Episode 292: Performance Base Layer Series - Part 2: Pillars of Performance Applied (Strength)
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Welcome to Part 2 of our 5-part Performance Base Layer Series on the Purple Patch Podcast.
A solid foundation of physical and mental health - a strong Physiological ready-state - is essential to succeed in any arena, whether at work, as a parent, or as an athlete. This is what we call your performance base layer.
Over the next few weeks, we will showcase important episodes, each focusing on one key element of the Performance Base Layer.
In our previous episode, we talked about the importance of endurance. In this episode, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon emphasizes the significance of strength training and explains how to incorporate it correctly into your routine. Matt sheds light on common misconceptions about strength training and the mistakes many athletes make when adding it to their training regimen. He also discusses the numerous benefits of strength training, such as avoiding major illnesses and improving your health span. This includes metabolic health, cardiovascular health, body weight management, bone health, and mental health.
It's important to note, that while we are breaking down each pillar separately, they do not stand alone. To create your performance base layer, you must focus on and adopt habits in each pillar, ensuring they work together to deliver great resiliency. It’s important to give equal attention to endurance (or movement), strength, nutrition & hydration habits, and recovery & sleep, to unlock your full performance potential. Remember, just because you're fit doesn't mean you're high-performing.
Be sure to sign up for our Workshop on Wheels for your access to LIVE, real-time coaching on the bike from IRONMAN Master Coach and Purple Patch founder Matt Dixon, along with a FREE 10-day trial of our live and on-demand bike sessions.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - 06:41 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
06:48 - 10:05 - Matt's News-ings
10:13 - 53:20 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 292: Performance Base Layer Series - Part 2: Pillars of Performance Applied (Strength)
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Ep. 253: The Science of Strength - Integrating Strength Training for Specific Athlete Populations
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Full Transcript
Matt Dixon 00:00
I'm Matt Dixon and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere, integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 00:24
Hey, folks, today we're going to dive into strength training. Now, it's an important ingredient for all of us, and it is our second pillar of performance. It's also a powerful tool of intervention for folks that are needing to adjust their hormonal profile. Is that you? Well, you might not know if it's you. But the good news is, you can know, you can understand. With InsideTracker, you can gain powerful insights into all aspects of your health and performance, including the aspects related to longevity. Whether it's your hormones, cognitive function, heart health, inflammation, fitness profile, and more, the insights and recommendations that you dial in your approach and get specific about your performance journey. We leverage it with our athletes at Purple Patch, and you can too, all you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch and use the code Purple Patch Pro 20. That's Purple Patch Pro two zero and you get 20% off everything at the store. Alright, enjoy the show. It's a goodie, today, it is another step in you developing your performance base layer.
Matt Dixon 01:37
And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast as ever, your host, Matt Dixon And today we got dance into the second part of our series that we're labeling the performance base layer. We are going to dissect our second pillar today. Last week we did endurance, today we're going to discuss strength training. Now before we talk about getting strong like bull, let me first remind you of the premise of this five-part series. As I said, we're labeling it the performance base layer. Before you get into the new year, you know all of that new year new you malarkey, a code word for desperate folks that are trying to undo the damage that was all done over the course of the holidays, we have the opportunity, me, you, all of us, the opportunity for us to develop a performance base layer. What's that you ask? Well, simply put, no matter whether you're a very serious athlete, or you're seeking the best version of yourself, in any arena in life, you have the best opportunity for success if you can create a great physical ready state. That can be a catalyst for you to showing up with great energy met with optimal cognitive function. Yes, a base layer of performance readiness. Now it's easy to understand and appreciate that premise for an athlete. You want to be world-class, and then you better be in a world-class shape. But what about a broader lens? You want to be the best carpenter, maybe you want to be leading your startup, you're an entrepreneur. You want to show up for your team, you want to be a wonderfully engaged and caring parent, no matter what arena in life, if you have a strong platform of physical and mental readiness, and then you have a much better chance to perform, to bring your best self. And that's what we label a performance base layer. Now the good news is all of us are well equipped to build our performance base layer, whether you identify as being an athlete or not. Now equally good news, it doesn't have to be overly complicated. It's really about habit development, and a little bit of behavior evolution. It's a lot of fun when you go along it and the rewards are long lasting. Now, this is a gateway for you, no matter what your quest is to show up your very best. And that's something that tickles my fancy and I hope it does for you. It's the foundation for you to be able to enjoy life and live it to its best over the coming decades. The number one thing you can do for yourself to foster a greater quality of life for the journey ahead is to focus on many of the habits that we're going to discuss today and over the coming weeks. So I want to help here.
