Happy Friday!

Just as the seasons of the year change, our life has ebbs in flows. There are periods of hustle, periods of flow; seasons of very high motivation and will power and then seasons where we rely on habit. Then most of us also have training seasons, whether we know it or not.

Change of Training Seasons

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about how my training has changed lately – and how it changes nearly every single winter. I’ve talked about my training seasons changing before on the blog, and how I typically have four different cycles of training throughout the year. And every winter (well, actually late fall,) my focus shifts to dramatically less cardio/conditioning and much more heavy lifting. (Disclaimer, this is just my situation – I don’t think everyone should have this same cycle.)

I start increasing my weights, decreasing volume (a bit,) and adding another day of strength – but I also decrease conditioning and cardio lasting longer than 30 minutes. This is primarily because I train run in the spring, summer, and fall, and do so just as much because of the fun-level as the cardiovascular benefits.

I also gain a bit of weight – both knowingly and purposefully. Coincidentally, it’s usually between Halloween and New Year, but it’s not because of “the holiday weight gain,” rather, my change in training and of course – in eating! During this time, I maintain my weight, as I mentioned in my last post, on anywhere from 2,700-2,900 calories a day. In the summer, this is more around 2,400-2,500. And I am being 100% real and honest when I say I am absolutely ok with the weight gain. Not only does it help me push heavier weights in the gym, but it also puts lots of coals in my metabolism, giving it quite a long and generous “re-feed.”

My Winter Training Plan

As a trainer, I’ve always belonged to at least two gyms – one I train at and one I pay for. Up until September, I had access to my training gym, which is really like a private studio, unlike any gym I’ve ever worked at or worked out at before, and a TRX/spinning studio.

In September, I made the decision to drop to a sub where I taught spinning and TRX, only because I couldn’t justify fitting it into my schedule/workload. I taught two 60-minute classes a week, but in reality, each class takes up 2-3 hours of my week with drive, set up, tear down, and class-writing. So from September until mid-November, I’d only been working out at one gym. Then I joined Orange Theory Fitness a few weeks ago because I missed the group atmosphere, and it provided the once/week longer metabolic component I was looking for.

Then on Thanksgiving, I joined a new (globo)gym that opened up near my house, simply because of the amount and type of equipment (think sleds, kettlebells, bumper plates, deadlifting stations, etc.) With my toolbox filled to the brim, I worked together with my coach (yes, I too, have a coach, because as a coach myself, I know fully how important it is to have one!) to create a workout program with roughly this schedule:

Monday: Lift – light lifting or deadlift day

Tuesday: Lift – squat-focused day

WednesdayL OTF class and mobility

Thursday: Lift/pull-focused day

Friday: plyometric/ OR torso stability/hip stability

Saturday: ski and/or balance/coordination work

Sunday: OFF/mobility

I think that’ll work quite nicely right now!

How about you? Does your training shift with the seasons??