I thought I’d start off with a quick look back at 2025 and a healthy dose of gratitude. Then I’ll lay out a number of suggestions that just might make 2026 your best year ever.
2025 was a very good year. If I was a sommelier, I’d say the wine produced across many regions during the past year was robust and full of character. But since I’m not a sommelier, I’ll simply analogize that the fitness, fun, and fellowship we built in 2025 was remarkable.
We saw outstanding growth in The Lifetime Athlete App and The Lifetime Athlete Podcast. I had the opportunity to engage with many likeminded community members on all things health, fitness, longevity, and performance. Folks are really turning onto our platform and using our Training Tribe fitness for life programming within the App. You’ve shared your questions and struggles and we’ve coached our way to amazing successes. I consider this an absolute honor and privilege and I am filled with gratitude. Thank you for such an incredible opportunity.
Gearing up for 2026, we’re definitely going to be preppers, but in a different sense of the word than stockpiling food and ammo in your crawl space. We’re going to amass useful information and create a clear, objective framework for an utterly fantastic New Year. Our goal is to describe the process a Lifetime Athlete might use. And interestingly enough, we will compare that to the steps one might take to build a new home. Just to provide a similar example.
As is true with most processes, it’s good to take stock of where you are right now, and to recognize the things that got you here. Reflect upon and analyze last year, at least to some extent. Mainly big rock stuff. Things like specific exercises, recovery windows, nutrition and sleep habits. What were the major things that really worked? Were there a few things that were just not right for you and which you should avoid repeating as you move forward? Simply keep these lessons learned in your mind as you head into the next year.
Begin with a vision of how you see yourself in the coming year. This can and should be anything you want. What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? Need to be feeling better? Going for a different look? Doing a lot of something which you enjoy and around which you base your identity? Having more success at a sport or in business or finance?
All of those visions have something in common. They start with a solid foundation of health. Peak Performance requires a high-functioning organism. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. The training that supports peak performance will not stick unless you’re healthy first. This is non-negotiable. The 5 Components of Lifelong Health must be addressed. Food, Movement, Sleep, Ergonomics, and Awareness. This is the foundation in The Lifetime Athlete 5-3-1 System and we always get these right before diving into advanced programming. We have a plethora of resources in The Lifetime Athlete App so members can learn about, and optimize, their lifestyles for long term health.
Let’s say you’re thinking about building your dream house, which in this case is synonymous with the health and performance quest we are discussing. This begins with location. Where is the lot or property? What are the important aspects with regard to weather, access, convenience, etc.? How will living there improve your life or increase your happiness? This is the vision that will drive your home-building project and it is incredibly similar to the New Year/New You concept.
Perhaps you’ve got a long term injury or chronic pain problem that you and the providers you’ve seen to date have just not been able to solve. App members can once and for all get out of the recurring appointment loop and get 1-on-1 expert physical therapy advice. #cuttothechase.
Allow that vision to funnel into a personal goal. Many books have been written about the practice of goal setting. Let’s just look at the basic premises. Goals should be clear and objective. Measurable. Challenging yet reasonable. Stuff like that. Your goal becomes a tangible target which defines your process. It’s the thing you’re working toward. This might be a time achieved, a weight lifted, a body composition number, an event…or anything else that is meaningful to you.
What kind of house will you build? Architectural style, design, square footage, features…this can be a very comprehensive list. Now you are not just going to be living in a place or a situation, it’s a specific house. You have fleshed out your goal.
Develop an organized plan around that goal for the entire year. What’s the timeline to accomplish this goal? How will you organize the steps from start to finish? What is the ideal order of interventions? What level of seasons, cycles, and block periodization is most appropriate? This might be the place to enlist some professional assistance. We have Personal Coaching Consultations for this purpose, at a discounted rate, exclusively available to members in The Lifetime Athlete App.
This is your framework for construction. What is the overall timeline and sequence for the project? Who are you going to hire? Are the materials ordered? Do you, or does your contractor, have the subcontractors lined up and committed to the project? How will everyone communicate and are they all on the same page? Is your funding in order?
Maybe this is the year you finally get your nutrition and body composition dialed. Become a member in the App and take the Lean4LIFE Course. #itsallthereforyou. Or perhaps you have the hunt of a lifetime planned and you need the ultimate conditioning system for the backcountry hunter. Fit for the Field is your ticket. #youknowyouwantthis.
