Ryan Atkins (@ryanatkinsdiet) is a Canadian runner, climber, cyclist, OCR athlete, world champion, and all-around solid dude. If you’ve ever watched Spartan Race coverage on YouTube, you’ll probably seen him crossing the finish line way before anyone else. He’s also a legend in the cycling world.
Ryan is one of those endurance athletes who excels at just about any endurance challenge he takes on. His engine is second to none. How does he do it? Well, in a brief interview with Obstacle Racing Media, he gave away the secret to his endurance training.
Here’s exactly what Ryan said in the interview:
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It’s not complicated. All you have to do is something almost every day. A couple times a week, do something really hard. A couple times a week, do something really easy. And just keep doing it over and over and over again. And you’ll do really well. That’s like 95% of training.
If you do that, you will literally get to within 98% of your potential. And then the rest is just tweaking little tiny things. – Ryan Atkins
Let’s talk about the general concepts that Ryan is mentioning here. There’s a lot of overlap with what he said and what many elite athletes and trainers are doing. When I listen to Ryan’s comment, I hear the following:
- A lot of movement
- Easy training is EASY
- Some hard workouts
- Rest/Recover occasionally
- Consistency
Always Be Moving
“Do something almost every day.”
Live an active lifestyle. Make movement part of your everyday life. Some days, it doesn’t have to be a programmed workout. Just go move.
- Walk your dog
- Go for a walk with your partner
- Throw a frisbee with a friend
- Play catch with your daughter
- Shoot hoops with your neighbor
- Go for a fun bike ride
Some might look at this as Zone 1 training. Your heart rate is below 120 bpm, or possibly even under 100 bpm. It’s super-easy, enjoyable movement. You might not think this helps you as an endurance athlete, but there is a ton of anecdotal evidence that says otherwise.
Easy Training is EASY
You’ve probably heard this a hundred times by now. It’s often cited by elite athletes & trainers as the #1 mistake the rest of us make. We go too hard on our easy days.
I’m not sure how intentional this was, but Ryan used the phrase “really easy.” He didn’t just say “do something easy a few times a week.” He said “do something really easy a few times a week.” Keep your easy days easy.
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Hard Workouts
“Do something really hard a few times a week.”
Make your harder efforts count. Make sure your body is ready to take on a hard workout. And work hard.
There’s still some debate whether it’s more beneficial to work hard-ish but not go super-hard. This allows you to do more hard-ish efforts. Or whether you’re better off going super-hard only once or twice a week.
As with most things, I tend to fall in the camp of… do both. For two weeks, do 1 or 2 super hard workouts. For the next 3-4 weeks, do ~3 hard-ish workouts per week. Listen to your body and see how it responds to each.
Rest & Recovery
This concept isn’t as easy to find in Ryan’s comments, but the part where he says, “do something almost every day,” the almost implies taking some time off to rest & recover. What exactly that recovery looks like can vary widely from athlete to athlete.
I firmly believe that light movement is excellent for recovery, so most of my “off” days still include a good bit of movement (remember “Always Be Moving?”). But there are days when my body just wants to totally chill, so I’ll do very little on those days.
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Whatever the case may be for you, make sure you aren’t overtraining. Your hard work is wasted if you don’t allow for occasional recovery time.
Consistency
This might be the most important one, and I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s the one that is easiest to talk about and the most difficult to execute. We all know consistency breeds amazing athletes—heck, it breeds amazing everything—but actually being consistent with our training is difficult. That’s why there are a handful of elite athletes and thousands of shipping containers full of the rest of us.
The best athletes likely started very small. Little workouts here and there. But they did those workouts nearly every day. Slowly, over time, they added to them. And now, years later, they’re at the top of their field.
Consistency has, is, and always will be king. Easier said than done, though.
There you have it. 76 simple words from Ryan Atkins on how to become an elite endurance athlete. “It’s not complicated,” Ryan says. Yeah… it’s simple. It’s just far from easy.
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