Over the last 8-10 months I have dedicated myself to fitness and training. That sounds weird huh?

I mean that is my job and yes I always take my training, healthy lifestyle, and overall fitness seriously. What I found in this short time is that I can maximize my time and actually get much better workouts. My strength has increased tremendously, I have dropped about 4% body fat (over about 12 months), my overall energy levels have been very consistent, and my lack of illness has been almost superhuman. Oh yeah and my mom likes to brag that she did everything right when she was pregnant with me and THAT’S why I’m so healthy…

Here’s a quick timeline of how my workouts used to go:

In college I thought I was in great shape, my stamina was probably good but I ate like crap, drank too much, and relied on steady distance running when I was not in season. I lifted a lot but had no clue what I was doing.  I was fit by default because of playing basketball and soccer but my lean muscle composition could have been much better.

After college I continued to lift and did a lot of body part split routines. I did a ton of cardio as well. I ate pretty healthy because I was living at home. Yeah we already established that Mom is good to me!
I probably worked out 6 days a week and continued to play competitive soccer.

As I progressed in my personal training and strength coach profession I moved away from cardio and did a lot of lifting. I put on a lot of muscle but my overall conditioning and athleticism suffered. When I moved to Boston I began playing competitive basketball again, 1-2 times per week. This served as my conditioning and was much better for me than my typical cardio routines. I did a lot of interval bike workouts and sprints but they were not frequent enough because I was just lifting all the time.

In the last 8-10 months my schedule looks like this:
2-3 days per week of full body athletic based lifting (squats, pull ups, push ups, heavy core workouts, single leg training)
2 days per week of competitive basketball games (interval conditioning at it’s best)
1 day per week of conditioning (Prowler sprints, car pushes, sprints)
>
I do ZERO “cardio” training, I work out less, I eat more, and I’m officially in the best shape of my life. Here are the top 7 reasons why this happened…

1. I lift heavy
2. I perform interval conditioning instead of cardio
3. I give my body 2 days of recovery per week
4. I avoid starches, breads, pastas
5. I eat lean meat, vegetables, fruits, dairy, nuts and drink a TON of water
6. I get plenty of sleep
7. My training sessions are short (50 to 70 minutes long)

Take a look at your training style and try to revamp a few things in order to maximize your time, efforts, and your overall strength and health!

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