Behaviors

Assess properly before designing training; identify a training goal and baseline fitness first.

Use the previously described fitness testing protocol to identify your weakest area or biggest performance anchor and make that the priority for the next phase, e.g. three months; repeat at least annually, optionally twice per year, with suggested timing such as the third week of December or end of June.

After testing, choose the area where your score is lowest as the priority for the next training block, such as the next three months.

Set goals using the SMART framework: specific, measurable, attainable/actionable, realistic/relevant, and timely.

Include at least one objective measure for your goal, such as body weight, bench press, mile time, sleep hours, or work productivity.

Choose a realistic goal based on age, training experience, and available time, then reduce that target by about 10% to avoid setting goals that are too lofty.

Break long-term goals into intermediate milestones, define the time domain, and work backward from the end date to create interim targets.

Determine what is likely to stop you from reaching your goal, such as injury, burnout, poor movement, lack of time, or inconsistent schedule.

If injury tends to derail progress, first invest in flexibility, movement technique, and/or slower progression before pushing intensity.

For a 2% body-fat reduction over a year, use milestones such as 0.5% per quarter if appropriate.

If injury risk or another defender is limiting progress, spend an initial quarter not trying to lose weight while fixing the limiting factor.

If a structural or pain issue is blocking progress, invest time working with your chiropractor or equivalent support to remove that barrier.

Combine goals that are close together on the adaptation spectrum, since they interfere less with one another; speed, power, and strength are generally complementary and can be trained together.

If combining endurance intervals with speed, power, or strength, keep endurance volume low enough to avoid residual fatigue.

When combining endurance with other goals, choose less impactful modalities to reduce interference and recovery cost; examples given include cycling instead of running and swimming as a low-impact option.

Avoid doing roughly 30+ minutes above about 60% heart rate before lifting if you want to minimize interference.

If training load is high, first consider ramping up recovery rather than immediately cutting training.

Allocate 10 total points across business, relationships, fitness, and recovery to understand where your energy is going and whether it matches your goals.

Recovery should be at minimum half of your fitness allocation in the quadrant system, and preferably at least 20% of the total allocation (2 out of 10 points).

Use recovery practices such as meditation, sleep, going to a concert, reading for pleasure, or play—whatever gives you energy back.

If your quadrant allocation needs to change, define specific life actions that make the new allocation possible.

Use explicit work boundaries to protect training and recovery time, such as not working after 7 p.m. on certain days or not starting before 8 a.m.

Create a hard rule to stop work and train at a fixed time, e.g. 3 p.m., regardless of what is happening.

Keep the quadrant visible by screenshotting it as your phone background and placing it in your main place of failure, such as on your laptop or workstation.

Put the plan in the hands of someone who can hold you accountable, such as a spouse, training partner, or business partner.

Write deadlines, travel, holidays, and other non-negotiables into a physical calendar before designing training.

Design training around deadlines, travel, holidays, and family obligations rather than pretending they do not exist.

Decide how many days per week you can truly train based on your real schedule.

Be conservative about how much time you think you have for training rather than overestimating.

When budgeting workout time, include the warmup and the down-regulation breathing at the end as part of the total session.