number of people in the building was much smaller than when I started.

I was 27 and quickly went from one of the youngest guys in the office to one of the most tenured. It was a reality check. The hours will increase, but the pay won’t. In newspapers, you’re just a number. What people don’t understand is whether you work hard or not, if you’re next on the list to go, you’re gone. You can’t outwork your way from being laid off because they just want to find someone cheaper. I was even looking outside of my paper and seeing huge names in the industry losing their jobs.

Reality was settling in and the thought that kept running through my head during this car ride was what was going to do with the rest of my life. I needed to figure out something before it was too late. It was a hard decision, but, after seeing what was going on around me, I was able to come to terms with it. When I was growing up, there were only two jobs I ever considered: working in sports media and being a special education teacher. Now that I realized sports writing could come crashing down at any moment, I needed to pivot. I had to figure out a way to get into the school system and fortunately I was able to.

Then, after I crossed that bridge, the thought of getting into training came into my mind. Around 2010, when the internet started getting bigger, I needed to make a change in my life and started looking up sites about training. Specifically, I focused on training for sports and how to get leaner. I was looking around trying to find the best coaches online. These things weren’t easily accessible when I was growing up, so I thought I stumbled on a gold mine every time I found an interesting article or program. I learned about fasting and thought I found the ultimate diet cheat code. I’d try to share this information with people, but nobody cared.

I figured that since I liked reading and learning about training so much, I should try to pursue it. I had no idea how to get into becoming a trainer and didn’t even know it was possible. It’s crazy looking back at it now, but I thought there was this huge barrier to entry. By the end of my car ride, I decided I was going to dive deeper into it.

The next week, I went into my gym and decided to ask John Errichello if it was possible. John ran the training business at the gym, and I’ve known John since I was in high school. John was the first person I met when I walked into Dolphin Fitness, which is now Intoxx Fitness, in 2002. My mom wanted to find a trainer to help me get stronger for baseball and he set me up with Frank Tripodi.

I look back at my time with Frank and it’s one of the things that led to me wanting to work with youth and high school athletes. He didn’t give me this crazy program, but emphasized the basics that still apply today. We did full body workouts to hit everything, focused on getting strong legs and told me how cardio could play a role in helping my strength training. He was also a big advocate for stretching and always said, “Charl, make sure you stretch so you aren’t walking around all stiff like these guys.” Just by doing the basics that Frank stressed to me I noticed an improvement in how I played.

Now, back to bringing up training to John. I think I’ve seen John mad once in my life, but I was still nervous to ask him about training because I didn’t want to come off as disrespectful. I wasn’t in the best of shape at the time and really didn’t know much about training outside of the things I read online. John is just a genuinely nice person and has always been good to my family so I knew he wouldn’t steer me wrong.

While most people would try to shut you down, John was helpful and told me I could become a trainer and that I’d actually be good at it. John said he would help me get in, I just needed to get certified. He said a good certification to start off with would be through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). He would help me with the studying along the way and, at the gym, took time to go over and answer any questions I had about training people.

I wound up studying the textbook every night when I got home from work. I’d get home around 1-to-2 a.m. and would read for about an hour or two each night. Outside of weekends, I didn’t have to get up early, so it wasn’t a problem. I was used to going to bed when the sun came out anyway.

The work paid off and I passed my training exam. On February 7, 2014, I was officially a certified trainer. I had no idea what the future would hold.

If I was ever to put together one of those training montage videos, it would almost exclusively come from what I do over the summer.

My best training of the year always takes place over the summer. School is out, the weather is amazing and my schedule opens up a bit, which allows me to train with the frequency I want to. I also have all of the important factors outside of training (sleep, stress, nutrition, recovery) in check, which allows me to bring the intensity I want to every session.

The summer sessions have become the “Summer Sprint” because of the high amount of sessions I get in and the progress I’m able to make in a short period of time. The idea of really ramping up the amount of times I train over the summer happened back in 2017, when Justin Kavanaugh wrote up the SBOAT program for me.

SBOAT broke some of the rules I learned about training. I was taught you couldn’t train too much to avoid overtraining and you couldn’t train the same body part on back-to-back days. Kav basically showed me that most of what you read is wrong, it takes a lot more to overtrain than you think, and you’re capable of a lot more than you think. Click here to read more about that program.

