10 Completely Unreasonable Rules for Training
This Is Not Evidence Based
I’ve spent the better part of the past few months interrogating my own ideas about training and programming. Critiquing periodization, writing about why we would critique periodization in the first place, filming videos explaining how I program…all of this provided me with a very interesting bit of insight into how I actually think about training.
But that’s just the big stuff.
Underlying all of the high-brow training principles…the Five Pillars, the Core Four, etc…exists a ton of smaller but no less consequential biases that inform the way I think about getting people fit.
Little quirks like this are fascinating, and we all have them. That’s part of the fun. Recognizing where you’re making decisions based on dogma and separating that from where you’re making decisions “just because.”
Will your rules be the same as mine? Absolutely not.
Am I qualified to tell you how to live your life? Not really.
Am I going to do it anyway, in a conveniently numbered list? Yes.
Behold. My completely unreasonable rules for fitness.
Everyone should be able to run 5 miles and do 5-10 pull-ups
Man, woman, child (maybe not child). I don’t care about your sport; I don’t care about how much you weigh. These are the rules.
Never use the elevator for fewer than 4 floors
Unless you’re carrying furniture, are injured, or are helping someone who needs it. You are an adult with functioning legs. Use them. This rule also holds for using escalators and moving sidewalks in airports…
Shorts should never touch your knees
I shouldn’t need to say anything else here.
You should sprint until you’re too old to sprint
And “too old” is much, much older than you think. Speed and power are some of the first things to “go” when you stop using them. So don’t stop using them.
Every training program needs one exercise chosen purely because it makes you look better naked.
It feels good to look good. “Functional” isn’t required. Do curls. Chase a pump. Enjoy the ego boost that comes from the sleeves fitting just a bit tighter.
If you need six pieces of tech to go for a run, you’ve forgotten how to run
Watch optional. Chest strap unnecessary. Leave the phone. Turn off Strava. Shoes are probably good to leave on.
Never decline a physical adventure because it conflicts with your training
If a friend asks you to go hiking on a Saturday but you can’t because Friday is a leg day, you’re missing the whole purpose of why we’re doing any of this in the first place. A program that requires life to cooperate with it is a bad program.
You should do one physical thing each year that you’re genuinely unsure you can finish
A century (100-mile bike ride). Marathon. Huge hike. Open-water swim. Whatever scares you a little. Preparation is encouraged; certainty is not.
No child under 12 should know what “Zone 2” means
We have plenty of opportunity in our older years to make life (and training) miserable. Leave the kids alone. They should know tag, bikes, swimming, climbing trees, wrestling, races, and whatever game they just invented. In fact, more of us probably should.
Training should make your life bigger, not smaller
If training makes you afraid of missing workouts, afraid of unfamiliar movements, afraid of eating the wrong food, afraid of losing your gains, afraid of running because it might interfere with hypertrophy, or unwilling to play because you trained legs yesterday, you’ve misunderstood the assignment.
So there you have it. Ten completely unreasonable-but-nonetheless-useful rules that I have for living a fit and healthy life.
I don’t expect you to agree with all of them. In fact, you may not agree with any of them. And that’s completely fine! Share your own. The stranger and more specific, the better.