Introductory Information for T2 Members

Greetings Tribe Member! This is a message to welcome you to the group and provide some introductory information. As a member of The Lifetime Athlete App community, you receive an automatic membership in the Training Tribe. This features exclusive access to comprehensive year-round workout, nutrition, and lifestyle content…all at your fingertips. When you open the T2 section in the App, you’ll see the following programming content:

• A brief Welcome video from me.
• The Workouts of the Week (WOW!).
• The Tip of the Day.
• The Weekly Challenge.
• The Weekly MasterClass.
• Weekly content will be posted every Sunday evening in advance of the coming week of training and education. We start all our weeks on Mondays.
• The Workouts of the Week will be displayed in text, table, and video format and will include some pertinent and supporting information.
• The Tip of the Day provides daily advice on key considerations in health and fitness.
• The Weekly Challenge is a totally optional, results-oriented task for the week. Sometimes it is a lifestyle practice. Other times it’s a personal fitness test in a specific exercise mode we’re currently utilizing. And there will be some fun team-wide competitions as well.
• The weekly MasterClass will be a 10-20 minute educational experience that supports the week’s programming and the current Block’s content. We will explore topics in advanced training, nutrition, injury prevention, lifestyle and more. The MasterClass will be on-demand and you can watch it anytime during the week at your convenience.
• Training Tribe membership also includes The Lifetime Athlete Community. You can set your profile and information as a registered user, share photos and videos, and join in Q & A discussions in the Chat with Coach JZ and other members.

Annual Training Plan (ATP) for the Training Tribe

The annual training plan for T2 is based upon the rationale that the Lifetime Athlete will combine an area of athletic specialization with a generalized, well-rounded, complete level of athleticism. Thus, the Lifetime Athlete is a more athletic athlete. By using a block periodization model, and by cyclically emphasizing the 5 capacities of human performance, Tribe members can essentially hone their assets (strengths) to high levels while shoring up liabilities (weaknesses). This develops and maintains an athlete that can produce peak performance in his/her chosen sport, as well as express the qualities which provide more versatility and durability in athletics and LIFE. As a Tribe member, you’ll crush your primary goals but you’ll also wake up every day knowing that you can Kick Ass at just about anything that comes your way. That’s being Hard to Kill!

The 5 major capacities of human performance are as follows:

• Strength
• Speed
• Power
• Agility
• Endurance

All of these capacities are vitally important in every athletic, human beast…although to varying degrees depending upon sport, position, goals, body type, age, and other factors. We can further illustrate these capacities by providing some very simple definitions:

• Strength = Max Force
• Speed = Max Velocity
• Power = Force x Distance/Time (anaerobic and aerobic)
• Agility = Mobility + Stability + Reactivity + Fluidity
• Endurance = Fatigue Resistance (muscular and cardiorespiratory)

It’s important for every athlete to have a reasonable amount of proficiency in each capacity, and certainly high ability in one or several categories of specialization. That specific mix of desirable traits varies quite a bit from person to person, and it can even change over time within the same individual. You can dive a bit deeper into this topic in the video “Identifying and Leveraging Your Assets and Liabilities in Training.”  Also, you can use the Capacity Rating System (CRS) to rate your abilities in each of the 5 major capacities, and come up with an overall score.

We can also give consideration to the 5 types of training that produce those capacities:

• Strength (and hypertrophy): Resistance Training (RT) 
• Speed: Sprint Training (ST)
• Power: High Intensity Repetition Training (HIRT)
• Agility: Agility Training (AT)
• Endurance: Low Intensity Steady-state Training (LIST) 

Taking the concept of complete and individualized athleticism even a bit further, we almost don’t care how an athlete actually trains. What matters most is that they have good function in all those capacities, regardless of how they get there. Approaches to training are infinite, and many forms of exercise have scientifically proven primary and secondary benefits — as well as crossover effects — which different athletes respond to in varying degrees. So I can’t tell you that there is one and only one way to get and stay completely athletic…I can only tell you that I want you to achieve this state and that you should periodically assess your status. 

All of the above stated, wouldn’t it be nice to have a system that regularly covers all the bases in training so that you can rest assured you are not leaving out any important capacities? A system that lays it all out for you (the workouts, how to do them, and why you need them) and shows you how to modify the programming to make it fit best for your needs? 

That’s how we divide up the year with the T2 Annual Training Plan (ATP). I’ll explain the key parameters of the ATP briefly but the programming distributed to Tribe members provides detailed explanations and instructions for every step of the way.