Matt Dixon 04:36
Now last week in episode one, we broke down endurance and we did it via the lens of two populations. That was, one, athletes, and we know a lot about helping athletes thrive over the course of their sporting journey, but also a broader lens, what we call life performance, folks that are looking to invest in themselves for a better healthspan or longevity, leaders that are looking to amplify their effectiveness as an elite business professional, and anyone that is just looking to show up a better version of themselves. So we bucket that second channel if you want to call it that, life performance. Now, we're going to keep the same rhythm every single week. So this week, we go strong like bull, and we discuss the strength pillar. It's going to be a lot of fun. Now, before we go on, an important point, some context around this, we are breaking down week by week, each one of these pillars, and we're doing so separately in a vacuum, but they do not stand alone. So just because you decide to get strong, doesn't mean you're high performing. Just because you started to embrace the habits that we talked about last week in endurance activity doesn't mean you're high-performing. And just because we've become obsessed with clean, healthy, great eating habits, doesn't mean you're high performing. So to create a performance base layer, you have to take each of the elements that we're discussing by week, and you need to integrate them. Okay, you need to make sure they work with one another. And that becomes important. You need all four of the pillars, and that is, yes, hey presto, the Purple Patch methodology: endurance, strength, our topic today, nutrition, and finally, recovery, and sleep. Keep that in mind as we hold hands and we venture on together. Before we get to the main course today. Barry, let's do some news. Let's do Matt's News-ings.
Matt Dixon 06:48
Yes, Matt's News-ings. And a quick one, a big reminder here, we are going to have a huge party. Isn't that something to get excited about? And it's going to be at your house and your house and your house. And even you in the back, it's going to be your house as well, it's going to be at my house the Purple Patch Performance Center. Because on Saturday, November 18th at 7 am Pacific, assume about 90 minutes to two hours, we are going to be doing a workshop on wheels. Yes, it is a party on the bike and it is free. It is open to everybody. You don't need to be a Purple Patch athlete. We encourage you to join if you're not a Purple Patch athlete, and it is an educational webinar about how to turn your biking into a weapon. Yes, we're going to make use of the fitness that you have to get more speed. I'm going to help you upgrade your skills, I'm going to ensure that you feel safer on the bike, and most importantly, I'm going to help you get faster. And that's good. Because when you're riding with your mate, you want to turn around and say, See ya. It's really important. Now, is this for you? Well, if you love to ride a bicycle, and right now your primary focus on getting faster is just on the norm, building your fitness, and trying to generate more power, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. And I want to share some key aspects of improving your biking from navigating the terrain, pacing yourself properly, getting the most out of your fitness. And via the two-way video platform that we have, I can coach you. And so I can simulate all sorts of environments outside while you are on your bike at home, sitting in your garage, in your front room, wherever you like to ride your bike on a trainer. Very simple. Now, if you join, we're also going to add a little bit of a sweetener to it, you just need to participate and you're going to get a 10-day free membership, where you can try many other of the Purple Patch coach sessions. And these are potent. These are very different than anything else that is out there. You can expect to get feedback from me and have a lot of fun, I'm even gonna play some cool tunes, and you're gonna see a lot of like-minded people also on their journey to try and improve as a bike rider. It's welcoming to all and all levels, it's gonna be fun, but also most importantly, empowering. Good stuff. Now I'm going to leave the link in the show notes. If you have any questions at all. If you're if you're worried about not being good enough, I can kick that to the curb straightaway. But feel free to reach out to us at info@PurplePatchFitness.com. We'll give you all the information, we'll even set up a brief call if appropriate. But in the show notes you can register, and bring some friends. They don't need to be an elite athlete. They certainly don't need to be a triathlete. And we can take it from there. It's going to be a lot of fun. But today, we're going to talk about something else. We're going to talk about heavy things, and we're going to lift those heavy things. All of us, it sounds fun, doesn't it? Folks, it's time for the meat and potatoes.
