I have no clue where the words BEAST and MODE came together to become one of today’s most famous hashtags but, if you’re using such a term to describe your workouts, then it is likely that could be the greatest factor in why you’re seeing no significant improvements and/or even some regression.

You see, when training for a goal, you MUST be methodical in your approach. The way to eat an elephant is, one bite at a time. Meaning, that in order to achieve your greatest potential, you must set your sights on small incremental mile stones that all add up to the end goal.

When you see an Olympic champion standing on the podium, all you see is the amazing achievement and the medal that is draped around his/her neck. What you don’t see is the years and years of the daily grind. You’re not seeing the early morning training, the early to bed on a Friday night, the sacrifice of fun and good times, the clean and calculated eating habits, etc.

Everyone has a goal but, not everyone is truly willing to work to obtain it. Or should I say, “not willing to work smartly”.

This is where the word BEASTMODE pisses me off! ANY idiot with a functioning body can go out and crush themselves a couple times per week, or even daily, for a while. It takes no thought, no intelligence, no understanding, to go out and put together a handful of hard exercises that will have you lying on the floor, dripping in sweat, gasping for air. The REAL work is done by the individual who can train consistently for weeks, months and years, steadily chipping away up the mountain until eventually, they are at the top.

The problem with the latter approach is that, it’s not glorious. Most of that kind of work is not social media worthy. While BEASTMODE is the flashy Ferrari, SMART training is the old trusty VW station wagon. They are the classic examples of the tortoise and the hair.

Speaking of BEASTMODE, what the hell does that even mean? Though I don’t regularly hangout with others members of the animal kingdom, I’ve never really heard of other “beasts” just walking around and going fucking crazy everyday. How often have you heard of a gorilla chugging down his pre-workout mix and then going and crushing a hardcore workout? When’s the last time you heard of a lion going BEASTMODE on all the other jungle dwellers?

3 and 4 workouts a day don’t make you a beast, it makes you stupid. Especially when those workouts do nothing to progress your training toward your end goal. Pushing yourself so hard in one workout that you are essentially useless the next day, is NOT beast mode, it’s ignorance and ego.

When you’re designing and structuring your training, you should ensure that the workouts and efforts are geared toward that end goal. If your goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon, 4 hours on your pogo stick isn’t likely going to help get you there. If your goal is to deadlift 3 times your bodyweight, 3 hours on the elliptical isn’t going to produce that goal, EVER!!

When you hear the old adage “practice makes perfect”, it doesn’t mean practicing one thing will produce great results in the other. Tiger Woods didn’t become a great golfer by playing catch in the backyard with his dad. This means that your training needs to target specific systems so that it warrants the desired adaptations that will eventually lead to improvements in that particular area.

If I were to define BEASTMODE, it would look like this;

BEASTMODE – the practice of wearing your body out and generating massive amount of stress, for no reason.

What’s worse about this new BEASTMODE mentality, which is essentially today’s version of the NO PAIN NO GAIN mentality that plagued the 80’s and 90’s, is that it’s so condoned and supported by the layman social media jockey.

Worse than the actual person doing the particular workout are, those who will continue blowing smoke up the person’s ass by telling them how badass they are, how BEAST they are, how amazing, etc.

Call me crazy but, I’m not going to commend someone for pushing themselves to the point of getting Rhabdo. I’m not going to support someone for ripping layers of skin off their hands or, for completing a marathon when they were already limping to the starting line. Call it tough love but, I’m here to make people better, not congratulate them for being an idiot. Harsh? Maybe. But, people don’t learn anything when they are continuously enabled by everyone. Nobody changes bad habits or practices if those bad habits or practices are constantly glamorized. Crackheads don’t go to crack houses for rehab.

I am all about hard work and pushing oneself but, not to the point that it actually does more harm than good. Call me crazy but, crushing your body just to crush your body, is not admirable. It’s being ignorant!

Over the past few months, I’ve taken on several new athletes. The thing is, several of these athletes had been begging me for months to coach or to work with them and I refused until they made changes and showed that they were actually willing to train correctly. These were the BEAST MODE athletes who’d blow up social media with all their crushing workouts. I warned them for months what would happen. They ignored the advice until eventually, they were too over trained, too injured or too sick of seeing no improvement, despite their everyday soul crushing workouts. Now, after several weeks or months of restructuring their workouts, they are all progressing quite well.

Some of the most common types of feedback I get from my training is that “Wow, the training isn’t really as hard as I figured it would be” or “Wow, I’m completing these harder workouts with so much more energy and feel great the next day”.

Just yesterday, one of the Endurance Project members ran her longest run ever (16.5 miles), only to send me a text this morning to say “what’s the plan today boss, I feel great”. She’ll be toeing the line of her first Spartan Beast this coming Saturday and will be doing it with 0 lingering injury or fatigue.

On the flip side of that, I’ve had athletes who have progressed amazingly from one cycle to the next but then, tragedy strikes! They decide to go BEASTMODE!! For every 10 athletes of the Endurance Project who do great, there will be at least one who decides that our workouts aren’t enough, that they need to do more, MUCH MORE!! Instead of just doing the workouts as prescribed, they decide to run longer, run faster, lift heavier, add more volume, do everything with a 40 pound weight vest, because the enablers tell them to. By doing so, two things ALWAYS happen. 1.) They are removed from the Endurance Project and I stop coaching them after a few warnings. 2.) They are broken within a few months and are no longer performing even close to what they were on a structured program.

Like I said before, it’s often merely just ignorance that generates this BEASTMODE mindset. Many athletes truly believe that is what it takes. Generally, they don’t even know the damage they are inflicting, solely because they just do not understand the principles of training. http://coacheseducation.com/endur/jack-daniels-june-00.php

The simplest thing to remember is that, MORE is NOT always better. In fact, it’s rarely better. Everyone one wants that huge workout that they can get kudos from their peers from but, just remember this, you won’t get kudos from anyone when you’re standing on the sidelines because you’re too injured or too over stressed to play.

Pride and ego is a good thing but, it can also be your Achilles heel. Let the smart training mindset guide you through your everyday workouts, then unleash the BEAST during your competition. All the soul crushing workouts mean nothing if you can’t perform on race day.

Oh, and more thing!!! If you work out and don’t post it on social media, it DID still actually happen. Believe it or not, your fitness will get no better or no worse by whether or not you post your daily workout for the world to see.

Train smart, train consistent!

#DWEP #DWEPfit #DWEPstrong