Subject: Big goals in hard times: dealing with the “periodization of life”

It was five years ago this week that the pandemic changed the world, and when StrongFirst Certified SFL Instructor, Marcel Hauck, decided to train for the Beast Tamer Challenge—the start of a four-year journey to successfully achieve the goal in 2024.

Beyond navigating the challenges of the pandemic initially, Marcel had to balance the demands of a full and part-time job with shift changes, family life, and training.


Marcel explains:

The biggest challenge for me was creating a structured training plan that fit my individual circumstances—or should I say, life variables. Everybody has different life variables which can change over time. I call this ongoing process the “periodization of life.”


In this article, I want to share some tips and personal experiences that helped me achieve the Beast Tamer Challenge in 2024, despite an extremely unpredictable work and family schedule.

Click here to read the article on how Marcel tested his daily readiness to train. He used an analytical approach, relying on his training log and adjusting the progressions to meet the “periodization of life.”


Dig into this article and share your thoughts on the StrongFirst Forum.

For a deep dive into strength programming attend the
Programming Demystified seminar with Pavel and Fabio Zonin
on June 28-29 in Vicenza, Italy or online.