Seasonal Training

A challenge for any exercise training program is to maintain a progressive element in the training. Seasonal training allows you to maintain a progressive element to your workouts and also adds diversity to your exercise.

When we were young, the seasons had meaning. For me, spring was the beginning of baseball season. I can remember the joy of the first days in March when we pulled out our baseball gloves, bats and balls. All through the summer school vacation most days were spent on the baseball diamond. With fall and return to school, we put away our baseball gear, and began playing basketball every day after school. I remember walking home with friends in early November dribbling the ball as we walked and talked. This was childhood as we created it—not the organized adult developed activities.

Seasonal training brings back the joy of seasons. Spring no longer brings baseball to my life, but it is the beginning of my bicycle training. Training might be a bit of an exaggeration. I have devised a seasonal cycling game. I ride only once or twice a week. I call this “little boy” riding. I don’t worry about speed and my training measure is distance. Each ride is two or three minutes longer than the previous ride. I ride over the same course each year, and the game is to see how long I can ride by the end of my cycling season. The first ride of the season is usually about one hour, but the end of the season I am approaching four hours. I put away my bicycle sometime in October, and move on to my winter swimming program when I start my lap swim regimen, starting with six or eight laps. By the time by the time spring arrives, I might be swimming up to 60 laps. 

Each season has its own training goals. I begin with a set of exercise benchmarks. Usually these benchmarks are about 50% of the final workouts from the previous season. The goal is to have an improvement over the previous season. For example, in my circuit training course, I have a pull-up station where I was able to do 10 pull-ups at the end of summer training. In the spring, I set a new benchmark, which is some performance under ten. For instance it may be 5 pull-ups. Thus, my seasonal training goal is to exceed the 10 pull-ups from the previous season. Even at almost 80, I usually succeed surpassing the previous season’s performance, but if I don’t, I always have next season.