Eight weeks ago, my house was filled with the endless rumble of kitten and cat feet, squawks and squalls as they chased each other around the house and brawled over treats and toys. They all get along pretty well, but they play hard as fuck much like their two legged cluttermates and do so pretty much all day long. Or, so they did. Over the course of the last two months my cats have gotten downright lazy, and they’re looking at me like I’m a maniac for rushing around and getting shit done when it is clearly time for a day-long siesta, every day, in their awesome little yellow-green eyes. And lest you think I am insane for following the lead of my cats when it comes to pushing weights (cats are not well known for their lifting skills), I am not- it’s everyone else who ignores the events of the natural world to their peril who is the fucking jackass.
Humans, like every other animal on the planet, have their moods, behavior, diet, and activity levels dictated to them by the seasons, and the seasons don’t give a fuck what your programming says. Nor am I talking about seasonal affective disorder, the “affliction” most people use to excuse shitty behavior rather than simply trying harder to be nice- I am referring to the rhythmic clock you have in your body that runs both on a daily and seasonal schedule. These biorhythms are what cause animals to hibernate in winter, nap in midafternoon, and basically dictate every animal’s daily schedule barring catastrophe or a stampede of rabbits through their yard, and they play a significant role in determining your energy levels as well.
I think it was in college that I first noticed the fact the time of year seemed to impact my interest in different styles of lifting, different exercise in general, the amount of rest I needed, the pace of my workouts, and even my appetite and my taste for certain foods, but beyond simply saying “ah, it’s that time of the year” when my workouts would drag in the winter, I did very little with the knowledge. I just knew that the winter was the time for coasting, and every single time I have bucked that trend I have either fucked myself up or just had a bunch of lackluster results that supported my original thesis.
Science hasn’t quite nailed down all of he reasoning behind this, but when most people blabber on about Seasonal Affective Disorder, they’re actually whining about a natural event that is both misunderstood and battled rather than adapted to. In the winter, life slows down- it’s cold, the days are short, and the entire animal kingdom takes that time to chill the fuck out. All except for humanity, whose whims are dictated more by their insatiable greed than logical thinking or an appreciation for the state of the natural world, and who exacerbate the effects of the season in doing so.
I’ll interject here that it seems my impulse to write between December and March matches my impulse to spend many days a week in the gym, so I don’t think this phenomenon is restricted to the physical- it seems to be mental as well. Where I typically have a thoroughly fast turnover in interests and the desire to absorb versus relate information, I currently find myself periodically trapped in an either/or situation that makes putting the proverbial pen to paper nearly impossible. Compounding that fact is my general disdain for humanity in the current climate, which leaves me both humorless and dry in my writing, but it does frame my thesis nicely, and should one go back through my writing I would imagine this would be borne out historically as well.
No matter who you are or what your interests, you will find your physical and mental performance waxes and wanes with the seasons. It only makes sense- the entire year is a leadup to the fall harvest for every animal, followed by a long period of minimal activity during the winter months, followed by a return to activity in the spring. After a quick burst during the planting/rutting season (depending on your species), the summer is a period of steady activity, with a progressive increase through Autumn until the onset of winter. This isn’t some stupid fucking pseudoscientific explanation for why fat housewives feel drowsy in the afternoon- this is simply the natural ebb and flow of life.
Because people love to have disorders that they can blame for their bad behavior, psychologists gave this phenomenon the term “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” giving carte blanche to Karens around the world who use that bullshit to excuse the fact that they’re an hour late and surly as shit to boot, rather than simply admitting they’re being a grumpy asshole because they fucking choose to. None of any of this shit is an excuse to be lazy or show your ass on social media- it’s not a fucking excuse to be an anti-masker, or for having skipped every goddamned science class in your life so that you ended up one of those tin hat-wearing fuckwit eunuchs, or for any other personal failing for which you’re attempting to excuse.
If you’re fat or stupid or unpleasant or ugly, it’s no one’s fucking fault but your own, barring some genetic defect or catastrophe.
You can’t blame your friends, the internet, your parents, or anyone else and be truly honest about the reason you fail to achieve your goals- if you didn’t reach them, you didn’t strive hard enough, no matter what the season. That said, if you take the natural ebb and flow of life into account when planning your goals, you drastically increase the likelihood of achieving them. It’s not like you’d set sail for a distant land without expecting the tides and the winds to affect your trip, and your biorhythms are no different.
