There are lots of orange leaves, it’s cold in the morning, and today’s sunset is officially 6:17pm in Sterling, Virginia. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s fall – autumn if you want to be British about it. 

 

As the seasons change, so does our training at Beyond Strength. We spend each season of the year focusing on different physical abilities. That’s how we build well-rounded bodies with strength and endurance. The fall is our time to focus on the strength part of that combo. And it should be yours, too.

 

Let’s have a nice, warm fireside chat about why.

 

 

Training Should Have a Seasonal Rhythm

How about a little more discussion about the seasonal focus I touched on in the intro?

 

Folks with the best health outcomes, quality of life, and the ability to take on any challenge have a solid blend of strength and endurance. Strength makes them more resilient and, to be honest, more useful. Endurance allows them to use that strength repeatedly over time. Each of those abilities takes a certain amount of focused training volume to develop. Then, once improved, it is reduced to more of a maintenance training volume while another quality gets the focus.

 

Training this way continually develops and improves your fitness without burning you out on one type of training. The periodic changes create a sense of novelty that is psychologically refreshing. And the body doesn’t get overwhelmed with one type of training.

The seasonal approach allows us to make the most of both of those things while giving our body enough time to adapt and reap the benefits of 12 weeks focused on developing one ability while maintaining the others.

 

That’s how you get results and sustain them long-term.

 

Now that we understand that, let’s talk about why it makes sense to focus on strength during the fall and winter.

 

 

Why This is the Best Time of Year to Focus on Strength

There are a couple good reasons why this is the best time of year to focus on strength. We’ll recap them one by one.

 

It’s Dark as F*ck

Today’s sunset is at 6:17 p.m., but for the next couple of months, it will slowly creep earlier. That’s a whole lot of darkness. That darkness results in at least a couple of behavioral changes.

 

First, you’ll likely sleep more. That’s great for recovering from strength training and building muscle. 

 

Second, your activity level will likely decrease. The dark, and eventually the cold, drives most folks indoors most of the time during the fall and winter months. The decrease in activity level allows you to redirect the calories you would have expended toward recovery and muscle growth. 

 

More on those calories…

 

Fall Foods Build Muscle

We move less this time of year, but we also tend to eat more calorically dense foods like stews, roasts, chowders, and desserts. We could stress out about those excess calories, or we could use them to create stronger versions of ourselves. I’d like you to join us in choosing the latter.

 

Now this isn’t a call to gorge yourself. That’s not good. But it is to reinforce that those soups and stews will go to good use; that if you train hard enough you’ll use these foods to build muscle. Don’t go crazy with portion sizes, but don’t stress out either. Just eat sensibly and lift hard.

 

 

Our Current Training at Beyond Strength

Right now, we’re lifting four days per week and conditioning one day per week. Monday features some complexes (exercises strung together without stopping or putting the weight down), heavy deadlifting, single-leg work combined with power training, and a spicy dose of conditioning at the end.

 

Tuesday is a heavy upper-body workout that puts pressing exercises (bench presses, overhead presses) as the main dish that’s accompanied by upper-body pulling (rows, etc.), push-ups, and direct arm work as accouterments.

 

Wednesday is an endurance workout. We keep our heart rates relatively low while doing a mix of cardio, carries, and mobility training.

 

Thursday looks a lot like Monday but swap deadlifts for squats and single-leg squatting variations.

 

Friday looks a lot like Tuesday but the main lift is an upper-body pull (rowing, pull-ups, chin-ups, etc.).

 

We’ll follow this four-day-per-week lifting schedule through November, and then we’ll go back to three days per week of lifting while still maintaining the volume and intensity. That’ll keep us getting stronger and building muscle throughout the fall and early winter.

 

 

This Isn’t a License to Stop Moving!

If you’ve read up to this point and thought, “Great, I’m just going to lift and then plop on the couch for a three-month Murder She Wrote marathon,” please, please don’t do that. It turns out that Angela Lansbury ran experiments on puppies and kittens during the mid-1980s and we should all condemn her. That is a joke. Angela Lansbury was lovely.

 

I’m begging you not to do that because, well, your heart will eventually beg you not to do it, too. Still walk. Still do some conditioning. Just realize that we are riding the natural wave of the year and timing our heaviest strength training volume to that wave. Muscles aren’t worth much if your health takes a nosedive. So, while you might naturally might move less, don’t stop moving entirely. We’re just taking advantage of the extra calories and the extra sleep.

 

 

Pick Stuff Up and Put it Back Down

The training year has its rhythm. Different qualities get developed at different times. The fall and early winter is a great time to build strength and muscle because we’re eating more calorie-dense foods and getting more sleep. So, pick more stuff up and put it back down this fall. Better yet, come do it with us at Beyond Strength!

---

You might also like:

• YOU’RE NOT OLD, YOU’RE JUST ACTING LIKE ITBUILDING RESILIENCE: HOW MOBILITY TESTS ENHANCE YOUR STRENGTH TRAINING
• RELATIVE STRENGTH: WHAT IT IS, WHY WE TEST IT, AND HOW TO BUILD IT
• MEGAN GALATA: “CAN I ACTUALLY DO THIS?” FIRST WOMAN TO ACHIEVE BLACK AT BEYOND STRENGTH
• MINDSET FOR TRAINING WITH INJURIES OR LIMITATIONS
• MAKE YOUR HIPS AND BACK FEEL GREAT: WITH THESE MOBILITY EXERCISES
  
• LIFE BEYOND YOUR GYM GOALS
• THE MOST IMPORTANT FITNESS VARIABLES: CONSISTENCY AND CONTINUITY
• EUSTRESS TRAINING: HOW TO LIFT WEIGHTS AND MANAGE STRESS AT THE SAME TIME
• EXERCISES FOR BUILDING REAL-WORLD STRENGTH
• RUCKING: A GREAT TOOL FOR DEALING WITH DISCOMFORT
  
• VO2 MAX INTERVALS: INTENSE TRAINING THAT ISN’T STUPID
  
• WANT TO MAKE PROGRESS? PUT SOMETHING HARD ON THE CALENDAR
• STRENGTH LOVES REST: WHY YOU NEED LONGER REST PERIODS TO BUILD STRENGTH
• HOW TO RECOVER FROM YOUR WORKOUTS
• MORPHEUS HEART RATE TRAINING: WHAT IT IS, WHY WE USE IT, AND HOW YOU CAN GET THE MOST OUT OF IT
• START NOW: WHY WAITING FOR THE PERFECT TIME IS THE WORST THING TO DO
• HOW (AND WHY) OUR YEAR-LONG TRAINING PLAN WORKS