Matt Dixon 10:13
Yes, folks, it is the meat and potatoes. One of my favorite Purple Patch sayings, strong like bull. It is time for you to lean into that phrase. I've spoken many times about the backlash that I experienced as a young coach when I started to write and talk about a more pragmatic approach to arrive at sustained high performance. At the time, I was a regular columnist at three publications, Triathlete Magazine and Inside Try, and some of you folks might remember this lava magazine, all of these were triathlon publications. And most of the articles that I wrote focused on a few key subjects and areas. Number one, the global mindset and approach to applying training stress into a life that already had tons of stress in it. In other words, training in a time-starved environment. The second subject that I'd like to talk about is the importance of recovery, and ensuring that you as an athlete, or as a coach, if you are programming it, we're integrating it in a regular cadence into programming for your athlete or your journey. And so actually being intentional with recovery. The third, topic today was how important strength training was for every single type of athlete. It was an important asset to endurance athletes, rather than just a preventative tool that most of the folks viewed as strength training at the time. And finally, the fourth topic that I tended to write about was, for many athletes, it was beneficial to do a little bit less training over the week, but do that training well. And you would get better results from it, rather than just simply dumping training on top of an already busy time-starved life, and ultimately walking around in a fog of fatigue. Now, of course, my viewpoints emerged from my own experience which we've talked about quite a bit on this show, I battled through chronic fatigue, but also they were the guiding principles for my coaching. And those principles would soon become the Purple Patch methodology, the four pillars that we are breaking down in this series. Now, this isn't so long ago. Now, those four topics that we talked about, you might think there's nothing revolutionary about that. But at the time, it was counterculture to the way that most athletes and coaches approached the sport. And not so long ago, I happened to be looking through my files, and I found a document that made me smile a little bit. And it was smiling and almost laughing at myself, I thought, Who is sad enough to keep this document? But what it was was a collection of some of the comments that were put at the bottom of those digital articles that I wrote. And they were also drawn from some of the threads and website forums around endurance sports and triathlons. Now, why did I keep a document with all of these comments and feedback from the articles that I wrote, there's nothing heroic about this. In fact, in reflection, it's a little bit sad. It certainly is not my recommended path for motivation. And I struggle right now as I reflect on this to put where my mind was at the time. But if I'm honest, I think that I wanted to remember those quotes, as I continued my coaching and continue my writing ahead. And perhaps it was a bit of motivation, a desire to prove people wrong. But perhaps it was also tracking my efforts in making positive inroads, because these comments you might imagine, weren't all positive. There were quite a lot of negative comments. And the truth is, at the time, I was young, really ambitious, probably driven with a tinge of ego and I was also proving a point. After a professional triathlon career that did not go well, I wanted to prove to myself that I had something to offer. And I felt I was driven by righting a wrong. I looked at the landscape of the sport, and I thought there must be a better way and I think I've got a path toward a better approach. And so when I received negative comments, it fueled me a little bit, rightly or wrongly. And so I thought, what I do is share just a few of these quotes, and I can enjoy them now. Remember, I'm talking about stress. I'm talking about recovery. I'm talking about integrating strength, our topic of today for endurance athletes, I'm talking about pragmatism when it comes to performance within the context of your life. And nowadays, there is nothing revolutionary about this. But these articles at the time created the following reactions. I think you're going to enjoy this. And I hope you don't believe too many of them.
Matt Dixon 15:22
Number one, Matt Dixon is a quack, How can I not lead off with that? Matt Dixon is a quack, he is selling less is more, when in fact, more is more, cut out the bullshit, show up and do the work HTFU. Some of you old-timers might remember that HTFU, I'm not going to translate. The second comment is an article about stress that just stresses me out reading it, stop writing nonsense about recovery and get committed to the work. Carry water, chop wood, recovery is a weak athlete game. It's brilliant, isn't it? Fantastic stuff. Number three. I have my athletes do strength training all the time. They swim with paddles, they ride up hills, and they do hill reps on the run. Any form of gym or strength work is a complete waste of time for all levels of athletes. Now that would be controversial to say nowadays. Number four. Here is your article Mr. Dixon, runners don't need strength, triathletes don't need strength, Cyclists don't need strength, posts that then we can get on training for the specifics of our events. That's an opinion, I suppose. And then finally, I leave the best for last. My favorite, Matt Dixon is a hack. He's never going to coach at the top level, and certainly won't over-coach world champions. barre, is there any way to translate that little pro story that we have on our website into Portuguese by chance? Because I knew, this guy was Portuguese. And I think we've got some world champions on there. There's my ego again, I'm going to put it in the closet. Someone wants to read it. It's an inside joke. But folks, there it is. I guess I'm a hack. I guess I couldn't make it. The list of these comments goes on.
