What is Tetris of Training?
All programs from Wildman Athletics are meant to fit seamlessly into a scheduling philosophy that we have dubbed “Tetris of Training.”
When we “tetris” our programming, we’re designing themed exercise intervals, laying out each in blocks of time which then, over the course of a given time period, can be arranged to create an overarching training schedule.
These schedules then may be developed to cover short-term training (as with a single, week-long training term). Conversely scheduling may be planned out for multiple months of training, with or without a specific “end point” in mind at the outset of that scheduling.
Tetris of Training schedules can be developed to cover short-term training, such as a week, or may be planned out for multiple months
Why Tetris of Training?
By utilizing this method, we are able to fit a series of set, organized training periods into “blocks” of time, all of which are grouped according to a common theme or “family” of movement.
We are able to deliver training to you that covers short-term, intermediate-term and long-term training and development, yielding a schedule that may be detailed and specific or generalized and “open-ended”, according to the wildly varying, frequently time-sensitive needs of people who train with us.
By utilizing this method, we are able to fit a series of set, organized training periods into “blocks” of time.
“Stacking up” all available programming, according to whatever tools an athlete has on hand is a central design feature of the “Tetris of Training” scheduling philosophy: as written, the Tetris methodology helps to ensure that all programming runs as intended, and with as much efficiency as possible.
There are no extraneous—or “wasted”—movements, and no programming is pursued according to a particular procedure, unless there is a very practical reason for that procedure.
How Our Programs Tetris Together
Wildman Athletica training programs are specifically meant to “plug into” Kettlebell programs, or Heavy Club programs, Mace programs, Olympic Lifting programs, conventional gym programs, Yoga programs, etc., augmenting overall scheduling flexibility within each discipline.
The goal is to maximize the athlete’s available training time, all in the interest of yielding efficient, highly-effective, obvious results that afford both trainer and athlete, alike, the chance to access a high volume, productive schedule on an abbreviated timeline, under pressure.
This “tetris” approach is proven to work for diverse types of training that so often must bend to the demands of any planned training term, because this scheduling approach delivers a workout matrix that is fully-customizable to all athletic needs, and it is also incredibly responsive to almost any variable imaginable.
Most of our programs work best if done twice per week:
An athlete who swings Kettlebells twice per week, then trains with Heavy Clubs twice per week, then works with Mace twice per week, and then does Body Weight training twice per week will have gotten in a total of eight (8) complete workouts over the course of that week.
Flexible to your needs
How each athlete uses the “Tetris of Training” scheduling approach to assemble all of that training time into a cogent, usable, flexible format is entirely subjective, and that is the simple beauty that underpins the success of this idea.
Morning, noon & night, an athlete may stack up a bunch of programs throughout the workout week, all of which are to run for different overall lengths of time, but each one of those constituent programs does features a published estimate of that program’s anticipated run time, so athletes know exactly how much time to allot in the “Tetris of Training” scheduling plan. This small but significant convenience allows athletes and trainers to manage time effectively, so as to maximize available training time, even under intense pressure and extremely tight time constraints.
Wildman Athletica is not a big fan of workouts that do not give any indication of how long it will take the average athlete to complete that training, because such an omission makes it very hard for athletes to effectively plan their training, thereby increasing the likelihood of program “attrition”, also known among trainers as the dreaded “drop-out rate”.
A NOTE FROM MARK WILDMAN
Some of the workouts in my programming have a “shorter” overall runtime, clocking in at the 30 minutes of runtime range, while other programs run longer, up to 40 minutes, or so. Still other programs run in a much shorter timeframe, in the 20-minute range. All of these very different program runtimes fall within very “normal” limits, by design: I have planned each one of these programs to run for a specific period of training time, so that athletes always know exactly how long each program should take, allowing each to be more easy to “stack” into a completely-customized training schedule.
The important thing to remember, though, when designing one such program is that no two workouts from the same program or timing protocol should be “stacked” together, on consecutive training days.
So, for example, an athlete would avoid doing a Kettlebell program on Monday, followed by the same workout on the very next training day.
One idea would be to do, if desired, a “Kettlebell Swings” training session on Monday and Thursday of a given week, with the Wednesday and Saturday workouts of that week centered around a “Clean & Press” regimen; or an athlete might run that idea on any of the other two (2) workout days of that same week, provided those days are non-consecutive.
The point of this “non-consecutive training days” scheduling philosophy is to allow people to build their own workout schedule, tailored to their own goals and equipment needs.
If an athlete lacks a Kettlebell but has a Heavy Club, that athlete should do a Heavy Club program; if an athlete lacks a Heavy Club but has a Mace, that athlete should do a Mace program. Alternatively, if an athlete only has one (1) medium/intermediate-weight Kettlebell from a “big box” retailer, that athlete can do an intermediate Kettlebell program that is suited to whatever weight-level Kettlebell is in that athlete’s current possession.
NO EXCUSES
With this material, I’ve set out to show how all the workouts I write and all the tools we use at Wildman Athletica are affordable, portable and 100% maintenance-free.