I follow a program during the Summer Sprint, but I also go a lot off of feel. Really, the only game plan I have is to get at least four lifts in per week. After that, the cardio, sprint sessions or extra lifts I go off of what I feel like doing in that particular day.

This isn’t something that could be followed for a long time. For me, four weeks seems to be the sweet spot. Because I have the time, I get into this kick where I always have to train and view any downtime as an opportunity to get some form of training in. The novelty starts to wear off after four weeks, and then the last few weeks before school I go into a more normal routine.

This is just something that works for me and I finally decided to document what I do over the summer. I go through a ramping up period that started in April this year. April and early May was about getting into a routine and picking up where I left off earlier in the year. Then, as the weather really starts getting nice around late May, I start kicking things up by increasing the amount I train each week and incorporating two lifts on Saturdays.

The Summer Sprint started on July 10 and ended on August 4, when I went to the Super Coach Conference in Virginia.

WEEK 1

I gave myself a week off after returning from vacation, so this would be my first week training in roughly two weeks. The plan was to train daily, so I’d be ready to increase the workload next week. For the lifts, I kept the weight conservative.

8 Sessions – 4 Lifting, 2 Sprinting, 2 Cardio

Monday, July 10: (194) Heavy Upper Body lift

Tuesday, July 11: (193.8) Speed – Tempo Runs, Lower Body lift

Wednesday, July 12: (193.6) Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes

Thursday, July 13: (191) Lower Body Lift

Friday, July 14: (194) Day Off

Saturday, July 15: (197.6) Running 8×100 yards, Lower Body Lift

Sunday, July 16: (194.6) Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes

WEEK 2

By Sunday, the itch I get every summer to ramp up the training was coming back. I knew I was ready to attack the summer program hard. I’ve heard people talk about doing cardio twice per day in the past and figured I’d give it a shot myself. I chose the elliptical for cardio because it doesn’t really beat me up like jogging does and would make it easier to try for this.

The twice per day cardio experiment ended on Friday. My quads were getting pretty toasted after doing the elliptical for two hours per day. I don’t really cruise on the elliptical. Since it counts strides taken, I always try to see how far above 10,000 strides I can get in the hour and usually aim for around 18,000 strides every 10 minutes. I was also increasing the resistance and incline each session. For one session, the elliptical isn’t too bad, but twice daily was rough.

15 Sessions – 9 Cardio, 6 Lifting

Monday, July 17: (194.4) 2 Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes each, Upper Body Lift, Lower Body Lift

Tuesday, July 18: (192.6) 2 Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes each, Upper Body Lift

Wednesday, July 19: (192.2) 2 Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes each

Thursday, July 20: (190.6) 2 Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes each, Upper Body Lift

Friday, July 21: (190.2) Cardio 60 minutes, Lower Body Lift

Saturday, July 22: (194) Upper Body Lift

Sunday, July 23: (198.2) Day Off

WEEK 3

For Monday and Tuesday, I split up my day by getting a lift at home and then going to the gym for cardio at night. On Saturday, I did a lower body sled session where I did five forward pushes, five duck walks, four lateral drags each side and four backwards hamstring walks. Each set is 20 yards long. Carbs are high for the whole week, but mostly coming from fruit.

8 Sessions – 5 Lifting, 3 Cardio

Monday, July 24: (197.4) Lower Body Lift, Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes

Tuesday, July 25: (190.4) Upper Body Lift, Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes

Wednesday, July 26: (188.8) Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes

Thursday, July 27: (190.4) Upper Body Lift

Friday, July 28: (192) Day Off

Saturday, July 29: (193.8) Lower Body Sled, Upper Body Lift

Sunday, July 30: (192.1) Day Off

WEEK 4

I’m trying to push through, but I can see that itch I had a few weeks ago is starting to fade. I was going to do one more week of the Summer Sprint, but realized it was best to cap it on Friday. Once I returned from the conference, I went with a more traditional lifting schedule.

10 Sessions – 6 Lifting, 4 Cardio

Monday, July 31: (191.3) Lower Body Lift, 2 Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes each

Tuesday, August 1: (189.6) 2 Upper Body Lifts, Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes

Wednesday, August 2: (188.6) Day Off

Thursday, August 3: (187) Lower Body Lift, Cardio – Elliptical 60 minutes, Lower Body Sled

Friday, August 4: (185.6) Upper Body Lift

TOTAL: 21 Lifting, 18 Cardio, 2 Sprinting

Due to some set backs, we are back in Phase 1 heading into April. I believe this can be applied to many different training goals, but I’m looking at this through the lens of weight loss and improving body composition.