Matt Dixon 17:16
Now, why do I share these outside of getting a little bit of a laugh, we're talking about strength here. I'm going to educate you. Well, these comments were pulled from a chapter in my coaching journey from about 2006 to early 2009. So it's not that long ago. But these were common sentiments around topics such as recovery, the emphasis on fueling for athletes, and adding strength into the program. If you surveyed athletes and coaches at this time, on the role and importance of strength training for endurance athletes, I guess that the results might have been something like this. 60% of athletes and coaches would have seen no value or role whatsoever. 20% would have considered it valuable in the offseason. But then when races loomed it can become an afterthought. And about 20% only, of course, I was a part of that 20%, absolutely bought into it. Now today, at the highest level, I think that you would be hard-pressed to find a very high-level coach who doesn't fully believe in the role and value of strength training. But I still think there's a void. While there is a value attached to it, I would guess that less than 50% of athletes successfully and correctly integrate strength into their program well enough to yield real performance gains. And that's just the athletes. That's just the training endurance athletes. There has been a sea change in perception. But we still need to catch up with implementation. Now, another huge void in this is the much larger group of people, and that's folks that are seeking life performance, of which an equally small percentage commit to regular strength and conditioning. And I want to change that. So if you're listening today, and you don't implement strength, you are leaving life performance on the table. You're also limiting your runway of living a high-functioning, great quality of life in the years ahead. And so with that context, let's dive in and let's discuss strength training. Our second pillar.
Matt Dixon 19:41
Now once again, we are going to focus on folks listening who are seeking to be the best version of themselves, then we're going to get narrow, and we're going to talk more about athletes at the end. So why should a nurse or a parent or a C suite executive or a painter or a salesman or so on care about strength? What's in it for you? What does it look like? How should you action it? Let's go. And let's go big first. Okay, what I want you to do, as a part of this is I want you to look ahead in yourself. I want you to think about your future self. If we consider all of the major illnesses, that we aim to avoid, it can feel like an absolute minefield of despair, cardiovascular disease, cognitive diseases, cancer, diseases such as Alzheimer's, Dementia, Diabetes, and many more, most of you, I think, would agree that a successful life is not just measured, in how long it lasts. But combined with that, the quality of the years that we are around. Now a trendy phrase right now, which is a nice phrase that's anchored around performance circles is your Health Span. And I hope that you, me, you, everyone, want the best quality of life that we can have, right until the end, however far away that is. Now what that means, if that's what we're buying into, if that's what success is, we must invest in ourselves. And when I say now, I mean, now, we need to invest in ourselves, no matter what age you are, no matter where you're at, in your journey, and it's never too late. No matter where you're at, in your passage of life, you can still invest in yourself make things better, and ensure that your future self has a better journey.
Matt Dixon 21:47
Now, did you know that along with endurance exercise, including a little bit of high intensity, by the way in that endurance exercise, and we talked about last week, strength training has the largest impact on the reduction of risk of all major illnesses? It's true. Think about that, the number one thing that you can do to invest in your future self is to give yourself protection from many and all of those illnesses that I talked about cardiovascular disease, cognitive function, Dementia, Alzheimer's, Cancer, Diabetes, all of them, strength training, and endurance activity, those things locked together, is the number one thing you can do. So what I want to do associated with strength is I want to unpack that a little bit. And we can break down our risk reduction into key buckets.
Matt Dixon 22:43
Number one, and my mate Sami Inkinen is going to be proud of me for kicking off with this one, your metabolic health. Now it said, we are what we eat. And that's kind of true in many ways. And we're going to get into that next week. But strength training has a potent role in improving your insulin sensitivity, and your metabolism, therefore of glucose. Now, I find that when we talk about this, these words that are common glucose and insulin, et cetera, we just use them and we expect and anticipate that everyone knows what they are. But I realized that a lot of folks don't. And I appreciate that. I don't know everything about financial services. So I'm just gonna explain what it is in case you don't know. Insulin, in case you don't know, is a hormone. And it's a hormone that is produced in the pancreas, it's that little thing that looks like a feather doesn't in real life, but it does in most of the diagrams. Insulin has a huge role in maintaining homeostasis in our body. Okay? And what it does is it regulates the amount of glucose that circles in our blood. Now if we lack insulin, and then we face a form of diabetes, and insulin sensitivity, is the measure of how sensitive your body is to the insulin that is secreted from the pancreas. Okay, so in other words, how easily the glucose circulating in your blood is regulated? So if our sensitivity is low, we require more insulin, to moderate our blood glucose levels. And if it's high, then it requires less to have that impact. And a route to improve your sensitivity is strength training. It's also diet by the way if we just overload the body with more and more and more sugar, and then of course, it's going to suppress our sensitivity, it's going to get overloaded and there we are on a route to diabetes, not a good thing for us, okay? But strength training has an important role in that. And so that becomes important. And you might say, Okay, but why do I care if I've got a whole bunch of glucose circling in my blood? If you exist with higher levels than appropriate of blood sugar, or blood glucose for many months or years, it has real damage. It does permanent damage to parts of the body such as your eyes, your nerves, your kidneys, and your blood vessels. It is a metabolic disease, let alone the oscillations in energy that we have the crushing of energy, the peaks of energy, et cetera, that we associate when we down a Red Bull feel great and then feel tired afterward. It does real damage. So this is a hugely important role that it has in the bodily functions. So strength training, buy into it, if nothing else for that.
