Doing the same exercise over and over causes injuries like calf strains from running or shoulder pain from pressing. A balanced program with five pillars—strength, Zone 2 cardio, VO₂ max work, mobility, and walking—keeps you healthy long-term.
Now, every time I've overfocused on one thing too much, like clockwork, I end up picking up an injury. When I do too much running, I get calf injuries. When I do too much pressing, I get shoulder pain. When I do too much work on the air bike, my knees tend to get really painful. And a well-rounded program spreads the load and it avoids overuse injuries. Now, these days my training program is super well-rounded, well-rounded. And again, I give a lot of credit to my trainer Jamie for making sure that this is the case. My training program is built around 5 pillars: strength work, Zone 2 cardio, VO2 max efforts, mobility, and walking. And here you'll see nothing's overdone. It keeps me feeling good, and it's much better for long-term health, which of course matters more and more as you actually get older. So it's worth looking at your own training program. How well-rounded is it?