Nor were your forefathers- if you look at the people basic motherfuckers love to yammer on about, like the Vikings and the Spartans, they only campaigned in the summer, and they holed up around a fire and said fuck a war in the winter. Summers and fall were about rowing and marching and fighting and planting and harvesting, and winters were about survival and staving off boredom. All of humanity is like that, as are most of the animals in the animal kingdom- it’s just how shit works, no matter your personal feelings on the subject.
The Science
Seasonal changes in climate, temperature, and duration of daylight, particularly in non-equitorial regions, lead to:
- significant increases in eating, decreases in satiety, and a general “lazy as fuck” malaise
- humans are significantly less active in the winter, consume a less diverse diet and eat more, because they’re hungrier. I can personally attest to the fact that I awaken enraged and nauseated by the amount of hunger I am feeling, and last night, for instance, I ate two orders of al pastor and a massive slice of cornbread followed by a 50g protein shake in the four hours prior to bed last night. That’s something on the order of 1500 calories in four hours and I was so nauseated by hunger eight hours later I was drooling and spitting into the toilet right out of bed. And it’s not just me- for some reason we feel fat less satiety in the winter than we do in the summer, and thus eat far more (De Castro).
- In Feb, Mar, and April, you can expect to be a hell of a lot more tense when you pop out of bed than in July and August (Persson)
- scientists thought artificial lighting, heating, and food convenience would diminish the biological significance of seasonal biorhythms, believing people would then have rhythms ore closely resembling those of equatorial peoples, but they discovered the opposite was true.
- “The use of these artificial aids reduces the exposure of individuals to fluctuations in ambient temperature and light, and this is more convenient for practising a modern lifestyle. However, these natural fluctuations contribute to the normal adjustment of the body clock to a 24-h period; their extensive use (artificial aids) will lessen this synchronization and may increase the risk of developing mismatches between the natural environment and the body clock (similar to the problems observed after a time-zone transition or during night work)” (Kanikowska).
Scientists believe that the reason we get fatter is due to these misalignments, which then reduce our satiety and all of that happy horseshit. The cause of the issue isn’t really at issue, because mediating it makes little sense beyond getting a blue light for your house and making the appropriate changes to your expectations and your training methodolgy so you maintain your sense of success from your spring and summer efforts through your seasonal downtime. In more detailed terms,
“It has been claimed that these misalignments may lead to alterations in metabolism and thermoregulation that promote obesity (Johnson et al. 2011; Wyse et al. 2011). While seasonal rhythmicity in energy storage and expenditure is significantly influenced by changes in the external environment (Reilly and Peiser 2006), the nature of daily rhythms in metabolism is more complex. In this respect, humans possess internal timing mechanisms which can act independently of daily changes in the environment. All cells show a genetic potential for daily rhythmicity, but in practice, this rhythmicity is manifested in only some regions of the body. These regions include the liver (which possesses a food-entrainable oscillator) and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) paired structures in the base of the hypothalamus. The SCN normally coordinates rhythmic activity throughout the body (acting via the autonomic nervous system, temperature regulation, hormone secretion, sleep, and feeding behaviour) and is known as the ‘body clock.’ Evidence is accumulating to suggest that the disruption of these body clocks may contribute to metabolic disorders and predispose to obesity” (Kanikowska).
One takeaway from the above is that it appears to my eye that eating on a regular schedule should help normalize your body clock.
If you would like to see some actual metrics on the natural seasonal variation in human activity levels, the Russians conducted a study on seasonal biorhythms that had some very stark results. As one would surmise by looking at the entirety of human existence, we are most active in the spring and summer, with a marked decrease in the fall and winter months.
Applying This Knowledge
Anyone who is familiar with this site knows that I have nothing but contempt for “reasonable expectations,” yet I am not a person who ignores the environment when determining how I’ll train. Seasonal variation in activity levels is no different than training at a gym with different equipment half the year, or switching from sport to sport with the seasons- changing your training goals according to the season might make more sense than beating your head on the wall.
Anytime I have spit in the face of this profound realization, it has been to my detriment. In most cases I simply burned myself and had a lackluster year of training, but in one case I destroyed my interest in training altogether for multiple years by ignoring my body’s requirements. To me, this research all seems to indicate to me that the winter is perhaps a time for less volume, less time in the gym, and perhaps a change of gears altogether.
That’s not to say one should stop lifting in the winter (though a lot of the lifters and bodybuilders in the 50s, 60s, and 70s took a couple of months off in the winter), but it might be a time to hit the machines a bit and build some rep strength and hypertrophy, or maybe you want to switch it up and just train heavy as fuck a couple of times a week. Whatever you do, I would avoid trying to train in the winter the same way you would when the weather outside is nice and the days are long with the expectation that your gains are necessarily going to be the same- it’s pretty certain they won’t be. Whatever you do, don’t get down on yourself if your motivation is in the shitter and you’re dragging yourself through your workouts these days, because I guarantee you that you ain’t the only one dragging.