When I’m starting one of these cycles, I do two things. First, I look back to what I’ve done in years past that’s worked. Then, I try to plan ahead and map things out. These are going to sync together.

Here’s how they go together: The goal of the first phase of a program is gradually build up the body’s tolerance to exercise so you can do more and better work down the road. Instead of trying to conquer your goal in one month, you want to earn daily and weekly wins by training consistently and doing what you need to do to set yourself up for future success.

I tend to over-stress the small details, especially early on, only to realize at the end of the program that it didn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter if I take it easy in the first week and don’t do that last set on an accessory exercise because I’m tired. All that matters is that I stack up the daily W’s by lifting consistently and listen to my body to build momentum. I don’t need to lose 10 pounds in the first month. The weight will come off if I follow the plan.

I go through the same thought process every year and wind up making the same mistake because I want things to go perfectly. What usually happens for me is it takes about two-to-three weeks for me to get to my regular numbers on my main lifts and then I’m ready to start really taking off.

This leads me to the next part of my thought process, which is planning ahead. I have to set myself up for June, then, after a short break, July and August, which are my hardest training months. July and August are where I’ll ramp up the intensity because I’m off of school. I give myself two body composition checkpoints, end of June and end of August.

That means the first month is about “building the foundation”. I’m going to make another post on this because I feel like the term is used by people and have no idea what it actually means. In my case, it means I have to make sure I ramp up properly for June because the training will be hard, but I’ll also still be training late because of work. With this in mind, I have to make sure I’m smart about this and not do too much too soon because then I’ll burn out in June, like I did last year.

Building the foundation for me is about slowly increasing the sets and reps for each exercise so my body adapts and my muscles, tendons and ligaments are prepared to handle the harder work that’s coming down the road. If I do this properly, my body will be able to better handle the summer blitz that’s coming.

As of right now, I’m down to 197 pounds on the nose and would like to get to just under 185 by the end of June. Right now, I’m not too focused on weight loss, but on getting my body right for May and June.

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Why are we starting Phase 1 in April, when it was suppose to start in January? Well, to recap, January started off great. I’m usually terrible in the winter months, but the first three weeks I was hitting good numbers and consistent. I appeared to be ahead of schedule, but the pace was too fast and I started realizing it wasn’t going to last.

The program I was running was great, but it’s more of a summer program for me than one I should be doing in the winter when I’m training late at night. So, I decided to that and am hoping to hop back on it in June. I got to the middle of the program where I had to do 10 sets of squats and deadlifts per week (six heavy sets, four repetition sets split over two days) and it just became too much to keep up with.

I got ahead of myself and paid the price. I wound up burning out, getting discouraged because I couldn’t keep the pace and February became a wash. I got sick in March and only started slowly getting back into a routine. Nagging injuries in the elbow, knee and shoulder told me I need to take a step back and slow things down.

One of my goals for this year is to write more. My goal is to post at least once per month. An easy way to keep me to it is to actually write about what I’m going to do with my own training this year. I came up with the idea last year, but didn’t follow through on the writing part. This post was in my head for a couple of months, so I figured the new year was a good time to finally get it typed up.

What I’m looking to do this year is really build off of how I trained last year. In order to fully understand that, first, I’m going to recap how last year went.

2022

The goal for 2022 was to actually enter the summer in-shape. Like I said in the post last year, I’ve had so much going on most of the year that my own training was never really a focus until the summer. My own training for the year would go: two-to-three months of good-to-decent training in the spring and fall, train six-days per week over the summer and the winter was on-and-off, at best.

I made the commitment in late February to be more consistent throughout the year and, for the most part, I was successful. 2022 was the most productive year of training I’ve ever had. In total, I logged 138 sessions, which was 36 more than I did the previous year. My strength also improved. I didn’t do any testing prior to started, but I trap-bar deadlifted 510 pounds for two reps, which was 10 pounds more than my previous one-rep-max on a straight bar. I did switch to a trap bar so I could lift heavy without using a mixed grip, but the Rogue TB 1 2.0 trap bar is so much tougher than a traditional trap bar. It’s just thick, low handles and feels like hell when you’re pushing weight. I also did the lift with one mat. Last year by best was 420 pounds for 10 reps, but off of two mats. I never attempted more than 440 pounds for three reps.

