It’s time to take another look at Traffic light training and apply it to our year. Look at your calendar year, I mean REALLY look at all 12 months. Break it into your Green months (go hard and ramp up the diet) your Yellow Mostly Maintaining (eating clean, and a good 45-60 minute workout 4-5 days a week) and your Red (which doesnt mean STOP) You have a few too many cheat meals and your workouts wither down to 4-5 days a week 30 minutes. For most of us Red is thanksgiving to Christmas and again sometime in March (Because we go from a Red month to a Green Month with our resolution and burn ourselves out.) So on your 12 month calendar find your Red months (there should only be 2) fill them in, and the next month should be a yellow (no matter how much you look at your ass and think it should be a green and time to ramp and get restrictive, it will be too much!).
Then put in your Green month, ramp up your training, perfect your eating. Follow that up with another 2 yellow months and so on and so forth. This will help curb that yo yo, this will help you to keep from losing your mind on a green month, knowing there is a little relaxation at the end.
Now please don’t get me wrong, at no point in time is this an excuse to have a donut for breakfast, followed up by a big mac for lunch, and skip a weeks worth of workout.
Instead Your green months have 1-2 cheat meals at MOST. You weigh food, measure it, prepare it, keep your calories and nutrients in check! You show up to your workouts, on time prepared and read to do every rep perfect for 60 + minutes 6-7 days a week.
On your yellow maintenance months you are eating clean, lots of fruits and veggies, but not worrying about a cheat meal or 2 a week or an extra glass or wine or beer. You plan your workouts 5 days a week with a fun activity on the weekend.
On your red months, you are still PLANNING on eating clean, but when you go to the office Christmas party you dont stress over that extra cookie or egg nog. You get your workouts in for 30-40 minutes 4 days a week, you hit it hard for a few of those minutes to maintain muscle, but you dont over stress it if you can’t finish and have to head out.
Does this make sense? I think its a WONDERFUL way to look at nutrition and training, and be fit and successful and not feel guilty all year round!
