Repost from Tom Shooks Blog, excellent read

TRAIN LIKE JOHN

John is my buddy, and he gets it when it comes to training. This guy is amazing. He is strong, fast, flexible and coordinated. In fact I would say that pound-for-pound he is probably one of the strongest guys in the world! Now I know that’s a bold statement, but let me tell you a little bit about John’s method and then you can decide for yourself.

John doesn’t really have what anyone would describe as a set routine or program. No two training days are exactly alike, ever, yet he maintains a steady diet of core lifts and drills put together in some rather odd combinations at times. Sometimes his methodology even spooks me and I’m not one known for too much structure. John seldom spends more than 10 minutes at a time engaged in what I would call a workout, but he’ll do between three and five of these mini-sessions a day, almost every day. He always trains to music, never takes it too seriously and if it ain’t fun, he doesn’t do it.

Here are a few examples: One session he’ll fire off three or four sets of kettlebell swings without counting reps. He’ll just swing until he doesn’t feel the groove anymore and he’ll put it down. After that he might do a few push-ups or a few fat-bar pull-ups. Again, nothing outrageous here just a couple of sets until he hurts then he backs off. John never trains to failure, ever! After that he might call it good for a while or he might go shoot some hoops or run a set of wind sprints. He’ll chill out for a few hours and then do a heavy set of deads or a few clean and presses. He always lifts with intensity though; he’s never satisfied with the weight and always tries to up his last PB even if he can’t quite remember what it was exactly. Just a few hard reps…intensity but not much volume all at once. I suspect that he finds high rep sets of anything boring, so he just doesn’t do them.

John does a lot of climbing activities too, which is where I suspect his simian grip and pulling strength comes from. He’ll climb anything: trees, poles, ropes, climbing walls…you name it he’s probably climbed it, or at least tried!

He likes to run, but not for distance. He runs multiple short sprints almost every day. Up grassy hills, on the flat, sometimes not in a straight line (around obstacles) and often changes pace or direction in mid sprint! Crazy?! Yeah, crazy fast and agile.

He’s competitive when it comes to sports, but he is pretty good at keeping it in perspective. The performer in him gets a little pissed-off if he doesn’t play with good form, but otherwise it’s cool. He can be aggressive, but isn’t above giving a teammate a hug if he feels the need.

He practices martial arts but only uses one or two techniques. The thing is he practices those few drills repeatedly throughout the day and can execute them from either a conventional or southpaw stance. He comes at you with speed, power and at funny angles. He does need to be reminded to be mindful of his defense though, that’s a work in progress.

John also knows how to turn it off and chill out too. This dude can power-lounge like you couldn’t imagine. He calls it “getting a brain massage” and he swears by it.

Overall John is probably has one of the most effective training systems around. In summary it goes like this:

• Employ basic, whole body lifts and exercises in random sets, reps and combinations. Employ iron and body weight drills.
• Don’t be afraid to train similar movement patterns every day or even multiple times in the same day.
• Pull your body weight in as many different ways as you can and do it frequently.
• Don’t train to failure, not even close, just feel the groove and move on.
• Keep the intensity high. Low-intensity, long-duration activity is for truck drivers, not athletes. Sprint!
• Practice skills frequently but for short duration; once it gets boring or you get tired move on to something else or call it a day.
• Also, when it comes to skills, a few skills practiced to mastery beats out a laundry list of things you can’t perform flawlessly and without thought.
• Multiple short sessions will trump the long exhaustive workout on any given day.
• Play with heart but respect the game, your teammates and your opponents.
• Have fun, otherwise what’s the point?

If you train like John you will be better off than 99% of the people in this country when it comes to the cultivation of physical skill, emotional health and balance. By the way, John is my five-year-old son and he gets it.