Also, it couldn’t hurt to get a full spectrum light therapy lamp to blast into your eyes a couple of hours a day, especially before the gym- it makes a hell of a lot of difference in my energy levels and mood. They’re used to treat seasonal and non-seasonal bipolar depression, as they improve serotonin reuptake and help regulate your circadian rhythms (Maruani). If they’re good enough for the nutters, they’re good enough for me, so I use that light daily.
SUPPORT THE STRENGTH SPORTS UNDERGROUND AND A ROGUE ACADEMIC HELLBENT ON FORCIBLY EDUCATING EVERY PERSON WHO’S EVER LOOKED ASKANCE AT A BARBELL.
Sources:
De Castro, JM. Seasonal rhythms of human nutrient intake and meal pattern. Phys Behav. Jul 1991, 50(1):243-248.
Kanikowska D, Sato M, Witowski J. Contribution of daily and seasonal biorhythms to obesity in humans. Int J Biometeorol. 2015; 59(4): 377–384.
Maruani J, Geoffroy PA. Bright light as a personalized precision treatment of mood disorders. Front Psychiatry. 2019 Mar 1;10:85.
Mentore, Brandon. How biorhythms change with the seasons. Medium. 19 Nov 2018. Web. 4 Jan 2020. https://medium.com/@brandnbodylogic/how-biorhythms-change-with-the-seasons-4e82e581a1de
Persson R, Garde AH, Hansen AM, Osterberg K, Larsson B, Orbaek P, Karlson B. Chronobiol Int. 2008 Nov;25(6):923-37.
Talalaeva GV, Khokhutkin IM. Seasonal biorhythms as a feature of human genetic systems. Eur J Nat Hist. 2007, 4:68-73.
Makes a lot of sense. I think I have a very high motivation for training and wil train daily with few exceptions. But yes, when its snowing out or freezing or just grey all day, it is less attractive, harder to overcome initial inertia, but it always ends well. I am easily bored by repetitive training. I came up with “the Programme Hopper’s Programme”. Basically it works because it takes a certain amount of time to lose an ability. 2 weeks is generally safe. so you set up a two week pendulum Mine goes like this- 2 weeks of heavy barbell stuff. Likely do 2 or 3 moves per session, like a press and a row supersetted, squats and stiff leg deadlifts etc. Training daily I limit it it to 20 sets max.
Then 2 weeks light and ballistic – kettlebells are a great option. Probably do one movement per session, like 20 sets of swing, 20 sets of clean and press, 20 sets double snatch, but also complexes are good. And then back to the barbells. the rapid turnover allows for continuation, it doesn’t get stale and boring, you get good at a range of abilities and you avoid overuse issues. I have not tried it but maybe I could attempt a sprint block, Say 200, 400, 800m sprints, possibly throw in chins and dips for upper body. Anyway, the essence is alternating between two contrasting blocks and capping it at two weeks.
Okay, so it’s not just me that’s dragging ass in their workouts then. Haha. I’ve decided to take the next month or two off. Time to dive into some books and learn some new skills instead. Breaks are so fucking valuable in the big picture.
When you do return to training you’re mentally 110% ready to smash workouts, instead of going through the motions and forcing yourself through bullshit workouts all in the name of “consistency”.
Hell yeah man- you said it.
I thought it was because our mat room isn’t heated and Korea is cold as fuck.
All of that shit contributes. In the winter for me it is like every minor inconvenience I experience beyond the unremitting impoliteness of other people is grounds to fight to the death, haha. The end of my probation in March cannot come quickly enough- in the current climate I can get away with hanging a beating on the right people once that yoke is off my neck.
I like this one a lot.
It is strange, I thrive when cold climate kicks in and I am a lot lazier in a hot summer, training-wise.
But in wintertime I am moodier.
I have low blood pressure, that explains it, AFAIK.
Go with the flow, no doubt.
I have a suggestion for an article: bulgarians, singles, Abadjiev, hormonal adaptation, extremely high workload, supplemments and doses, etc…
I did all that stuff ten years ago, haha. It hasn’t changed one iota. I suppose I could dig up articles and update them if need be. I could repost some of the supplement articles I did for Bodybuildr, but I feel like I’ve already covered all there is to cover on that stuff as well. Do you have anything specific out of that list that seems particularly unresolved?
