Training with the Seasons

Hi CT,

I am interested in opening a discussion on training with the seasons. I am wondering what your thoughts might be on the seasonal changes in the body, and how our training might most effectively “flow” with these changes in nature.

When the days become shorter and colder, how do these seasonal changes effect the way our bodies perform during, and recover from exercise, and how do these seasonal changes effect our ability to process nutrients?

We seem to move less in the Winter, and we become somewhat resistant to insulin in an attempt to store energy. Do you think that our bodies would prefer a less frequent, but more intense bout of training during these times? In opposition to, for example, a more frequent strength-skill style of training during those Summer months where we are naturally more active, but can find ourselves burning a lot of energy just to cool off after say, that same high intensity exercise session.

This isn’t so much a question per se, as much as it is an attempt to sort of some of my own thoughts and the various research. I know you are well educated and versed in these things, and I am curious on your input to the subject. I am very interested in your neuro-typing work, and how the neuro-types themselves might even change through a seasonal year.

I originally had a lot more typed out for this original post, but it would have been a long and tedious read for you, and I want to dig a little deeper into my own log books. But I did want to break the ice and see what your initial thoughts might be on the subject.

Thanks, Howie

Dan John wrote a few great articles and notes on training across the seasons… maybe worth a look also…

Check out the four seasons of lifting on CTs site Thibarmy

Right, I was gonna mention that i wrote an article about that 2 years ago