As I don’t do social media, here is a list of “twitter-sized” bites which help to drive main ideas home:
Tests are maximum efforts; training sessions should not be.
At 225 lbs of body weight, my foot collides with the ground while jogging such that my body must absorb near 500 lbs of force. Given that there are roughly 2000 steps to a mile, half of which is 1000, each mile of single-legged hops during a low-intensity jog causes about 500,000 lbs of force for each leg to absorb. A six mile jog causes 3,000,000 lbs of force on each leg. If you purchase the idea that strength can be forged through lighter, higher volume training, jogging seems to be quite a strength stimulus.
Your body adapts to what you expose it to; not what you wish to, or had planned to. Looking back over your journal will explain your lack of results. (Why do you not have a journal?)
Even the magic of biology must follow the laws of physics.
Patience is the muscle that you need to flex the hardest.
The drop from the lockout of the Kettlebell snatch should be directed straight down. You must get your body out of the way to facilitate the drop, then drive hard into the hinge position.
Walking and running are the only two human, bipedal locomotive gaits. You can run faster or slower, and call it, “sprinting” or “jogging”, respectively, but you are still in the same gait, hopping your body’s weight from one leg to the other.
You should feel as if you are being pulled forward from your navel while locomoting. Practice this erect and balanced posture while you walk or run.
Practice moving less air. This is the foundational theme of any effective breathing practice.
The arms drive the legs; when you want to run faster, pump your arms harder.
Tension is your strength. Mindfully create full-body tension when practicing strength.
Americans are the only culture who refer to physical training as ‘working out’. Viewing your training as practice will help you maintain the proper intensity and volume.
Give yourself permission to run slower; that is, to “jog”.
Use only your diaphragm and nose to breathe, all day, every day, and during all activity.
Run for stamina, not for performance. Running performance—your speed—will soon enough follow. Do not let the gentleness and low speed of jogging cloud your judgement and cause you run harder. There is a time for speed work, and that time is not now.
Training is an intelligently scripted plan that builds on itself one session at a time, resulting in predictable change. Exercise is a haphazard movement schedule that raises the heart’s rate, increases sweating, and causes latent muscle soreness. The results of an exercise plan can not be predicted. Train for an event, test battery, or competition; exercise to support your healthy lifestyle.
Challenge yourself within and up to the edge of your ability, and accumulate volume. This is key to the training process.