LEVEL 1: Consistent Activity

The goal here is to make sure that we are moving enough for our body to pump all the necessary fluid around on a regular basis. In order to do that, we are tracking active calories or steps per day. This also helps us make sure that we are metabolically burning calories equal to what we are consuming. We also need to pay attention to the calories that we are consuming.

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  • Tracking steps and getting from 8000 steps/ day on average,
    up to 15,000 steps per day.

  • Steps-per-day OR active-calories also works.

  • Start raising awareness to how much of each food is 100 calories.

LEVEL 2: Consistent Resistance!

Adding in resistance training is important. At this level, we are just focused on being consistent, not optimizing for any outcomes. This is a very simple idea of adding a push, a pull, and a leg exercise a few times a week and doing it until you feel like you are sufficiently stimulated. Remember, we are paying attention to what the muscles and the body tell us, so even on days where we are tired, we can do a little bit. On days where we have energy, we can do a lot.

Push Ups: Wall Regression

Rows: Bilateral Regression

Squats: High Box Regression

Push Ups: Incline Regression

Rows: Unilateral Regression

Squats: Low Box Regression

Push Ups: Bodyweight Standard

Rows: Unilateral Standard

Squats: Bodyweight Standard

LEVEL 3: Consistent Full Body!

At this level, we want to make sure that we're ticking all the boxes for strength training, which is:

  • Vertical press

  • Vertical pull

  • Horizontal pull

  • Horizontal push

  • Squat Pattern

  • Hinge pattern

We can, of course, add in extras like plyometric movements, carries, etc.

Vertical Press: Dumbbell Variation

Horizontal Press: Barbell Bench Variation

Squat Pattern: Bilateral Barbell Variation

Vertical Pull: BodyWeight Pull Up Variation

Horizontal Pull: Standing Bilateral Kettlebell Variation

Hinge Pattern: Unilateral B-Stance Dumbbell Variation

As seen in these demonstrations, we can use many variations of the same movements, different ways to load the movement.

  • Bodyweight

  • Dumbbells

  • Kettlebells

  • Barbells

  • Machines

  • and many others…

LEVEL 4: Consistent Challenges

At this level, we start to discern between specific strength training goals and challenge ourselves to accomplish things.

  • Strength endurance

  • One rep max strength, also called absolute strength

We can talk about the types of weights that you're moving, if they are relative to your body weight or if they are just absolute as well. We can also discuss hypertrophy goals, which are usually found in isolated exercises as well and taking things to absolute mechanical failure. Versus strength training, which is more technical failure. We can also talk about athletic goals, which is moving with power and force, changing direction. So far more variables come into play here, and usually these specific results are targeted at a particular moment in your life to be able to peak, for example doing an Iron Man marathon and how we would train to be able to achieve this goal.