• Block Periodization: We divide the year into 5 specific blocks with a primary emphasis on one performance capacity and a secondary focus to varying degrees on the other 4 areas of athleticism. Each block’s length and placement is strategic for a variety of reasons including the seasons and stimulus-response-adaptation models.
  • Sep-Nov: Endurance
  • Dec-Jan: Agility 
  • Feb-April: Strength
  • May-June: Power
  • July-August: Speed
• Monthly Breakdown: Each month within a block is unique to itself, with clear objectives and training modules.
  • Week 1: Introduction of month’s programming and identification of KPI’s (key performance indicators).
  • Week 2: Progression of Volume (modest Workload increase)
  • Week 3: Advancement of Intensity (significant Workload increase)
    • Test and Competition (optional and variable)
  • Week 4: Deload (train at slightly reduced overall Workload)
  • This monthly cycle can be represented as Implementation-Accumulation-Intensification-Realization of training and athletic capacity, with each week reflecting those terms, respectively.
• Weekly Perspective: Each week features a purpose-driven training split (the workouts you perform each day and precisely how you apply them to your own needs and goals). There are 2-6 workouts posted for every week. In the case of 2 workouts, the intention is to alternate them and repeat each one 3 times. For 6 workouts, there is a unique session for each day. On most weeks the schedule is laid out as it pertains to which workouts to perform on specific days, but this is optional secondary to your schedule. I also always recommend one recovery day each week in which you do some light, free-choice activity such as walking, mobility training, breathwork, and hot/cold exposure. The recovery day can be placed anywhere in the week that best fits your personal lifestyle requirements.
• Advice for Beginners: You’ll notice there isn’t a dedicated “beginner’s 6-week program,” or something like that. That’s because the program is scalable. If you are just getting started, simply reduce duration, frequency, volume, and intensity by 20-40% and build it up to the full level over a period of 1-2 months. As your Coach, I encourage you to connect with me anytime on the Chat to fine-tune the necessary adjustments which will make your journey in T2 most successful. The table below provides an arbitrary example a modification progression in the programming.

Examples of Workload Adjustments for Beginners

ATHLETIC LEVEL	% REDUCTION (in training)	DURATION (of session)	FREQUENCY (sessions per week)	VOLUME (no. sets/reps or total time)	INTENSITY (resistance or RPE)
Tribal Beast	0% reduction	60:00	6	20 sets 10 reps 60 minutes	100 lbs. 9/10
Intermediate	+/- 20% reduction	40-50:00	4-5	12-16 sets 8 reps 45 minutes	80 lbs. 7-8/10
Beginner	+/- 40% reduction	30-40:00	3-4	8-12 sets 6 reps 30 minutes	60 lbs. 6-7/10

Explanation of the Workload Adjustment Table: The table is set up to show some basic workload descriptors in the “Tribal Beast” row. This is the standard training level most Lifetime Athletes can achieve (although many workouts are expressed in ranges in the programming to allow you to fine tune your output). In Tribal Beast example, you do 6 workouts in a week. That’s the frequency column. The Volume column just gives an arbitrary example of total working sets in a hypothetical resistance or gym workout as well as a possible length of time for this session. A lot of our workouts will be about 20 sets and last about an hour. The Intensity column gives examples of effort such as weight (using 100 pounds here as a theoretical baseline) or Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). The Tribal Beast might be doing an RPE 9 in some exercises which is approximately 90% of maximum output. The Intermediate and Beginner rows provide suggestions of how you can reduce frequency, volume, and intensity in any given workout, and across the week, to meet your ability level. Depending on what you need, you simply train a little less often (filling in with more recovery work between sessions), do a few less sets with lower reps and lighter weight, and not for quite as long…but you still get the specific performance/longevity benefits of Tribe training. Again, I’m always happy to help you tweak the system for best results.

Each training block contains a weighted emphasis on the 5 capacities. Using an arbitrary number of 20, the major capacity emphasized is assigned a value of 9, and the others receive lower numbers in differing fashion. Consequently, the major feature of each block will receive almost half of all your training attention, which is quite significant. The breakdown is expressed in the order of strength (St), speed (Sp), power (Po), agility (Ag), and endurance (En). 

Training Block	Dec-Jan	Feb-April	May-June	July-August	Sep-Nov
Emphasis	Agility	Strength	Power	Speed	Endurance
St-Sp-Po-Ag-En	3-4-2-9-2	9-2-2-4-3	3-3-9-3-2	3-9-3-3-2	2-2-2-5-9

The charts below provide a visual representation of how each block “looks.”

The Sep-Nov block places a primary emphasis on the development of endurance while using the other capacities to keep you athletically enhanced. You’ll be a balanced, dynamic athlete with incredible fatigue resistance.