Physique wise, even though I didn’t reach the goal weight or body fat percentage I set out for, I was happy with where I ended up by the end of the summer. I finished the summer at 184.8 pounds, about two pounds lighter than I was at the same time last year, but looked better. The stomach looked tighter, the spare tire on the sides was less, the arms were bigger and the back was thicker and more pronounced. Last year I did a full-on sprint to lose 20 pounds in 39 days so the weight-gain rebound happened quicker. In 2022, I noticed it happened much slower and I looked better at higher weights than I did in previous years. Go figure, right? The “Before and After” photos are both from Encore Beach Club in Las Vegas because when it comes to how you look with your shirt off, that’s where it matters. I wore the same trunks, too. I wish the lighting was better there.

After vacation training was going well and I actually hit my 102nd workout, which was the amount I did in 2020, on August 15. That was awesome at the time, but the problem became I only trained 36 more times in the last three-and-a-half months, which is roughly nine sessions per month. Things slowed down around November. First I was feeling run down so took some time off, then had my birthday and was eating garbage. Two weeks after my birthday is Thanksgiving, so I went into cruise control and that’s never good for me. I tried to get back on the wagon in December, but sprained my pinky pretty bad to where I thought it was broken. I could barely move my pinky and now we are looking at a month where I was off track.

Add in that it’s the winter time and I started seeing where this was heading. The pinky is still swollen today, but I had to get back into my groove. I needed to turn things around or else this endless cycle of excuses and laziness will continue. Now let’s move forward.

2023

I’m not one of those “training is therapy” type of people who post on Instagram how they are releasing demons or whatever else they say online. But, I will tell you that there’s two versions of me. When I’m training and following my diet plan, I’m a way more productive person and much more positive. When I’m not training, each week feels like one continuously long day of getting nothing accomplished.

I saw what long-term consistency did for me last year and I want to build off of that. The goal is to reach 200 sessions for the year. This will ensure I’m training consistently throughout the year. I know there’s people out there who talk about moderation and not having to be on a plan all the time and, while I believe those are good rules to follow, they just don’t apply to me. I can’t freestyle it in the gym and train and eat without a plan. I need goals to reach and have to have something to accomplish each day in order for me to continue to push. I’ve tried the other way, but it never works.

I have the programs I’m going to run laid out for the next nine months. I’m going to finish Christian Thibaudeau’s “Get Jacked…Fast!” program, move on to his HSS-100 program then hit the SBOAT program over the summer that Justin Kavanaugh wrote for me in 2017. Fortunately, I didn’t wait until the ball dropped to start training again. I started working out consistently again in the middle of December and am starting the year in Week 4 of my program. My finger is still pretty swollen and I can’t fully bend it, but I could only take so much time off. I can still do all of the things I want in the gym, with some modifications.

I’ve thought about writing this post for a few months and was going to post it a couple of weeks ago. The reason I didn’t was because of the holiday season. While I have been training and eating well for the most part, there were too many family days filled with food to really start dieting the way I wanted to. My weight bounced around, but I’m starting the year at 201.6. This seems to be the weight I start most of these type of programs at, but, thanks to the work I did last year, I look much better at this weight than I did in previous years. A 24-hour fast will knock it down to around 197.

In terms of goals, they’re mostly physique related. The only strength goal I have is to get my bench press into the 300s. I’ve never had a great bench. Ever since I hit a 500-pound deadlift in 2017, I don’t really have any strength goals. Physique wise, I’d like to get to a weight and body-fat percentage where I have a six-pack and can lose the pouch that doesn’t want to leave me. I don’t know what exact weight that is, but I just want my body-fat percentage to be close to 10-to-12 percent without significant decreases in strength. I can’t give you an exact number, but you’ll know what it looks like when you see it.

Shooting for these physique goals allows me to do everything else I want to do better. When I’m at a lighter weight, I just feel so much better. That sweet spot is usually in the low 180s where I still have most of my strength and move much better. I’d like that to be my normal, every day weight and not something I have to shoot for every year. I need to get on top it now, because I’m only getting older.

On the nutrition side, I like to go no-carb when trying to drop weight quickly, but it’s easier to do in the summer time than during the school year. I’m going to carb-cycle and fit in one 24-hour fast per week, if possible. I’ve also been experimenting with more frequent meals, going with four-to-five meals per day, as opposed to my usual two-to-three and have felt much better.