Matt Dixon 25:56
The second area is cardiovascular health. Now we typically associate endurance exercise, running, cycling, rowing, and walking with improvements in your cardiovascular health. And that's true. And strength training can't replace that. So just because you do strength doesn't mean you don't have to walk, you don't have to swim, you don't have to row whatever the endeavor or whatever the modality of endurance is, okay, that stays important still. But when you combine the two, it adds another soldier in the battle, particularly when you start to associate cardiovascular health things like cholesterol and blood pressure, a really important positive role in that.
Matt Dixon 26:40
The third element is weight management. Now we often associate body composition and body weight through a more cosmetic lens, I feel better, I look better. But there is a blunt truth, that's important that you can't get around. And that's the poor weight profile and negative body composition. So carrying too much fat relative to your overall profile amplifies directly, all of the risk factors on all of those illnesses that we talk about, and it is radical. And so it's not that I want you to look better. Okay, we're not chasing some modelesque outline here, we're looking to reduce risk factors, and weight management, and a key tool in that is strength training. It makes you a better butter burner, it improves your metabolic health, and it's going to be a key asset to helping you moderate and manage your body composition. Huge.
Matt Dixon 27:46
Number four, let's talk about your hormones. Ladies and gentlemen, we kicked off the show when we talked about InsideTracker. With these hormones, now men and women, listen up here. Because as we begin to age, and transition into our 40s and beyond, and I know that many of you guys are well past your 40s, our hormonal profile is going to impact our life, our health, and our performance. If you're a woman, you're facing the second puberty, life navigating through perimenopause and menopause, men you're facing dropping testosterone and a shifting hormonal profile. The good news strength training is our biggest and most important ally to improve your levels in the key hormones that we care about. This is universal. It should be a requirement, almost by law, for women to adopt strength training. And it should be a requirement, almost by law, for men to adopt strength training, it is a critical component to balance and improve your hormonal profile.
Matt Dixon 28:58
Bone density. That's number five. Let me ask you a question. Do you know the life expectancy of someone over the age of 65 who breaks their hip is less than two years to function in life and to prevent issues related to weakening bones strength training is your number one ally.
Matt Dixon 29:20
And finally, while we're talking about disease prevention, and all of the physiological benefits, we also need to highlight the important role of strength training when it comes to mental health. Some links directly correlate to improving profiles around anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. It might be mildly direct, but it plays an important role when it comes to all major illnesses and mental health is a huge component in today's society. And so think about that. What I just went through is their hormonal profiles mental health, cardiovascular disease, off-setting the risk of diabetes, and metabolic health and it goes on and on. And all of this, we sit here. And that is the power of strength. That is almost your number one soldier that you have in the battle to set your future self up.
Matt Dixon 30:20
So we should all buy into this, we should all invest in our future selves. But this is America. And in America, we don't like to wait for anything. We want instant gratification. We want results now. Okay? Now tell you this, it's no wonder that cricket never made it big here, right? In America? Of course not. How can you not fall in love with the sport, by the way, that takes five days to complete and typically results in a draw. But anyway, instant gratification America, let's go more immediate. Perhaps you're not buying into the future self, maybe you're a young puppy, you're like, yeah I'll deal with it, I'll get to it. But right now, what's in it for me? Well, no matter what arena you are pursuing excellence in, I struggle to think about something that you care about that doesn't benefit from aspects such as optimal cognitive function. And what I mean by this is your ability to focus for long periods, to process information, to recollect things, your memory to have clear thinking and decision making. I also struggle to think of any arena in life in which you don't benefit from having stable energy, having more physical and mental energy, that is stable throughout the day that you can bring to the task. And I struggle to think of any arena in which you don't benefit. If you've got greater resistance to fatigue and less of a susceptibility to illness. Imagine in fact, if all of those areas, your resilience, your energy management, your cognitive function, imagine if they were all elevated, consistently, predictably, that you could bring more energy, a better self, more ability to focus, you had fewer setbacks. What would that do to how you show up? What would it do to your productivity? How would it impact how you are with your friends, your associates, and folks that maybe you're leading, or you're managing, it's got to be nothing but positive. And you know, what, consistently committing to strength training has a direct, double, underlined, peer-reviewed, and observed over 20 years of helping people do this a direct positive impact on all of those factors. It is a performance enhancer. If you are serious about being a great parent, about being an elite, business, professional, whatever it might be, you need to integrate strength. And when we add this all together, what that means is all of us can hold hands, we can unite whatever our political differences are, we all need strength.