In this block we get into the gym and explore agility with dynamic drills and exercises. And we touch on quickness and resistance work a bit more to enhance your workouts.

The winter-spring block piles on the load and helps you to build strength and lean body mass. We keep you supple and fatigue resistant with a sprinkling of mixed training.

Power work allows you to use and express all your capacities, and we use some fun and creative approaches in our first of two summer blocks.

Speed kills…anyone who doesn’t have it! You’ll be a real killer with this training.

Here is a month-by-month breakdown of the training splits in the ATP. All programs are based on a 6-day training week with an active recovery or dedicated day off. The pattern of training indicates the number of days the content is trained. Content is described as the major capacity of emphasis or general conditioning (GC), which includes oscillating amounts of the other capacities.

MONTH	PATTERN	CONTENT	FOCUS	LOCATION
September	3/3	En-Ag/GC	Aerobic Base Development	out/in
October	4/2	En-Ag/GC	Movement Economy	out/in
November	4/2	En-Ag/GC	Movement Efficiency	out/in
December	4/2	Ag-Sp/GC	Multiplanar Movement Competency	all in
January	4/2	Ag-Sp/GC	Direction/Force Management	all in
February	3/3	St-Ag/GC	Push, Pull, Legs x 2	all in
March	3/3	St-Ag/GC	Upper, Lower, GC x 2	all in
April	3/3	St-Ag/GC	Full Body, GC x 3	all in
May	3/3	Po-Sp/GC	Energy Concentration	out/in
June	4/2	Po-Sp/GC	Explosiveness/Stamina	out/in
July	3/3	Sp/GC	Integrity/Acceleration	all out
August	4/2	Sp/GC	Elasticity/Max Speed	all out

The ATP utilizes the Seasonality of Peak Performance model, which flows through the year utilizing differing levels of sleep, intensity, volume, carbohydrate consumption, and caloric intake. This is an evolutionarily-consistent method which optimally aligns your training patterns with your ancestral and circadian biological rhythms. The nutrition and lifestyle support is included in the programming (in addition to the workouts) and are featured in the MasterClass meetings we have each week for our team. You can also listen to this podcast about seasonality if you would like additional information. Shown below is a graphic representation of seasonality.

Training terminology is another important aspect of our system. Creating a common language between athlete and coach is essential for greatest understanding and optimal results. Featured below is a list of terms in glossary fashion that I use with all my athletes. This isn’t the most comprehensive list and I often include other nomenclature in my conversations, but it provides a good representation of communication around training for peak performance.

Athletic Capacities: These are the traits, characteristics, or qualities that define human performance (strength, speed, power, agility, and endurance). These are present to varying degrees in every athlete, influenced by genetics, and drivers of training.

Strength: Maximum force…most clearly represented by 1RM, but also extrapolated from multiple repetitions.

Speed: Maximum velocity…in absolute (max sprint speed) and relative (speed at a given distance) terms.

Power: Force x Distance/Time (anaerobic and aerobic). Anaerobic power is the product of speed and strength and often described as the area under the force-velocity curve. An example is a weighted sled push for time. Aerobic power is a representation of VO₂max and is characterized by best output possible at 5-7 minutes. Often considered synonymous with stamina.

Agility: Mobility + Stability + Reactivity + Fluidity…the epitome of athletic movement. The ability to own shape and position with the body and to execute movement artistically and effectively.

Endurance: Fatigue Resistance (muscular and cardiorespiratory) and all-day durability. Muscular endurance is the ability to produce high reps prior to failure and aerobic endurance quantifies the ability of the cardiorespiratory and muscular systems to deliver and utilize oxygen.

Training: Exercise performed with a purpose, according to a plan, and with emphasis on a desired outcome.

Resistance Training (RT): Develops strength and muscular hypertrophy using bodyweight, machines, free weights, etc.

Speed Training (ST): Sprinting or maximum velocity work requiring extended rest breaks to maintain true speed quality.

High Intensity Repetition Training (HIRT): Builds power by combining high intensity bouts (repetitions) with rest breaks or intervals.

Agility Training (AT): Targets agility and includes stretching, balance, multi-directional movements, etc. Comprised of mobility, stability, fluidity, and reactivity training.

Low Intensity Steady-state Training (LIST): Develops the aerobic base and cardiovascular health…”low, slow, cardio mojo.”

Warmup: Any activity or series of movements that prepares the athlete for safe and effective participation in the main portion of the training session. This often includes cueing/priming movements, drills, and progressive efforts. Usually advances from general to specific in relation to both sport and athlete.

