The Paul Weber Podcast

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In the early 2000s, perhaps similar to today, there was plenty of gatekeeping in an attempt to professionalize the fitness industry.

The gym culture in many places lacked effort and was full of unnecessary complexity.

Greg Glassman (founder of CrossFit®) came in and said, "get rid of all the equipment."

Just keep the rower, box, barbell, pull up bar. That’s all you need.

And challenge yourself. Go as hard as you...

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The goal for the conditioning-biased athlete is to chronically increase training load while maintaining the load-recovery balance.

More simply, conditioning is about learning to do more work.

Fitness athletes have no problem with more training. 

We are often eager to prove we can work the hardest. 

As a result, we increase training load on too short of a timeline.

I remember compressing a week of training into a single day...

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In this episode, we discuss how metcons are characterized by severe and extreme intensity exercise that is often intermittent in the context of each task, but continuous in the context of the workout.

We cover:

• the fatigue mechanisms of severe intensity exercise
• the fatigue mechanisms of extreme intensity exercise
• why severe vs. extreme intensity matters
• which movements are severe intensity and which ones are extreme

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For all that we have to learn from other sports, fitness competition is unique. 

Few other events last multiple days, or require both strength and conditioning. 

There's the decathlon, which emphasizes strength and power. 

Then there are military selections, which emphasize conditioning. 

Fitness competitions fall somewhere in between. 

Fitness sport combines many disciplines into one monster weekend:

• endurance spo...

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Key Takeaways

1. Frequency of higher intensity training - 2-3 days/week/modality, 3-5 quality sessions per week per modality
2. Periodize - lower overall training volume and more competition-specific training as you get closer to the competition
3. Control the "load-recovery balance" - watch for signs of overtraining/underrecovery:
   1. joint pain
   2. weakened immunity
   3. GI distress
   4. low libido
   5. disrupted sleep
   6. impaired blood suga...

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In this episode, we discuss:

• The four intensity domains and their effect on physiology
• Intensity distributions of elite endurance athletes and fitness athletes
• Best practices from elite endurance sport
  • frequency of quality sessions
  • periodization
• The intensity-HPA Axis dysfunction-health degradation cascade
• A three-phase approach to training and peaking for severe intensity conditioning
  • Phase I - Accumulate Vo...

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Depending on the movements, gymnastics may demand:

• strength (as in legless rope climbs or strict deficit handstand pushups)
• movement efficiency (as in ring muscle ups and handstand walking)
• muscle endurance (as in high rep pullups or toes to bar)
• and/or cardiorespiratory conditioning (as in burpees and box jump overs)

The burpee and box jump over are unique in that:

1. Most athletes have the requisite strength to ...

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In this episode, we cover:

• examples of pure weightlifting workouts
• how the work rates in weightlifting modalities compare to traditional endurance modalities
• the physiology of weightlifting workouts
• the biomechanics of weightlifting workouts
• the 3 step process I use for improving weightlifting capacity:

1. Strength + Raw Capacity
2. Barbell Cycling Skill
3. Barbell Cycling Capacity

In fitness sport, we test conditioni...

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Conditioning intensity can be divided into four domains: moderate, heavy, severe, and extreme. 

Moderate Intensity

Personal anecdote: walking to New York City

In athlete language: "easy", "Zone 2"

What it feels like: you can speak in complete sentences

Typical duration: 2+ hours

Moderate intensity is below the first Lactate Threshold (LT1), which is the pace at which lactate begins its sustained increase...

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Key Takeaways

1. For beginners, the primary limitation is motor control. Program design should facilitate skill acquisition by providing lots of reps.
2. Intermediates with lots of muscle to gain should optimize for mechanical tension. Train in the 3-10RM range with approaches to failure. 
3. Advanced athletes who have already tapped most of their muscle growth potential should utilize both training close to failure for muscl...

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Tap the link to save your spot at the live training this week.

https://www.paulbweber.com/mastering-gymnastics-for-fitness-athletes

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We only get one body.

Those who have gone through serious injuries know this. Many athletes have injuries that change their bodies for the rest of their lives.

On one hand, we accept this as part of pushing our bodies to the limit.

But in the adrenaline-fueled, warrior culture of modern fit...

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Join me live next week for: "Mastering Gymnastics for Fitness Athletes"

Thursday, June 19th at 2pm MT

**Everyone who signs up will get permanent access to the recording**

Tap for more info: https://www.paulbweber.com/mastering-gymnastics-for-fitness-athletes

Not training gymnastic strength

It's common to have "just enough" strength to do the Rx movements.

But the best gymnasts don't have "...

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Mastering Gymnastics for Fitness Athletes

Live training on Thursday, June 19th at 2pm MT

For more information, visit:

https://www.paulbweber.com/mastering-gymnastics-for-fitness-athletes

In this live training, you will learn: 

• Gymnastic Strength
  • Why gymnastic strength is specific for fitness athletes
  • Movement patterns of gymnastic strength and progressions for each
  • How I program gymnastic strength for fitness athletes...

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Accessories help develop muscles other than the prime movers in core movements, providing structural balance and resilience. 

They can also be used to address specific weak points in a core movement that would go undertrained if the athlete only trained the core movement. 

For example, if a lifter is limited in the front squat by their upper back, then only training the front squat can fail to address the limiting facto...

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In this episode I share the exercises I use most often for mobility. 

Handstand Walk

I discuss the handstand walk and the exercises I use to improve thoracic extension and shoulder flexion:

• PVC Pass Through
• Cross Bench Dumbbell Pullover

Pistol

I discuss the progression I use to develop the pistol:

1. ​Front Foot Elevated Poliquin Split Squat​
2. ​Barbell Poliquin Split Squat​
3. ​Counterbalance Box Step Off​
4. ​Counterbalance...

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In this episode, I share my clinical experiences with manipulating body composition for fitness athletes. We discuss:

• Food Quality
• Food Quantity
• Meal Frequency
• Rate of Gain and Loss
• The Importance of Training Performance
• Weigh Ins and Body Scans
• Preserving Blood Sugar Balance and Insulin Sensitivity
• Gut Health
• Food Variety
• Fiber Guidelines
• Common Allergens
• Digestion and Upper GI Symptoms
• Bowel Movements and Lower GI Symptoms
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