In 2021, I achieved two mountaineering and climbing objectives that I’d been daydreaming about for years. The first was summiting Mount Rainier in Washington state. The second was climbing my first 5.12a grade (top rope) at my local rock climbing gym.

Certainly, I unearthed a lot of factors that helped me find success, such as effective visualization, shared accountability, scheduling the work, and setting metrics for success. However, for fitness, 12 weeks created a sweet spot for incorporating periods of intense work and rest. It gave me runway to design training plans around periodization — plans that included a macrocycle, mesocycle, and microcycle — which I plan to dig into more in future posts. (I also believe this work:rest scheduling has helped me escape major injury that presents itself with overtraining.)

I’m continuing to experiment with the 12 week format like for Home DIY projects and Front Lever calisthenic training. I’m not convinced it’s necessary for non-fitness goals, but there’s certainly some mindset/behavioral benefits that could translate.