Matt Dixon 33:16
Now, what do I mean by strength training? What is it? Well, similar to endurance exercise, we're all going to have our start line on this. You got people who have been doing CrossFit for years, and they've got a different start line than someone like me, who's kind of ignored it for a while but has now got going on my journey. And so when it comes to training, we need to first start with where we're at, and build mini victories. And I think that's an important guiding light for us. Okay. Now, when it comes to training, whether it's endurance activity, so movement, or whether it's lifting some heavy things, or strength training, I like everything to have order. Okay? Everything at Purple Patch is structured, and progressive. When you come to the center here, where I'm recording right now, all of our sessions are coached. But they are structured and progressive, there's no random because I don't want to get random results. All of the training sessions are linked together, they are part of a fabric of a journey. And so that applies to you doing strength, no matter where your starting point is, your strength training should be structured and progressive. And what that does is that allow benefits to get ongoing improvements. And it gives you benefits as you navigate any year or as an athlete any season. And we draw this principle, by the way, from coaching world-class athletes to championship results. But what we've done is simply take those lessons and adapt them and apply them to you, you don't need to be an athlete to draw from their strategies, okay? Now with all that being said, strength training, successfully integrated does not need to be complicated. And it doesn't need to include massive time commitments. We want to include these elements.
Matt Dixon 35:20
Number one, Core and Stability. So think about a corset around your body and having really good posture and movement patterns. Anything you do in life, whether you're lifting a suitcase overhead, whether you're carrying your shopping, whether you're riding a bike, whether you're running, you want to do it with good posture, and that starts with a good core, that center part of your body. So it needs to include that.
Matt Dixon 35:46
Number two, we need to do some resistance training, why keep lifting heavy things? Overloading your muscles for some physiological adaptations and gains. And we do that, by resistance, lifting heavier things. It also needs to include some balance work and stability, so that we can move in various planes much less liable to fall over or break our hips, and all of those negative connotations. That helps us lead a more functional life. We want to think about our joints, our shoulder joints, our knee joints, our hip joints, and we want to have really good mobility and tissue health.
Matt Dixon 36:26
And finally, we want to drive a little bit of power. And that's not just getting strong, but getting fast and strong. Power. Okay? Now, you can achieve all of these, in just a couple of strength-focused sessions every week, two sessions. How long, somewhere on the short end, 20 to 25 minutes, up to probably no more than 60 or 70 minutes, unless you're doing very specific strength training for an athletic purpose. So let's just call it 20 to 60 minutes, twice a week, to yield all of those benefits future self, and immediate short-term rewards. Wow. Okay.
Matt Dixon 37:12
Now, the three elements that we need to build in number one, start at your starting line. Number two, avoid doing the same thing every single week. You need to have progression. And you need to focus on evolving that progression so that it builds on prior work done. And finally, number three, the magic word of anything consistency. Okay, don't just do it for a few weeks, build the habit, and integrate it into your life. And this is then where you've arrived to have the strength component of your performance base layer, as we're calling it. And it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. Okay, if you add to the daily movement that we talked about last week, suddenly, you're there. And that daily movement we know is going to include one to two days where you're going to get a little breathless, so we're going to include some short high-intensity intervals, you've got this huge boulder of performance, and you are investing in your future self. You don't need to be an athlete, you've built a performance base layer. And the nice thing is that it doesn't need to be a burden on your already busy life. Because this is an organizational tool. If you prioritize this, if you commit to this, the sessions that we talk about daily movement, a couple of them high intensity, a couple of strength sessions, can act as a nice organizational framework that enables you to unlock your effectiveness. It's going to help you be better in the other aspects of your life. It's going to help you organize your day. And we'll talk more about Matt with the higher performance mindset in the fifth episode that we're going to get there. So this is your base layer, Okay? Very, very simple. Now, as soon as you finish this, you think, Okay, I'm great, but I don't know where to start. Reach out to us. info@purplepatchfitness.com we would be happy to give you some resources, or try and give you a little bit of advice. You can also get on to our standalone strength program. This is not an athletic program. This is what we're talking about here, a structured and progressive two-way video-based strength program that all levels can adopt and integrate into your life. And of course, they're appropriate for a wide range of people. They are under the banner of 20 to 60 minutes in duration, and they're going to help you go along your journey. So that's an option. You can go to PurplePatchFitness.com and look at the strength component of training. And it's going to give you a very easy subscription program so you can do it from anywhere in the world.
