Do you feel like your fitness training has become stagnant and boring?
Like waking up in a Planet Fitness Groundhog Day?
Same gym. Same exercises. Same rep ranges. Year after year.
I’m a big fan of consistency and repetition. I think there is a virtue in being okay and even happy doing the same thing over and over again.
But when it comes to my physical training, I’ve learned over the last decade that adding some seasonality to my exercise routines has great benefits, both physically and psychologically.
We’ve written before about the value of seasonality in everyday life to help you overcome the “horror of the same old thing.” And we offered the example of creating seasonal music playlists: you create playlists, either for general listening or for training, consisting of songs that you only listen to in spring/summer/winter/autumn. Putting your music on this kind of rotation builds anticipation for certain albums/artists to return, keeps the songs fresh and adds more of a special vibe to each season. The repetition is still there, but it’s paced. It makes the year feel more textured, rather than a monotonous blitz of sameness.
This same principle applies just as well to physical training, and arguably with even greater efficiency.
Why you should add some seasonality to your training
Seasonal training emphasizes. When you train the same way year-round, your fitness goals condense into a vague, shapeless piece that doesn’t focus your effort. Without a clear focus, you are trying to train to be strong, lean, well conditioned, mobile and pain free all at the same time. None of these goals are bad. The problem is that your training never clearly emphasizes one over the others. Changing your workout with the seasons gives it a focus long enough to get things done, but not so much that you get bored.
Seasonal training gives your body a break. Lifting weights is one of the best things you can do for long-term strength and health. It is also stressful on the joints and connective tissue when pushed hard, week after week, month after month. Runners have the same issue. If all you do is long runs after long runs, week after week, you will accumulate overuse injuries.
You can give your body a break by simply changing what you do. Change is rest! For example, during the fall and winter, I focus on heavy lifting with barbells. After a while, it hits my tendons. In the spring and summer, I give my connective tissue a break from heavy lifting with lighter weights and more variety beyond the bars.
Seasonal training keeps motivation fresh. When there’s no change in focus, training can start to feel like a job without an offseason. You start to feel like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the mountain over and over again. Working out becomes a chore rather than something to express your vitality. Seasonal changes create something to look forward to without requiring constant schedule changes. By the end of winter, weightlifting starts to feel stale and you’re ready for higher rep work and lighter loads. By late summer, the bulk seems to play out and the thought of moving heavy weight again is appealing.
Also, just as saving certain music for certain seasons adds texture and rhythm to your life, saving certain activities for certain seasons can do the same. It gives you something to anticipate and enjoy again. When summer rolls around, you enjoy getting back in the pool for cardio. When autumn sets in, you find joy in running again on clear mornings.
Seasonal training aligns with how your energy actually fluctuates throughout the year. Your schedule, sleep, stress levels, daylight exposure, and social calendar don’t stay constant throughout the year. During the fall and winter, I’m busy taking the kids to basketball games and other after school activities, so I don’t have time for really long workouts. I need something that lasts about 45 minutes. During the summer, my schedule opens up and I have time for longer workouts. Training as if your life is an unchanging constant will only create frustration and friction. What feels like a good workout in July can be taxing in January. Seasonal training assignments with these changes instead of fighting them.
How to add some seasonality to your workout
Seasonal training doesn’t require complicated periodization charts or constant program bouncing. It just means that you change the main focus of your training, the length of your workouts, and/or the ways you participate as the seasons change.
You can put both your strength training and cardio routines on a seasonal cycle. For example, you might focus on building strength with barbells for one half of the year, then emphasize size using machines to develop hypertrophy for the other half. And/or you can run and row indoors for cardio during the fall/winter, then switch to running and swimming in the spring/summer.
Here’s how I incorporate seasonality into both my training and nutrition:
Autumn and Winter: Season of strength
From September to March, my focus is on strength and mass.
This is when I prioritize low-rep, heavy-bar work over the main lifts – squats, presses, and deadlifts. The goal during this phase is not variety or conditioning. it’s performance — moving weight, reacquainting yourself with heavy loads, and practicing the ability to exert maximum effort.
I still do accessories and some hypertrophy training, but it’s secondary. I do some cardio, but it’s minimal and mostly there to support recovery and general health, not push the limits of fitness. Because, as mentioned, my schedule is busy during this time, these sessions are quite short — usually just 45 minutes.
This is also the time I bulk. I eat up to 3,600 calories a day and can put on up to 15 pounds of muscle and fat during that time.
I don’t get dirty in bulk. I’m taking it nice and slow. I slowly titrate my calories these months. When the holidays came around, I loosened the reins a bit on macro tracking. The timing makes sense. Colder weather naturally increases appetite. I can lean into the many holiday food opportunities without feeling socially out of sync. Trying to maintain a strict diet during Thanksgiving and Christmas is possible, but it takes extra effort and is mentally expensive.
Spring and Summer: Hypertrophy, Lean and Movement
As winter slips away and the days get longer, I’m intentionally moving away from heavy, low-rep work.
Spring and summer are when volume increases and loads decrease. I focus more on hypertrophy type training: higher volume and a greater variety of exercises. My joints and tendons are taking a break from near max efforts on the main barbell lifts.
Mobility also becomes a bigger part of training during this season. The goal is to improve my range of motion and undo some of the stiffness that heavy winter lifting can create.
I do more cardio in the spring/summer and since the weather permits, more movement outside. I’ll pop more. I’ll be doing some heavy lifting. We also try to get out as a family hiking and backpacking more often in the spring and summer. Gotta take advantage of these long days!
I start cutting during this season and my calories drop. I gradually work to lean out, usually aiming to get back to around 11% body fat. Interestingly, eating less is easier to do in hot weather. Appetite tends to be lower. And honestly, after bulking up, going down to 2,600–2,800 calories a day feels like a relief. It’s nice not having to think about getting enough food every day. I also fast more during the warm months.
How to add seasonality to your training without overcomplicating it
Here’s a simple way to incorporate seasonal training into your routine. Don’t overthink it!
Choose one main focus per season. Choose a focus for your season and let others play a supporting role. Maybe during the fall/winter, your focus is strength, and in the spring/summer, cardio/endurance. Find what you like and do it.
Customize your environment. More indoor, gym-based work in the winter. More movement outdoors in warmer seasons. (Though try to get outside in the colder months too!)
Decide when the season ends. Having an endpoint prevents a productive phase from turning into a stale grind. Your workout “seasons” don’t have to follow the literal seasons of the year, but I like to split mine into spring/summer and fall/winter chunks.
Experiences unfolding in defined cycles offer novelty and familiarity — a sustainable freshness. By adding seasonal rhythms to your training, the pursuit of good health becomes easier to maintain over time, more productive and much more rewarding.