Design a specific program that helps you to accomplish your goal. This is the day-to-day mojo that turns the plan into reality. The 3 Essential Elements of Peak Performance. Training. Recovery. Mindset. Workouts that emphasize the capacities demanded by the goal, in the ratios required and specific to your individual needs. The 5 Capacities of Athleticism need to be organized to fit your goal and body. Strength, Speed, Power, Agility, and Endurance. This can range from relatively basic to as complex as you want. Just remember that fancy stuff alone doesn’t get it done. The right stuff gets it done. In the words of Norwegian skiing and adventuring legend Vegard Ulvang, “If you are slow, do your speedwork. And if you are weak, don’t skip strength.” Sometimes there is no need for delicate wording or being hypersensitive to the truth.
The parts and players of your construction project are humming along. Surveying. Excavation and site preparation. Concrete. Framing. Sheathing and drying-in. Roofing. Windows. Siding. Plumbing. Electrical. HVAC. Drywall. Painting. Flooring. Finish carpentry. Appliances. Landscaping. Punch-list items. Or some variation of these processes.
The Advanced Coaching and Training section in the App contains multiple guides, downloadable logs and templates, and everything you need to custom-craft a winning year. #letsgittokillinit.
You’ve decided this is the year to finally get rid of the Dad Bod. Jump into Lifetime Athlete Programs and embark upon the DadBod Be Gone journey. Or you want to build a better backside with Operation BootyJack. #youarewhatyouwill
Once everything is in place, we need a method for assessing progress and making necessary adjustments as the year progresses. LIFE, and training for it, is a dynamic process. There are natural ups and downs which must be both expected and respected. It’s important not to get too bent out of shape when a key performance indicator (KPI), isn’t responding on the expected schedule. If the plan and program are sound, it’s just a matter of tweaking a couple things. Most of the time in training, it’s one or both of the following factors. You may not actually be overtraining but you’re instead probably under-recovering. Not giving yourself enough time and easy work between the hard sessions. This is an inadvertent mistake many people make, largely due to high work ethics and bombardment of misinformation from social media fitness influencers. Know when to kill but know how to chill. The other issue is a lack of specificity toward the goal. Many folks fall into the trap of doing, or trying to do, lots of training in accordance with the common thinking that more is better. Best to stick with the specific training relative to the goal and resist the temptation to overfill your sessions with ancillary stuff. Stay focused. As data comes in, don’t get frustrated or blow everything out of the water, just refine the processes accordingly.
On the dream house, this looks like interior design, picking up some new furniture, and minor maintenance. You’re living there and fine-tuning your existence into its full potential. Noticing just a few things about your plan and program which were really good, but that could be just a little different now that you’re living in there and seeing how everything works. Rearranging for traffic flow, window coverings…yada yada.
Need to stay connected with actionable information at your fingertips? The App features daily notifications, hundreds of tips and challenges, and a Member Submissions portal to get your questions answered in real time. #thiss**t is legit.
One of the most amazing things about human performance, especially as we age, is that well-rounded athleticism becomes the critical factor for longevity. We have people in our community who are highly competitive, extremely dedicated single-sport specialists. There’s a place for them in our collective, and these are the folks that use a lot of Personal Coaching Consultations to assist them in creating highly specialized programming. But as you may surmise, the majority of our constituents just want to look and feel great, and be able to participate across a broad variety of sports, work requirements, recreational activities, and fun opportunities. To truly live life to the fullest. To train for LIFE. To be a Lifetime Athlete.
That’s why so many people use and value our Training Tribe (T2) fitness for life programming in The Lifetime Athlete App. Three full years of workouts for the evolving human based on our proprietary Annual Training Plan. #itjustdoesntgetanybetter.
Home is a sanctuary. Building a dream home does not have to be extravagant. In fact, it can be quite modest. But it must contribute to your health, happiness, and success. And it must also facilitate your ability to serve others and contribute to society. Fitness is the same way. It makes you a more capable human. In gearing up for 2026, you could always apply all this information and reinvent the wheel. Or you could sign up as a member in The Lifetime Athlete App and take advantage of everything that’s already available for you to build an incredible 2026. Happy New Year!