Matt Dixon 39:56
Alrighty. So that's your performance baseline for life performance. But you might be listening right now you say, Yeah, but I'm an athlete, I'm getting ready, I want to qualify for Boston, I want to finish an Ironman. So let's get narrow and let's talk about athletes. If you've been patient up to now, and you're thinking, I wish you would just get on to the sports stuff I get, I get the life stuff. But you know, I'm, I'm interested in this. Well, there's good news, the whole last section, if you skipped over it, go back for me, please, because that whole last section applies to you. Because guess what? You are an athlete. But more importantly, you're a human. So you need to integrate strength training like you are a human, period. Okay? Period. You yield all of those benefits. You yield the benefits of your future self, risk reduction, quality of life, and functional living. You also get the immediate benefits of bringing your best self, to your family, your friends, your work, and anything that you want to do. And then in addition, all we need to do is just layer on top of that base layer, some sporting benefits, and there are sporting benefits. Now we've done a whole episode on the value of strength training. If you want to listen to this as an athlete, Episode 253. Goodness me, we've done a lot of these. Episode 253, the link is in the show notes, have a listen. And I break down in that strength training through different populations, it's worth going back and listening to his is a pretty good episode, even if I say so myself. But beyond that, here is a quick list of benefits as an endurance athlete to finish the show.
Matt Dixon 41:45
Number one, if you also commit to consistent strength training, it's going to give you a bedrock. Now, we talked about the base layer, but the bedrock of better movement patterns and global athleticism. And why does that help? Well, as a better athlete, you can become a better endurance athlete because you've got enhanced body control, an ability to retain good form and good posture, and you're more adept and able to upgrade your skills and movement patterns. You're more capable of improving your technique. Unlike the stereotypical triathlete out there, where if I say to them, take your finger and touch your nose, and most of them poke themselves in their eye, you're going to be athletically capable. So you're more under control. So strength training has a huge role in that, that you just going for a run going for a bike ride is never going to develop. So there's global athleticism.
Matt Dixon 42:46
Strength training also has a direct impact on your economy as an athlete, and this is hugely valuable. This is a direct performance enhancement. Now the way you can think about the economy is to imagine you're a car or an automobile. Okay? Your economy is the miles that you get for a gallon of gas. So you got so much energy for any given athlete, what's the cost? And if you lower the cost, you've got more staying power. And so yes, we're building fitness, muscular endurance, we're building power, but we want to also lower cost. If you're the owner of a subscription business, yes, we care about acquisition but we also want to enhance and improve our retention. So this is a nice way to think about it. As endurance athletes, we want to get more more more, but we also want to lower costs. Strength training is the number one thing you can do to improve your economy. So energy cost goes down, and you can go further and longer, or you can go at higher output. And that's a good component.
Matt Dixon 43:54
Number three, strength training will improve your tissue health, therefore, it's going to reduce the risk of injury. Now, this was always, as I mentioned earlier in the show, the reason to do strength, not inspiring, hey, it's going to reduce your injury. But I want to point something else out here that I think is important. Just because you do implement strength training, does not promise zero injuries. Strength training will not override things. So it cannot override really poor training programs, under-recovery, or poor choices in fueling and nutrition. But when you have a good program, with positive habits around sleep, nutrition, hydration, etc. and you integrate strength, then you get risk reduction, you get consistency, and we've shown that for years. Our pro squad was well known for barely ever having injuries. They happened, but we barely had -- our instance rate was very, very low relative to the norm. And that's because we embraced these pillars that we talked about and we cared about tissue health. And so what you get from that, as an athlete is greater training consistency, less ups and downs, peaks and valleys are more a through line of consistency of effective training. And what comes out of that always, is better results predictably. And I kinda like that through an athletic lens. And finally, integrating strength training is going to improve your power potential. High force strength, and bigger resistance, recruit more muscle fibers, those fibers can then be applied to your endurance activity. So it's not a direct link, lift heavy things, get more powerful it's lifting heavy things, get more neural recruitment, bring them into the usable mix, then do your endurance training and you're going to amplify to boost your power. And that means more speed and better results. Wow. So I'm telling you all that stuff about your health, your daily energy, your cognitive function, your life performance, and then I'm selling you four major benefits from your sport. I know I am dream-worthy. And so, the question for you as an athlete, is how radically different your strength training needs to be, and the truth is not much different.
