Generalists Versus Specialists

Now here’s an absolutely scintillating discussion topic. If we consider the difference between generalists, or all-around athletes and single-sport specialists, there are several distinguishing characteristics we can identify.I’m thinking about this in the context of our community. Lifetime Athletes

The Lean4LIFE 30-day Challenge!

In the spirit of the New Year, we’re kicking things off with the Lean4LIFE 30-day Challenge! It’s popular to jumpstart the year with a month-long challenge and that’s especially true in the realm of health, fitness, and body composition. Strategically using diet, exercise, and lifestyle to reset the

Jumping for Joy…for Lifetime Athletes

Jumping is fun. It’s a natural, playful action in the human beast that is equal parts performance-enhancing and function-preserving. Jumping helps us to maintain our fast-twitch capacities, reactivity, and youthful vitality. The key to successfully incorporating jumping into your routine is doing so

Healthspan Versus Lifespan

I absolutely love this topic. It represents the crux of our quest at TLA. At some point, every Lifetime Athlete ponders some version of the following question: “How can my lifestyle interventions and behaviors, including but not limited to training and nutrition, impact both the length and quality (

Zone 2 Cardio for Lifetime Athletes

Today’s topic is being presented secondary to popular demand. I frequently receive inquiries from our community regarding exercise selection concerning a variety of performance capacities. Recently, and extensively, Zone 2 Cardio has been at the top of the list.The questions abound and they are very

Ergonomics for Lifetime Athletes

Ergonomics…the study of human efficiency at work. What on earth does this have to do with longevity and peak performance? Well, when you think about it, we spend roughly ⅓ of our time on earth at work. This has the potential to profoundly impact our health. And, if your neck, back, mojo (or anything

Open and Closed Kinetic Chain Exercises

Many exercises and movement patterns offer us a selection option between the open and closed kinetic chain. As a Lifetime Athlete, you may want to give consideration to how you utilize these tools.Let’s begin with a few simple definitions. A kinetic chain implies that a series of segments or linkage

The Value of Unilateral Exercise

Exercise selection is a fascinating topic. We choose exercises based on our desired outcomes and with regard to what works best for our unique bodies. And we determine how we perform those movements pertaining to body position, load, range, and tempo. Last week we talked about training for movement

Training for Movement Competency

We train for many reasons. Peak performance in sport is often a target. You might work out to improve your strength or muscle development. Maybe you exercise to increase your VO2max. Others engage in sessions to enhance their mobility. All of those things are good…in fact they are great. The objecti

Seasonality Revisited

Every now and again I like to reflect back on something I’ve written or said in the past and see where my mind is at currently. Occasionally, I end up not agreeing with a portion of what I’ve stated because my experience and knowledge has changed with the passage of time. But often, I find myself in

Aging with Elasticity

This post could also be labeled “Staying Bouncy as You Get Older,” or “Jumping for Joy.” Such phraseology connotes the preservation of elastic properties in the evolving human. Aging. Doing so gracefully. Maintaining health until right up to the very end. Keeping performance, and functional capaciti

Shooting with a Recoil-sensitive Shoulder, Part 2

This is a sequel to Part 1 on this topic, which I posted almost 3 years ago. While this followup may seem long overdue, it has actually taken a full 33 months to complete my investigation and reach my final conclusions. Since it’s been quite a while, you may have interest in reading Shooting with a

Simple Kettlebell Warmup

Training does not need to be elaborate to be effective. Sometimes simple is best. In our Training Tribe programming, we often use just a single implement for all or part of a workout. This month, in some of our sessions, we are employing a Simple Kettlebell Warmup. We start all our workouts with an

Lifetime Athlete Succeeds in Hunt of a Lifetime!

Success stories are fun to hear. Steven Graves, a member of our Lifetime Athlete community, and now a true mountain badass, just got back from an amazing adventure. He checked off a bucket list item at 53 years young, scaling mountains and battling extreme weather in Southeast Alaska. This resulted

Do You Need a Coach?

Do you need a coach? The answer to this question ranges anywhere from “absolutely yes, maybe, or probably not.” This is definitely a concept worth exploring. If you are performing at your maximum potential, are free from injury, have excellent health markers and body composition, feeling fantastic,

Sports for Lifetime Athletes

Here at TLA, we talk a lot about training. All-around fitness. Complete athleticism. Developing strength, speed, power, agility, and endurance. We train for health, longevity, and performance in all aspects of life. But we also give equal consideration to sports. The Lifetime Athlete Ep36

Endurance Training for Lifetime Athletes

As summer comes to a close, it’s fitting that we conclude the season with a discussion of endurance. We’ve talked about strength (and hypertrophy), speed, power, and agility. The 5th and final capacity of athleticism in our training discussion is endurance. And of course it’s always important to kee

Agility Training for Lifetime Athletes

The most basic definition of agility is the ability to move quickly and easily. Here at TLA, we take that a bit further. Agility is one of the 5 major Components of Athleticism. A complete, and thus lifetime athlete, needs to be not only strong, fast, powerful, and enduring. He or she must be AGILE.

Coming Back after a Layoff

This is DEFINITELY one of the most popular topics in our community, and it’s being featured in the Longevity Training Series because it is so important. In the simplest terms, a layoff is any time period away from regular training that’s long enough to cause some (or much) deconditioning. For any re

The Secrets of Speed!

Speed haters need not apply. Same for speed doubters and speed deniers. Speed is one of the attributes of a Lifetime Athlete and it’s also a premier expression of youthfulness. Speed training, done properly, can help you to perform at higher levels and to look and feel your best. Here’s how! T

Train Like an Olympian!

We’re always talking about how here at TLA we use the same methods to achieve peak performance that the pros do. As you are watching the Olympics, you’ve probably noticed that in practically every sport, the athletes — and particularly the champions — are FAST. Genetics are involved here, but every

Olympics for Lifetime Athletes

A term you hear occasionally is “What’s your WHY?” It’s often used by motivational speakers (even if you’re Matt Foley living in a van down by the river). I’d like to pose a different question in today’s brief post: What’s YOUR Olympics?The Olympics are a celebration. Human potential. Competition. S

The Need for Speed

The Olympics will be happening soon. Citius, Altius, Fortius – or Faster, Higher, Stronger – will be exemplified. Today’s post will be addressing the Citius component. Speed. At TLA, we value speed as one of the 5 Capacities of Athleticism, or human performance. Along with strength, power, agility,

Strength Versus Hypertrophy in the Mature Athlete

The entire platform at TLA is dedicated to maxing out health, performance, and longevity. Rooted within this focus are a number of first principles. And among those are strength and hypertrophy. Both matter. They are complementary. And they are to some degree inseparable.Strength is the ability to p