Welcome to the Training Notes Newsletter.
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A lot of training success comes down to what you can repeat on a normal week, not what you can survive on a perfect one. The fastest way to stall is to build your plan around “special” days that require special energy, special time, and special focus. Keep the inputs boring and consistent, and the outputs get interesting.
Today’s lens: protect your repeatables. If a choice makes your next week harder to execute, it’s probably not a good choice, even if it feels productive in the moment. Consistency isn’t a personality trait. It’s a design problem.
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TODAY’S TRAINING NOTES
Here are two options for today’s training session. Pick the one that fits your schedule and goals. Feel free to make substitutions if you need to adjust the exercises.
Strength
Warm Up
- Worlds Greatest Stretch — 2 Sets × 5 Reps
- Scapular Wall Slide — 2 Sets × 10 Reps
- Ankle Rockers on Wall — 2 Sets × 10 Reps
- Glute Bridge — 2 Sets × 10 Reps
- Dead Bug — 2 Sets × 8 Reps
Main Workout
- Incline Dumbbell Bench Press — 4 Sets × 6 Reps
- Kettlebell Romanian Deadlift — 3 Sets × 10 Reps
- Front Squat — 3 Sets × 8 Reps
- Lat Pulldown — 2 Sets × 12 Reps
- Incline Push Up — 2 Sets × 15 Reps
- Hamstring Walkouts — 2 Sets × 10 Reps
- Ab Wheel Rollout — 1 Sets × 10 Reps
Cool Down
- Couch Stretch — 2 Sets × 45 Reps
- Doorway Pec Stretch — 2 Sets × 45 Reps
- Seated Hamstring Stretch — 2 Sets × 45 Reps
- Supine Spinal Twist — 2 Sets × 45 Reps
Total time: 50 minutes
Conditioning
Warm Up
- Easy steady effort — 10 minutes @ 60–70% max HR
- Smooth build — 3 minutes rising to 75% max HR
Main Workout
- Sustained work — 2 × 8 minutes @ 80–88% max HR
- Easy recovery — 3 minutes @ 60–70% max HR between intervals
Cool Down
- Easy steady effort — 8 minutes @ 55–65% max HR
Total time: 32 minutes
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Today’s Research Note
Your body adapts to what it can recover from, and recovery is mostly a resource problem: sleep, calories, stress, and time. When those inputs drift, the same workout becomes a different stimulus. That’s why two people can run the “same plan” and get very different results, and why your own results can swing week to week.
A practical way to manage this is to track a simple internal load marker alongside your training: session RPE multiplied by minutes. It’s not perfect, but it’s sensitive to real life. If the number spikes while your performance is flat (or your mood and sleep are sliding), you’re not getting “tougher.” You’re just accumulating cost.
The coaching move is to keep the plan stable and adjust the dose. Same exercises, same structure, but fewer sets or a slightly lower effort target when your internal load is already high. That keeps your repeatables intact and your progress predictable.
Look Up: session rpe training load
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Today’s Final Note
Use a “two wins” rule on busy days: pick one win for training and one win for recovery. Training win could be showing up on time or hitting your first two work sets with clean effort. Recovery win could be a fixed bedtime, a short walk, or a real meal instead of grazing.
This works because it prevents the common trap of going all-in on one side and ignoring the other. You don’t need perfect balance every day. You need a minimum standard that keeps tomorrow easy to execute.
Look Up: two wins rule
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Signing Off
Keep the plan simple enough that you can run it when work gets loud. That’s the whole game: protect the repeatables, then let time do the heavy lifting. I’ll be back tomorrow with another clean lever you can apply without overhauling your week.
“We are what we repeatedly do.”
Will Durant