I’ll be logging my food on MyFitness Pal as much as I can and will talk about what I’m doing nutrition wise, along with my eating plan during the monthly updates. This will make me post more and take you through my process that I go through during these programs.

Looking forward to bigger, more productive year.

The summer has always been the time where my best training takes place. It’s been the only time of the year where I have some down time and can really get after it. I’ve been able to make some good progress the past few summers.

Last year I was up against it, but still managed to lose 20 pounds in a little more than a month. I was happy with the progress, but left the summer with the same questions and thoughts that come into my mind at the end of every summer.

“Imagine if I had another month.”

“What progress could I have made if I came into the summer in better shape?”

“I’d love to see how things would play out if I had a long term plan to go along with this intensity.”

Training wise, the summer is a grind – in a good way. The frequency and intensity are through the roof. The only problem is the summer makes up two months of the year. That’s not enough to sustain any progress. So, what winds up happening is I go through this endless cycle of going from Point A to Point B. I say that I’ll try to maintain and keep things going, but life got in the way.

The past several years were tough. After summer, I was working two jobs, going to grad school at night and writing papers. That didn’t leave much time for training. After I graduated in May 2019, I had to try and secure a full-time teaching position. I worked each year, but with the pandemic, I found myself wondering where I’d be working in September the past three years. Because of all this, my own training got put to the side. I worked out, but the consistency wasn’t there and the intensity was certainly lacking.

The good news is I finally secured a full-time teaching position last September. This gave me stability and one less thing to worry about. After spending a couple of months getting acclimated, I started thinking about my own training. I thought about the conversation I always have with myself at the end of the summer and decided it’s time to take action.

Personally, I need a plan and goals to get into a training program. I can’t just wing it like other people. Of course, I make changes on the fly, but, for the most part, I need most of it mapped out.

That brings me to this post. There’s six months until the end of August and I want to go over what my plans are training wise.

This program is about body composition and increasing strength. I know they say you can’t get stronger while losing weight, but I’ve found that to be not true. There’s very few things I say with authority, but I’ve gone through this process to know that it isn’t true.

For me, my issue has always been losing weight. I’m one of those people who gain weight just by looking at a cookie and cakes. When I weighed myself this morning, I was 207 pounds with a body-fat percentage of 22% . I was out with friends and ate, so I’m going to fast today and that will bring me down to what my real starting weight is.

The weight I’d actually like to be at depends. It really depends on how I look. Personally, I’d like to be at 180-182 pound range by the end of school (June 28) and 175 pounds by the end of August. I feel pretty good and limber when I’m in the low to mid 180’s. I’m using the hand-held body-fat measurement device so I don’t know how accurate it is, but I’d like to be under 15% by June 28 and under 12% by the end of August. Even when I get pretty lean, I still have that little pouch at the bottom of my stomach and just want to get rid of that. So, whatever weight and percentage gets rid of that, I’m good.

Strength wise, my goals have changed. Once I hit a 500-pound deadlift in August of 2017, I haven’t been so concerned about my one-rep max. I’ve switched over to the Rogue TB-1 Trap Bar 2.0 and love it. I’ve been going for more higher-rep goals because I don’t like doing them, but feel good after doing them. My best from last year was 420×10 and I’d like to top that. I’ve never run a 40-yard dash in under five seconds and want to crack that barrier. For my upper body, I’d like to be able to get to 15 pull-ups and beat my previous bench press one-rep max of 275 pounds. I hit 275 in 2019 and haven’t attempted it since.

The program I’ll be running is the HSS-100 by Christian Thibaudeau. I love reading Christian’s work and found out about this program after talking to Justin Kavanaugh. I looked into it and started running it in 2020 and the splits work out perfectly for me during the school year. I’ll be lifting four days per week and modify it as I go along. There’s four phases and I add in his Chest Specialization phase in the second month. This gives me five phases of training, each one being four weeks long. I know this doesn’t add up to six months, but considerations need to be taken for seminar trips, possibly getting sick and weeks where work picks up.

Usually, when I’m trying to lose weight quickly I’ll go with a low-carb approach. However, since I’m starting this while the school year is still going on, I’ll need carbs. I’m going to try and slow cook things a bit by using carb cycling and giving myself one 24-hour fast per week.

This is my first time going through a five-six month plan and am looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.