Building On Your Skeleton

Early in my biology classes (which I had a strong fondness), I learnt the relevance of the skeletal structure. How could something that looked so disturbing (without the flesh) be so vital to our movement? I also learnt the fact that ‘Function follows form’, or that the structure determines the functionality. As an analogy, both bats and birds have similar wing structure so they fly although one is a mammal and has no feathers.

In writing, we follow a simple structure of Beginning, Middles and End. We start with an Introduction, Main Body, and the Conclusion. We flesh it out with facts and content, which makes the written correspondence or verbal presentation useful and relevant to the audience.

I am reading again, Chris McCormack’s book ‘I’m Here To Win’. Macca describes the relevance of a skeleton for training. It is the basic foundation upon which to address your weaknesses, and build your performance from. The skeleton is a structure that allows you to build upon it, with flexibility so that one does not become regimented and rigid like most endurance athletes can be. Macca identifies one key workout for the day, and if he feels tired he can skip the other sessions.

My skeleton before an Ironman race is:

1)    Three (3) training sessions for each discipline per weekly block (could be a 7-8 day week)

2)    Key session for each training day; it must be completed (tired or not): technical, or strength-building

3)    Integrate key rest days, usually once in 4-5 days

4)    Whey-protein drink at breakfast or before I sleep, or soon after a key workout

5)    If I am fatigued or tired, I sleep in an hour or two, and train more refreshed and alert (makes more sense than to over-train)

6)    Races are my training days/time trials and constitute my anaerobic/strength sessions

This skeleton follows the guidelines of my expected outcomes, age, committed time for training, and my recovery status.

Leadership Lessons: What is your skeleton for your career? How do you design your lifestyle (considering work-life balance)? How often do you tweak your skeleton training program? What is you skeleton plan for your personal learning and development?