Thanks for the tip on the light lamp. I’ve thought about one, before, and forgot. Picked one up yesterday and am using it now.
I used to be more rigid with my training. My training has become much more enjoyable after ditching the dogma, and the self-imposed “musts.” Way too many ways to train, so there’s no excuse to grind yourself into the ground on one, which no longer resonates. Took 3 hernia repairs and the stress of 2020 for me to think, “you know, if you hate lifting heavy right now, and doing deadlifts and squats, why not do something else?”
Haven’t squatted in forever. Have been doing high rep sets of walking lunges with occlusion bands and a cinder block. How much can I squat now? I honestly don’t care. It’s more enjoyable for me, for now, to push myself with high reps, and use farmer’s carries to maintain an overall strength base.
That light lamp makes a wild-assed difference for me- it’s an official part of the half hour of getting my shit together before taking the trek to the gym- I blast it in my eyes and it wakes me all the way up as my Brain Blitz kicks in. High rep lunges sound like hell on Earth, haha. Better you than me!
Whats your current routine looking like in terms of any workouts? (if any)
Periodically I drop a short article to explain there is no method to my madness, but there is a little method. I will just go ahead and bang out a totally uncited article explaining the theory behind my trianing in such a way that it is hopefully applicable to other people. Fuck knows I have plenty of weed and it’s snowing, so there’s fuckall else to do, haha. So expect a very high training article today, and I will publish whatever is done this afternoon so it’s entirely conversational and not so overwrought.
I meant all of that regarding the bulgarians, to take a look into that specific niche and how they apply all of that. Like the westside series you did, but geared towards them.
The training, the fights, Abadjiev vs the world, the lifters (Suleymanoglu, Vanev, Ivanov, Goebsky, Dobrev, etc…), the supplements, the diet and above all, the mindset to do all of that high load daily.
If you have already done something similar with them, please direct me to it as I have not found it.
On the other hand, what overhead work are you doing these days?
Any plans to compete (covid forgive, that is)?
Interesting. It’s been my understanding that the Bulgarians were basically just a bunch of dudes who saw lifting as the only rock star sport, so they filled themselves with gear and went ham trying to get their head above water in a shockingly shitty country under the Soviets. I could’ve interviewed Abajiev when Glenn was alive, but I have no way to get in touch with him now about that shit. I’ll see what I can do- I pretty much came to the conclusion that most of what was said about them was legend. If I had to put money on it, I’d say all of your questions regarding motivation are answered by vodka, dbol, and the Soviet Union, hahaha. The Bulgarians do deserve their own stewroids, however, at the very least, so if nothing else I will put that at the top of the list to start to get my arms around the story of their lifts. Sound good?
And I started a new article on singles yesterday, after replying to your comment. I pay attention- I just generally hate redoing old work. that said, some of shit needs to be revisited for sure. So one of those is coming as well. And due to the above question I’ll make sure to look into oly lifters as well. If I am honest, I only consider elite oly lifters to even be lifters- the rest are just generally unpleasant people with unremarkable physiques whom I mostly avoid, hahaha. The lower level lifters always act like snobbish dickheads in the gym whenever I have been around them, to the point they make powerlifters seem like a fun bunch.
I’ll probably start competing again this year just to heckle republicans and start fights. The fact I have been grouped with people I truly despise is more than my ego can bear.
Perfect, I look forward to it.
Ah, the Abadjiev thing would have been incredible…that guy is painted as a tyrant, but I like him, he did what considered best and put his best efforts to achieve it.
As in many areas, snobby people do it for the social feeling, not the internal one…like jazz guys, haha
Another interesting guy who had a good physique is Henry Rollins, his hatred and motivation resonates with me.
Rollins has just been done to death, but I agree he’s cool. The one story I can relate of Abadjiev is that he was Pendlay’s kids “uncle,” and he was constantly telling Pendlay’s son his problem was he refused to take his “vitamins” hahaha. Apparently is was a running half-joke. Is he a tyrant? From the stories Glenn told me he sounded like a great fucking guy. Eastern Europeans are a different breed, and Bulgarians are different still. They seem colder than they are- they just grew up in a place where it was apparently not cool to make facial expressions, haha. And they train like animals and drink like they’re suicidal to this very day. Every time I hear about someone training with them, I hear more about their week-long hangover than the training :D.
Unfortunately, it never occurred to me to write anything down Glenn told me, as we were both just drunk and lonely, haha. We were bullshitting about any old thing, hammered as fuck. Sucks he went so fucking early.