Training in Cycles March 2025

If you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness level over time the best way to do that is through cyclical training.  I remember when I started training for my first half ironman and I thought how am I going to complete this 70.3-mile race?  Fortunately, as I found out, the human body has an incredible ability to adapt to almost any situation it finds itself under.  This update will address how to maximize your training to achieve optimal results.  

The best way to achieve this is to train in cycles.  As you move through the cycles your body will be better able to adapt.  Two key equations about this cyclical training are 

STRESS + REST = PROGRESS  and  80% EASY/20% HARD.

This may seem counterintuitive, in that you get faster/better the more you take it easy.  The hard workouts (20%) stress your body and cause it to adapt,  and when you rest is when your body improves and adapts.  This is where the concept of cycles comes in to play.  There are three types of cycles to focus on a meso, a macro and a micro cycle.  

Usually training plans go year to year and the meso cycle is figuring out which achievements you want to accomplish and at what times during the year.  You don’t want to have top level races or goals occurring one right after the other.  You can’t always be at the top of your game week in and week out as it will likely lead to overtraining, injury and setbacks.  Thus, on the yearly basis you have times to train, times to peak, times to recover and this will allow you to do this over again throughout the year. 

The macro cycle focuses on smaller cycles within the yearly training plan.  Most people will focus on three- or four-week cycles.  What this means is that week 1 is easy, week 2 and/or 3 are harder and week 3 or 4 is the hardest.  Then you start over again with and easy week and increase training over the next cycle.  As you do this each week will be at a likely higher level than the previous cycle.  If you do not include rest in your cycles, you will lead to overtraining.  

The last cycle is the micro cycle.  This includes which days you train hard and which days to take it easy, as well has how you plan your daily workouts. For example, during a training day you want to have a warm up, hard training time and then a cooldown as an example.  During these micro-cycles you want to include some easy days or rest days where you don’t train at all.  Cross training can also be helpful for recovery days.  My favorite recovery actively now is playing pickleball for an hour or two.  

During all these cycles you want to focus most of your time (80%) in heart rate zone 1 or zone 2 training.  More on heart rate zones can be found in a previous update from February 2025.  The remaining 20% of the time in the cycles can be focused on hard training sessions, in heart rate zones 4 or 5.  Professional athletes use this concept of cyclical training to guide their training plans and are not always training at a high level all of the time.  It has been shown over time and across many disciplines that the 80/20 ratio is the best way to achieve your optimal fitness levels.  

We mentioned in a previous update that cardiovascular fitness was one of the two most modifiable factors to improve your quality of life and health span.  The other most modifiable risk factor for a long and healthy life that you can impact is your muscular fitness.  Believe it or not you begin to lose your muscle mass in your 40s and if you don’t address that you will become more debilitated by the time you are in your 60s.  So, what can you do to reduce your chances of becoming debilitated later in life?  Have a consistent emphasis on exercising your muscles on a regular basis.

The current recommendations are performing muscular exercises at least 2-3 times per week to slow the loss in muscle mass and strength that will inevitably occur.  These workouts are separate from your cardiovascular workouts, as I have found out.  If you run, bike, swim or do some other type of cardiovascular exercise, you are increasing the stamina of your muscles.  The intent of muscular fitness exercises is to increase both the strength and power of your muscles.  Stamina is the ability to perform a sustained activity for a longer period of time.  Strength is the ability to move a heavy weight and power is the speed at which you move a weight.  As an example, you may be able to push a 150-pound object (strength) across the floor but it may take you 20 minutes to go 10 feet .  On the other hand, you could push a similar 75-pound object across the floor in say 5-6 minutes (power) and lastly you could push a 30-pound weight across a floor for an hour (stamina).  Ideally you want to develop and maintain both power and strength with your muscular exercising.  This will enable you to continue to function at your optimum for a longer period regarding lifting and carrying and has implications in improved balance and overall fitness.  Think carrying groceries, lifting grandkids, moving furniture, hiking, etc.  

There are several ways to increase your muscular fitness.  Calisthenics are a good beginning as you can to them almost anywhere and anytime.  Examples of calisthenic exercises are abdominal exercises, pushups, planks, squats, lunges, chin-ups, etc.  Moving up the exercise ladder next would-be utilizing exercise bands, then a home weight set, attending exercise classes or going to a gym with exercise machines, or a installing a home gym.  Each of these may cost more and consume more of your time.  Core exercises, those which work your core muscles, would include leg presses, bench presses, curls, and extensions exercises.  There are numerous videos available to suit your needs and levels, so look around and find one that you would be able to perform consistently and safely.   

You want to perform 2-3 sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise 2-3 times per week.  After a few weeks you should notice increased tone, strength and power in your muscles.  The goal again is to maintain your strength and power as best you can once you are over 40.  Lastly make sure that you space your workouts during the week.  Doing these exercises two days in a row will not have as much impact as doing them a few days apart.  Your muscles grow and strengthen on your days off and during sleep, not during the workout itself, even though your muscles may feel sorest then.  If you want ,you can focus on different areas each day if you want to work out on a daily basis.  An example would be extension exercises for arms one day, then extension exercises for the legs next, then arm flexion exercises, then leg flexion exercises, then back and abdomen exercises as an example.  

You should focus on proper technique as performing these exercises incorrectly can lead to joint or muscle injuries.  Also don’t worry about bulking up your muscles with these recommendations as it takes a lot more time with fewer repetitions with higher weights to significantly increase your muscle mass.  I have been doing calisthenic exercises all my life and have not bulked up on my muscles, but I do have tone, strength and power while staying lean.  So what’s stopping you from improving your muscles and your life?  

What if I told you about a pill that improves your metabolism, reduces stress, improves sleep, reduces depression, improves immune system function, reduces blood pressure and improves overall energy?  You would want to take it daily every day, right?  

Well, there is not a pill that does this today, but exercise does this and more!  You don’t need a gym membership, a Peleton, or similar pricey equipment.  Exercise can be done at a low cost, can be done almost anywhere and anytime.  There are two types of exercise that are the base upon which to build everything else.  The two are cardiovascular exercises and strength exercises.  Read on to find out how to best optimize this opportunity to improve yourself!