Repetition (rep): The execution of a singular aspect in training, e.g. lifting a weight up and down one time constitutes on rep, as does running or swimming one lap (or whatever distance was utilized).

Set: A group of reps, i.e. if that weight was lifted up and down eight times and then a break was taken, that was 1 set of 8 reps, written as 1 x 8.

Repetition Maximum (RM): Whatever the number of lifts referenced, this is the maximum amount of weight an athlete can lift. For example, a 1-rep max represents absolute strength, and for training purposes it can be fractionated such as 80% of 1-RM. The same principle works with other numbers as in %10RM (If you can lift 100 pounds 10 times, but not 11, your 10RM=100#…then if you are lifting 75% of your 10RM you use 75#).

Basic Workout Shorthand: It is standard practice to write workout recommendations in short form for easy communication and record-keeping. Gym or resistance training is usually expressed as Sets x Reps @ Intensity w/rest periods. A lifter might do 5 x 5 @ 235 lbs. w/ 3-minute rests. In a locomotion-oriented workout, the shorthand is often Reps x Distance or Time @ pace or heart rate with rests in distance or time. A sprinter might do 10 x 30m @ max speed w/ unlimited rests, and a distance runner may perform 4 x 800m @ 90% MHR w/200m jog rests. There can be many more examples.

Straight Sets: When multiple sets of an exercise are used, and all sets of a given exercise are completed before moving on to the next exercise.

Circuits: When a group of exercises are performed, and the athlete does one set of each different exercise to complete the circuit before beginning again.

Cueing: The provision of verbal, visual, or tactile cues to guide a movement practice and enhance skill acquisition.

Priming: Facilitating the execution of an exercise with a specific preparatory movement.

Plyometrics: The use of the stretch-shortening cycle of muscle contraction in explosive movements such as box jumps.

Isometric: Muscle contraction in which there is no movement of the limbs involved.

Concentric: Muscle contraction in which the fibers shorten and the weight (if involved) usually moves upward against gravity.

Eccentric: Muscle contraction in which the fibers lengthen against load and the weight (optional) lowers with gravity.

Super-Slow Training (SST): Utilizing a very slow cadence of movement, such as 10 seconds up and 10 seconds down to maximize time under tension (TUT). Can also include isometric holds at different points in range.

Compound Movements: Full-body exercises which activate numerous muscles across multiple joints in a functional movement pattern.

Isolation Exercises: Those which selectively recruit and contract individual joints, muscles or related muscle groups.

Ladders: A progression of sets in which the reps ascend such as 4-6-8-10-12, or descend e.g. 15-10-5.

Pyramids: A progression of sets in which the reps both ascend and descend as in 1-2-3-4-3-2-1.

Supersets: Two exercises paired together with no rest break. Can work same movement or muscle, complementary, or antagonistic components.

Pre-Fatigue: The practice of fatiguing a muscle by performing an isolation movement prior to a compound movement. Also called pre-exhaustion.

Giant Sets: A grouping of exercises, usually 3-5, performed as one set with no rest between individual exercises.

Rest-Pause: The technique of performing one to several repetitions of a lift or exercise, then pausing for few seconds of brief rest, and continuing this cycle multiple times to completion of the set.

Clusters: The use of a controlled pattern of rest-pause in a set to enable additional reps with heavy weight, e.g. doing a set of 8 reps in clusters of two with 15 seconds rest between each group of 2 lifts.

Drop Sets: The practice of performing multiple sets with descending weights. Also called strip sets when using a barbell and stripping plates off the bar between sets. An example would be 5 sets of 8 reps of dumbbell curls with 40-35-30-25-20 pounds.

Movement Economy: Optimal fuel utilization as in miles per gallon. Emphasizes mechanics and the minimization of energy waste, loss, or leakage.

Movement Efficiency: Ideal power output similar to horsepower. Combines metabolic upregulation with structural integrity to enhance performance.

Movement Effectiveness: Combination of economy and efficiency creating best output and artistic, athletic motion.

Maximum Heart Rate (MHR): The self-explanatory upper limit in beats per minute of heart muscle contractions. Often used in calculating aerobic training ranges or zones based on percentages of this maximum.

Functional Threshold Power or Pace (FTP): Synonymous (for our purposes) with Lactate Threshold (LT – based on blood lactate levels) or Anaerobic Threshold (AT – utilizing respiratory gas exchange data), this is the highest power output or pace an athlete can sustain for roughly one hour. Approximately 77-86% MHR in most cases.

Aerobic Capacity: Similar to VO₂max, this represents the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can utilize per kg of bodyweight per minute. It correlates with all-out efforts over a 5-minute period. Approximately 87-95% MHR for most athletes.