Matt Dixon 46:35
Okay, for most amateur athletes, I prefer, to do what's right for your life. And we talked about that in a couple of sessions twice a week, integrating the elements that we broke down in the live performance phase. Okay, narrowed down, global athleticism, get pretty strong. And occasionally, only very occasionally, do I specifically aim to replicate movements that are directly related to your sport, just build the athlete to get strong, and be consistent year-round. Okay, now there are a couple of little elements and refinements -- you don't want to be lifting too heavy in the weeks leading up to your key races. But overall, the arc and the progression of your strength can be very, very similar to the arc and progression of someone who's looking for consistent life performance. Twice weekly is enough. Perhaps you have some added focus on components such as mobility and tissue health, and you do that via some stretching, mobility exercises, and foam rolling components like that. Maybe you choose to get some bodywork. But it certainly certainly needs to be consistent. In other words, year-round, if you're an athlete, you need strength training year-round, and it needs to progress through the phases of training and racing. Okay? But most athletes, and I don't want to dilute your ambitions here, are absolutely fine and benefit from a magical word here, general. It's great. If you can do it. It's great. As long as it is, like our life performance folks, structured and progressive. Now, for Purple Patch athletes listening, you lot are fine. The way that we design our strength program, which many people on the live performance journey utilize is around the needs of athletes. It makes sense. Why don't we build it around a typical seasonal progression of what athletes leverage? Because it's appropriate for anyone looking for performance in life. So we build it around the arc of a season. And that's great. So it's Synced by definition to the arc of an athlete's journey. And we line up athletes and normal folk if you want to call it that, the life performance population, under the same structure and the same progressive journey. Now, is that lazy? No. Because what it does is it unites people, it synchronizes everyone to the same benefits and it's way easier then to retain a high degree of support and accountability amongst people that have vastly different goals, and different stages of development, but lean into a community. And so it's no wonder, do you remember how we started. I said that less than 50% of the broader endurance athlete population successfully integrates strength. At Purple Patch, it's about 95%. The vast majority of our athletes that are competing, integrate strength throughout the year, not just offseason, but throughout the year, almost every Purple Patch athlete. Now it is just one component of why we get really good results. It's a buy-in, it's valued. It's integrated. Think about that. And why you do folks realize, that's it. That's your second pillar. And so, listen and apply, but don't apply in a vacuum. Okay? We talked about endurance. Now we've layered on strength. Next week, we're going to venture into nutrition and hydration. And again, we're going to talk about life performance. And then we're going to talk about athletes. And then step by step, finally, on the last week of the four pillars, we're going to talk about recovery, including sleep. And then we're going to develop that high-performance mindset, a toolkit to help you strategize be more organized, be more effective, and start to build some of the tools that high performers have. And what we're slowly building over the weeks is your opportunity to build your performance base layer, step by step, for sport, but more importantly, perhaps, for you as a human being, to show up and up your very best self. All right, guys, that's it. I hope that helps with a perspective. And if you have any questions at all, never hesitate to reach out, feel free to go to the podcast page, you can leave me a voicemail, or just ping me a message directly at info@PurplePatchFitness.com. Oh and one last thing, remember, yes, we do work with executives and executive teams around the life performance component. We have a whole corporate program, we just like to keep it a little bit quiet. But if you're interested in discussing that, feel free to reach out, I'm happy to have a conversation with you. Until next time, take care.
Matt Dixon 51:48
Guys, thanks so much for joining, and thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing, head to the Purple Patch channel on YouTube, and you will find it there. And you could subscribe, of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe. Also, Share It With Your Friends. And it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now any questions you have, let me know feel free to add a comment and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. As we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@PurplePatchFitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show on the Purple Patch page and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset as we like to call it. And so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, Let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're trying hard to make it a special experience. And we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that, I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, and do whatever you do. Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
athlete, strength training, strength, performance, talk, life, integrate, patch, improve, purple, build, journey, folks, endurance, base layer, important, pillar, insulin, number, cognitive function