The Paul Weber Podcast

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The Competitor Lifecycle

1. First workout
2. Classes/free resources
3. Competitor program
4. Initial, fast progress
5. Overtraining
6. Injury/sickness/stagnation
7. Hire a coach
8. Train less, get healthy
9. Focus training, make gains
10. Acceptance, completion, peace

In this episode, I talk about my personal experience going through each of these stages and examples of this I see month after month. 

I discuss what collaboration between competitors, g...

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Skill-intensive sports vs. Training-intensive sports

Skill-intensive sports (e.g. golf, basketball)

• Competition conditions are less predictable (nearly impossible to replicate perfectly in training)
• Performance is more difficult to quantify
• Performance depends on precise motor control under pressure
• Greater physiological capacity and effort do not always translate into better results
• Performance in training not as predi...

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In this episode, I share my experience training with a conditioning bias, training with a strength bias, why I switched to bodybuilding and where I'm going next in my training.

I talk about muscle growth, the importance of cardiorespiratory fitness, gut health, building athletic momentum, and how I apply these lessons learned with my athletes.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2026!

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Whenev...

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Link to the full movement analysis: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSF-hQpEd2H/?hl=en&img_index=1

Most frequent Open movements (2021-2025):

• Burpees
• Double Unders
• Thrusters 
• Chest to Bar
• Bar Muscle Ups
• Wall Walks
• Deadlifts

Most frequent Individual Quarterfinals movements (2021-2024):

• Row
• Burpee Box Jump Overs
• Rope Climbs
• Cleans
• Snatches
• Wall Balls
• Kipping HSPU
• Strict HSPU
• Ring Muscle Ups
• GHD Situps
• (Honorable mention) Wall-F...

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To excel at a multiday fitness competition, you need to be prepared for an immense workload.

Athletes who may perform incredibly on Event 1 are gassed by Event 8.

While every athlete must be powerful, having so many events over multiple days gives an advantage to the athletes who recover the fastest.

By the final day, it may be less about who can perform the best fresh, and more about who is the least tired.

The greater y...

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Gymnastics in Fitness Sport

When you do gymnastics, you are exercising in what exercise physiologists call the extreme intensity domain, with very few exceptions.

The most notable exceptions are the burpee and box jump over, which I train with a conditioning perspective, rather than the approach I'll describe below.

For almost every other gymnastics movement, the time to exhaustion is less than two minutes.

Exercise ...

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Strength adaptations come from morphological effects and neural effects.

Morphological effects (mainly muscle growth) are why strength sports have weight classes. Assuming similar training styles, the more muscular athlete usually lifts more.

However, neural effects are why world class female lifters are stronger than most men, despite having way less muscle.

Neural effects are also why powerlifters aren't good at s...

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In this episode, I describe a Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD) model for fitness competitors.

The model depends on three concepts:

• Extensive to intensive training
• Long to short residual training effects
• Pre-requisites to expression

With these in mind, I created a phased approach to each of the three disciplines in fitness sport.

Strength

1. Functional Hypertrophy
2. Basic Strength
3. Olympic Weightlifting Skill
4. Strengt...

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In this episode, we discuss the differences, pros and cons of hybrid and mixed training.

Hybrid Training

• Less interference than mixed workouts
• Bigger adaptations to each training stimulus
• More targeted to a specific modality
• Adaptable to injury history, equipment
• Higher training loads

Mixed Training

• More specific to fitness competition
• Improved pacing of mixed workouts
• Varied and exciting
• Increased motivation via th...

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Common Conditioning Mistake:

1. Too frequent high intensity training
2. Intensity limiting total training load
3. Only practicing race pace at high RPEs
4. All-out effort in hard sessions
5. Excessive training variety
6. Starting workouts too hot
7. "Always ready" approach to training

Best Practice:

1. High-low model
2. Large training loads with more low intensity training
3. Practice race pace at submaximal RPEs often to lower percept...

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In this episode, I discuss:

• The confusion among health and wellness leaders and coaches about the utility of Zone 2
• Zone 2 for living long and healthy
• Zone 2 for performance
• Why your time is the most important factor in how much Zone 2 you should do
• The energy intake-training load relationship
• Comparing low intensity training to high intensity training
• Exceptions for people at physiological extremes

For those who wan...

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Join us for the live training: Conditioning for Fitness Athletes.

Thursday, October 23rd, 3pm MT

Tap the link to save your spot: https://www.paulbweber.com/conditioning-for-fitness-athletes

If you can't make it live, all good, you'll get permanent access to the recording.

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When I start working with a new athlete, the first question we ask is:

"What are our training priorities?"

To help decide, we look ...

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In this episode, we cover:

• Evaluation of the Sport
  • Movement Analysis - which parts of the race create the most separation?
  • Physiological Analysis - what does Hyrox ask of the body?
• Assessment of the Athlete
  • Physical Characteristics of Elite 15 Hyrox Athletes
    • Height
    • Weight
  • Performance Characteristics of Elite 15 Hyrox Athletes
    • 5k Run
    • 10k Run
    • Half Marathon
    • 2k Row
    • 2k Ski
    • 3RM Squat
    • 3RM Deadlift
    • 3RM Military ...

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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...