[LCB]

I just finished week 10 of the 24 week plan, and have been following the 2 days of core, strength and rope pulling with near max weight.  The Core piece is a subset of the full routine in this phase.  In your notes I see you talk about being able to do any amount of L1 and L2 cardio, and I’m wondering if there is an analog with core with no weights.  Is there any research or anecdotal evidence that doing more days of the complete set of core exercises without weights is going to be detrimental come week 20 or 24?  Being in my early 50’s doing a set or two of body weight core 5-6 times a week keeps my back, shoulder, neck pain away better than yoga or stretching, and makes me feel solid throughout the week.

[Scott Johnston]

Great question:

I’ll sum it up with this statement- the best training is not the most training you can do but the least training it takes to get the best results. In other words, DON’T GET GREEDY.

From a training/performance trade-off standpoint, two strength/core sessions/wk will get you where you need to be and allow enough recovery to see progress.  Strength training, as with high-intensity training, will show diminishing returns as volume increases.  More is not usually better in these cases.  What is important is progress. If you are seeing progress with the current program, why change? Your body is responding positively to the training stimulus.

All that being said, if you need this type of stimulus 5-6 x/wk to stay healthy……… go for it.  Because the bulk of core musculature is slow twitch it recovers quickly.

Scott

 

 

[LCB]

Thanks Scott – This is my first time through with this methodology, and being a person who needs to know something not just have faith in something I’ve had my moments of doubt and fear.  After 10 weeks I know the Aerobic Base phase helped me a ton.  I won’t get greedy and will stay the course in the Max Strength and ME phases, and will see if I perform well in Denali.

The other thing I know, thanks to your vault classic Podcast with Phil Mafatone, is my diet was killing me.  Following his diet plan has been a game changer on my weight, recovery, performance, mental state, and sleep.  Can’t say enough how much this has improved my quality of life in literally 2 weeks.

Thanks for you and your team’s work!

 

Lindsay

[Author]

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