Scott Sonnon: Born to Fail - Made to Succeed

“4″ Ultimate Life-Long Fitness FREE for You!

Since more and more kettlebell athletes have embraced “4″ - My Accelerated Kettlebell Program for Injury-Free Results - I have an increasing number of requests for applying my formula without clubbells and kettlebells.

Well, of course, “4″ applies to ALL fitness modalities! “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” So, this article will help you with a very basic, easy-to-understand template for my formula. [If you want the full-blown, follow-along, out-of-the-box-ready programs, then get my best-selling 4X7 Formula: Magic in the Mundane DVD.]

Why is the “4″ important?

Why not just train as intensely as possible as often as possible?

Before I answer that, I’ll tell you how this came about. Last year, the World Kettlebell Club asked me to create the official joint mobility warm-up program for all kettlebell athletes, as well as the compensatory recovery program for these extreme competitors, which is now integral to the Kettlebell Fitness Certification Seminars.

With the incredible success that my students, whether Clubbell or Kettlebell athletes, athletes from other modalities are requesting the opportunity to reap its benefits.

The question on the minds of more and more people is: “How can I accelerate my progress results without endangering my health?”

Anyone who wants to have optimal wellness into their 80s and even 90s better not be balls-to-the-wall for max strength in their teens and 20s… but if you want to be strong all your life, there’s a longer, balanced path which will ensure that you get to keep your progress without becoming one of the “walking wounded” you see stumbling out of gyms.

If you adopt a life-long perspective on functional wellness, you will take this longer, balanced path. One of the most inspirational books I’ve ever read, regarded this long path, about a man named Joseph “The Mighty Atom” Greenstein, a famous strongman who once lived in my hometown.

Many people waste half of their lives attempting to be as strong as they can. They work through physiological compensations, over-tonus and fear-reactivity. And they only get aches, pains and debilitating injuries which eventually make them incapable of exercising with vigor, if at all.

Perhaps you’re younger and reading this. Well, this is an opportunity for you to keep that vitality and even cultivate it all your life. Some time later in life, raw strength won’t hold the same enamored glory that it does right now. You’ll be much more concerned with mobility, coordination, agility, suppleness… in other words, how sophisticated you “function.”

Researches have proven that aging is a loss of complexity. The correllary is also true: over-simplistic conditioning accelerates the aging process. For those that think this is no big deal, remind them that even a 20 year old athlete can be diagnosed with a 40 year old body due to unbalanced training methods.

Exercise, in all its forms, is an incredible discipline, just like martial arts. If done properly for long-term balance, amazing benefits results; and if done improperly for short-term exploitation, then you’re going to get hurt. This is where the myth of “you gotta pay to play” mentality with injuries being a guarantee of any form of exercise. Not true.

The “4″ formula is how you can train at 50, 60, 70 and 80 so that although you don’t have the raw strength of a 20 year old, you remain mobile, fluid and pain-free.

I’m sure if you’re reading this blog, you’re not one of those who want to be the 50 year old who still hits the bench press, deadlift and squats hard so that he can hang with the 20-somethings, but has to hobble around so racked with aches and pains that he can’t move with any coordination.

No, if you’re reading this article, you’re one of those who wants to be able to out-perform the youngsters in virtually all things in general because you’re continuing to refine like a good wine.

Over time, the balanced approach (the tortoise) will always beat the imbalanced (the hare.) So, if you want to be at optimal wellness past your Century mark, then you need to re-evaluate how you’re training NOW, so that you’re preparing for the long-haul.

My basic “4″ method (from the 4×7 Formula) will help you dial in everything you need for longevity fitness. You will feel better, you will actually be stronger all-around, and you won’t feel exhausted, suffer chronic soreness and constant muscle tweaks and tears.

So, what is the “4″?

The “4″ is a four-day day cycle rotating types of training to optimize the chemical restoration process. Biochemistry may put you to sleep when reading, but when it comes to the geek stuff, I pay attention. How well and fully you recover from your exericse is MORE IMPORTANT than the exercise selection itself!

The 4 day cycle looks like this:

1. Moderate intensity: strength training at 65-85% of your heart rate maximum (HRmax is your 220 minus your age to determine the beats per minute you’re targeting.) You need both functional strength and mass because over time you’ll start to have less and less. Think of usable mass as your savings account.
2. High intensity: metabolic conditioning at 85-100% HRmax. You need to strengthen your immune system through the biochemical and cerebral adaptations which happen when you approach your age-specific maximum heart rate.
3. No intensity: joint nutrition and lubrication (Intu-Flow joint mobility). You’re as old as your connective tissue, so you need to keep your engine and all of your parts well-lubricated and smoothly running. If one part breaks down, a systemic seizing could result, so you’re as strong as your weakest link.
4. Low intensity: compensatory recovery (Prasara Body-Flow yoga). Whatever you train in strength or conditioning, needs to be specifically balanced; i.e. if you strengthen your abs without strengthening your lower back, you create an imbalance which will lead to injury. Balancing sessions help prime you for strength gains and reaching higher intensity.

Now, my 4×7 includes a specific exercise selection demonstrating how the programs in each of the four days can synergize. So, as a fitness athlete, you’d have a program like this:

• Moderate intensity: low-rep over-load training. Place your mass-building, power-generating exercises here. If your sport is bodybuilding or powerlifting, do it here.
• High intensity: timed sets, Tabata protocol, speed circuits belong here. If your sport is clubbell swinging, crossfit, kettlebell lifting, etc do it here.
• No intensity: place your light movement here, like tai chi, qigong, etc. The best program ever created for this specifically is my Intu-Flow Longevity System… and you can also check out Ageless Mobility.
• Low intensity: insert your “stretching” program, yoga, pilates in here. The optimal program designed for this purpose is my Prasara Yoga or the CST Golden 3 (FlowFit, Forward Pressure and Be Breathed.)

People usually are willing to sacrifice their no or low intensity sessions rather than their moderate or high. Even if you’ve been doing an integrated approach like my “4″ for over a decade like me, you can only go for about 1-2 years maximum before the creep of aches and pains and injuries return.

The good news is that if you’ve been doing no and low intensity sessions consistently for about 3-4 months, you can go a week or two without them and feel no ill effects. However, you WILL feel 100% energized and flowing if you do them everyday like I do. [It’s just on the no and low intensity days, that’s ALL you do!]

And if you want to have specific program design help on how this all synergizes together, then become one of my private students in the world renowned Scott Sonnon Core Cadre.

It’s not just having the right ingredients! It’s the recipe you use!

Flow Thyself™,