The Four Phases Of Exercise Programming to become an Executive Athlete

Imagine you are restoring a vintage car that’s been rusting in a farmer’s field. It’s got 45-year-old brakes, suspension, axles — the whole lot. What’s the first thing you would do to make the car roadworthy again?

Would you start with the engine? Would you add power and torque and then take the car for a drive? What would happen to the car? The old brakes and suspension would probably fail before you reached the end of the block. The added power would only accelerate the rate at which the old girl is deteriorating.

This is similar to what happens when you try to add strength and power to an executive who has spent the best part of the last decade or two sitting behind a desk. The hours upon hours of sitting each week results in stiffness, especially in the hips and thoracic spine. This stiffness causes faulty and inefficient movement patterns that could easily cause injuries when the body has to move quickly or powerfully.

To create an Executive Athlete, we need to start with the basic skills of movement. We need to ensure that the executive makes it beyond the end of the block. They must possess the freedom of movement that the athlete enjoys if they are going to become an Executive Athlete.

That is why I created four phases of programming that ensure unhealthy and out-of-shape executives can transform into athletes without injuring themselves. The four phases are:

1) Mobility  — the executive must first move like an athlete. This means ridding them of the pain that they experience daily.

2) Stability  — to develop the strength of the athlete, the joint that is moving first must be stable. These first two steps are often overlooked by rookie trainers and overly enthusiastic executives.

3) Conditioning  — this phase allows the executive to quantify his or her effort and progress. Each session will be about reaching a new personal best.

4) Skill  — when you are fitter, faster and stronger than ever before, what are you going to do with your newfound physical powers?

The answer to the last question is how you make your training worthwhile. This programming is not just about getting healthier and fitter, it’s about using exercise to allow you to experience more fun and happiness with physical movement. When you have found the answer to phase 4 making a lifelong commitment to exercise will come naturally.