Recovery Aerobic Training (RAT): The use of LIST with the explicit goal of enhancing recovery and circulatory exchange, with a lesser emphasis on making conditioning gains. HR should not exceed 55-70% of max in most cases..

Tempo: Steady-state training that uses Functional Threshold Power (FTP) as an effort level.

Cruise Intervals: The use of work bouts at FTP, broken up with rest breaks, which are usually actively moving in the same exercise mode at a lower intensity.

VO₂max Intervals: Training similar to above but with higher effort (at the aerobic capacity) during work bouts. Reps of 3-4 minutes have  been shown to most effective.

Speed Training: Repetitions performed with maximum or near-maximum speed as the focus. Usually conducted with generous rest breaks and HR is not monitored as this is secondary to velocity The reps are usually so brief that HR data is not as meaningful as with other types of intervals.

Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP): The utilization of increased speed/power output following a priming movement which excites the neuromuscular system. An example would be an athlete doing several explosive jumps before settling into the blocks for a sprint.

Dynamic Stretching: Mobility training that utilizes fluid, rhythmic patterns to enhance suppleness and movement quality.

Static Stretching: Holding a stretch position for a variable period of time to lengthen muscle and connective tissue, primarily at end ranges of motion.

Cooldown: Any practice of gentle movement including LIST, walking, and DMT to allow heart rate, body temperature, and level of arousal/activation to come down toward pre-training levels.

Crushing: The art of getting it (the workout) done, and in smashing fashion. In other words “You’ve been crushing it in your workouts“ is quite a recognition and indicates you are accomplishing the goals of your training.

Savage: The state of having a voracious appetite for training, i.e. being highly motivated and really getting after it. “She is the savage in our group“ identifies the team member who always brings the A-game and elevates everybody else as well.

Stepping Up: Taking one’s turn at a lift or rep, or assuming a leadership role in a session. “He really stepped up in practice“ is a great compliment.

Beast Mode: The use of controlled aggression to execute a lift, a rep, or a session. Can be used sparingly during brief, intense aspects of training, as long as it doesn’t turn into straining, which is counterproductive to optimal movement quality. “Wow, you went beast mode on that last circuit“ is heard in the gym from time to time.

Pain Cave: Although a commonly used term, this is really not a place that you want to find yourself very often. “I really went to the pain cave in that session“ suggests that you may have stayed in beast mode a bit too long. It’s fine to go all out here and there, but that shouldn’t be the major focus of every workout.

Hurt Locker: This is potentially where you will reside if you spend too much time in the pain cave. A workout that causes extensive breakdown in the body leads to an extended recovery time following the session (or even the within the latter part of an overcooked workout) that is filled with soreness, stiffness, and a general feeling of beat-down. “I’ve been in the hurt locker for 3 days“ is not what you want to say very often, if at all.

Shutting it Down: The use of wisdom and instinct to back off or discontinue an exercise or session when something doesn’t feel right, and one is most probably on the verge of illness or injury. When a coach is observing an athlete faltering in a movement with a wonky hamstring, he will quickly shout “shut it down!”

Phoning it In: Also known as sandbagging…this is the practice of bailing, wimping, or wussing out in the presence of challenge, but in the absence of any issue other than a temporary lapse in mental fortitude. “I’m pretty sure I phoned it in on that last rep“ is something we’ve all probably said at least once. We are all human.

Obviously, the information provided above does not include everything in the T2 system, but it gives you a decent idea of the structure. In reality, you don’t have to pay much attention to any of this (I was just giving you some of the “why”) because we’ll be laying out each week’s training plan in clear, documented format, with instructional videos, unlimited coaching via the private forum in our network, and the opportunity for live Q & A interaction during our weekly MasterClass meetings. 

Also, check out The Essential Home Training Center article, podcast, or video to help you set up your T2 center of excellence. Don’t worry if you don’t immediately have everything. You can modify as needed and build your valuable and necessary training sanctuary investment over time. For summer training, you’ll include some of your equipment with a 5-gallon bucket to assemble your mobile FittKitt!

As you can see this is a solid model of training that uses proven scientific principles to create an intelligent and effective program. It’s not doing the same thing all the time, which can get boring and turn your routine into a “RUTine” (lost the O!) which stalls the gains and becomes mentally stagnating. And it’s not the “let’s do everything completely different every day” approach that can often leave you confused and frustrated and never really going anywhere with your conditioning. 

Summing up the ATP, we’ll progress through the year creating balanced athleticism in a very scientific manner. We’ll keep the elements of play and joy alive in our training. And we’ll benefit from a supportive, connected community.