Cycle 4 Overview: The Biggest Mistake People Make With Fitness (And How to Avoid It)

Cycle 3 was focused on taking the strength we built in Cycle 2 and turning it into lean muscle tissue while also starting to introduce harder fitness pieces.

Cycle 4 is all about taking the base of fitness and enduring muscle tissue and really start to drive our total fitness up.

In this article we will give you an overview of Cycle 4 and go over the biggest mistake people make when trying to increase their fitness.

Overall Focus

The focus for Cycle 4 is to drive our total fitness and athleticism up as we round out our first 4 month block of training for 2025.

The next 2 training cycles we have (May + June) will be emphasizing strength and movement quality. This cycle will give us a great base to come into those strength cycles feeling really explosive and able to recover well.

Daily Focus

For this training cycle we are adding even more variety in our movements than Cycle 3 and we are adding in more dynamic work and plyometric/athletic work. We will also start to drive up our ability to run again so we can be ready to crush some big running in July and August.

Below is a weekly breakdown of how each day will be laid out but if you have any questions make sure to ask your coach when you take your next class.

Monday

• Front Squat and Jumps + Gorilla Rows or T Bar Rows and Half Kneeling Presses or DB Push Press + Sprint Conditioning

Tuesday

• KB Swings or RDLs and Chin Ups or Rows + Metabolic Conditioning + Tricep Finishers

Wednesday

• 30 Minute Tough Aerobic Conditioning + Shoulder and Core Finishers

Thursday

• Step Ups or Staggered Landmine RDLs and DB Snatches or DB Push Press + Run or Row Intervals + Single Leg and Core Finishers

Friday

• Bench Press and Slams + Metabolic Conditioning + Bicep and Glute Finishers

Saturday

• 30 Minute Tough Aerobic Conditioning + Shoulder Finishers

It’s About How Fast You Can Recover

Getting tired is really easy. Like REALLY easy. Recovering is extremely hard though.

Fitness = How fast you can recover so you can go again.

The biggest mistake most people make is thinking that fitness happens when they crush themselves. When this happens we miss extra work or effort we could have done/given later if we wouldn’t have gone out too hot.

Here is a workout from Cycle 4 that is a great example of a workout you can miss out on fitness by pushing too hard on:

400 Meter Run

Rest 2 Min

200 Meter Run

Rest 2 Min

400 Meter Run

The goal here would be to either increase your pace per round and have your fastest round be your last one or maintain the same pace through the entire workout but if you push too hard on your first run and can’t recover fast enough between rounds you will slow down on each set.

Strength is the easiest example of this. If I go too heavy on set 1 I will have to lower my weight as I go through my sets. This would not be an optimal strength session. Now lets say you build every set or even maintain every set and just push for more reps every time. Both of those options would increase strength. If we apply the same concept to our conditioning we see that we should be building to a “top set” where we really push ourselves on the final set.

So How Do You Use This?

1. Build in effort on your sets instead of overdoing it on your first round.
2. Use the clock. Finish a round and check the clock. Did it feel too fast? Dial back a bit. Did it feel easy? Maintain it and pick it up in your last rounds. Felt just right? Rest as much as you need to maintain that pace and then go again.
3. Aim for an RPE of 8 on most conditioning pieces. Having the feeling of “I could have gone a little faster” is a much better feeling than “I went too fast and then fell off.”
4. Be wise with your weight choices. The goal of conditioning in strength is to conditioning the muscles to have more endurance at moderate weights. Aim for 60-75% of your top weights and focus on quality movement and consistent paces.

Nutritional Considerations

Building fitness is a tricky thing to do but there are definitely some considerations everyone should be thinking through:

1. Fitness work usually comes with heavier doses of sweat. Make sure to stay hydrated as it gets hotter and we pick it up. Aim for 50-75% of your bodyweight in ounces of water per day and make sure to stay consistent on the weekends.
2. Protein and carbs are crucial. Try adding in a post workout protein shake and a carb source with it. I love a banana or apple with a protein shake post workout. You want to aim for 20-40 grams of protein and 25-50 grams of carbohydrates post training.
3. If you are struggling to drink enough water and feel like you’re losing too much from sweat then adding something like an LMNT packet into your water while you train. I love the raspberry flavored LMNT packet during my training and it’s definitely a daily staple when it gets hotter.
4. Add a multivitamin into your routine. When you start pushing yourself in the gym you start utilizing resources faster than normal. Maintaining healthy levels of vitamins/nutrients is crucial to ensure you are recovering well between sessions so you can come back and give it your best swing again next time.

This next cycle is going to be extremely fun and we will be throwing in some stuff that is going to be new for most of you. Come ready to work hard and have a great time all April!