My 12-Week Training Program: Building Strength, Endurance, and Resilience

Hey there! If you’ve been following my journey on my What I’m Doing Now page, you know I’m all about experiments that spark growth, like my semen retention challenge . This time, I’m diving into a 12-week fitness challenge to build strength, endurance, and resilience while keeping it fun. Inspired by German “Kampfschwimmer” (Navy SEAL equivalent) and functional fitness YouTube channels, I’ve crafted a plan to hit 8/10 intensity in my dream training week. I’m in Week 7 now, and it’s been a wild ride—here’s the story, with reflections, my training plan, and what’s next! 😊

The Backstory: Why This Challenge?

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Growing up, fitness wasn’t my thing—biking and school PE were it, and strength training was frowned upon in my family. In 2016–2017, I hit the gym for 18 months and loved it, but moves and a tough battle with depression from 2020–2023 derailed me. In 2024, I got back to the gym, but it didn’t fully click until I found YouTube channels by former soldiers and Kampfschwimmer. Their mindset lit a fire under me, and I noticed my immune system needed a boost to handle intense training. So, I designed a 12-week plan to build endurance first, aiming for a dream week of:

• 4x circuit training (4 exercises, 4 rounds)
• 1x 5km run
• 1x 10km run

I sketched it out on a sheet of paper, starting with a “Week 0” mid-week, and mapped a gradual intensity curve. Here’s the initial plan:

Each intensity level is defined by workout effort and volume, and it’s working like a charm. Let’s dive into how I scaled the intensity and what Week 7 brought!

How I Scaled Down the Intensity

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To build up to my dream 8/10 week, I carefully scaled the intensity levels to balance challenge and recovery. Here’s how each level breaks down:

This progression keeps me challenged but sustainable, ensuring I build strength and endurance without burning out. It’s all about staying healthy and having fun while pushing my limits.

Week 07: Grit and Growth

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This week, I started feeling a bit off, likely from a weather shift and not enough fruits and veggies, which brought mild cold symptoms. Of course, this hit during the hardest week so far:

Despite the sniffles, I pushed through. It wasn’t as easy as Weeks 1–6, but I felt a spark of pride for staying the course. My goal is to hit an 8/10 intensity week without getting sick, and I’m on track.

This weekend, I dove into meal prep to get my calorie intake under control. I tried calculating meals with Google Sheets, but it was a total hassle. Switched to MyFitnessPal for tracking, and it worked like a charm. I cooked a second recipe alongside my usual one and tested it — great! Today, I’m in a big calorie deficit but feeling good. Tomorrow’s back to work, so I’ll see how it goes. At work, I usually grab stuff from the supermarket during breaks. I tried bringing my original dish to work a few months ago, but it didn’t taste good cold, so it never stuck. I’ll test the new recipe and keep experimenting. This weekend showed me that clear meal plans and tracking make calorie control easy—no hunger, no suffering, and it saves money too! 😉

Looking Ahead: Deload and Meal Prep

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Week 8 is my deload week, and I’m pumped for it! It’s all about recovery—light running sessions (30–60 min) on training days, no heavy circuits—to recharge for the final month. I considered moving the deload to Week 7 due to feeling off, but sticking it out feels great now. For Weeks 9–12, I’m tweaking the intensity order from 6, 7, 8, 1 to 7, 6, 8, 1 to avoid a linear ramp-up, giving me a slightly lighter week before crushing the 8/10 intensity week. Here’s the final plan:

Better meal planning will keep me energized and healthy, setting me up for success in the final stretch. I’m excited to see how the new recipe holds up at work and to keep refining my approach.

Week 8 - A Look at Nutrition

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I’ve noticed that I’ve become significantly fitter and am making good progress toward my goals. However, I’d like to lose a bit more fat, and it’s been clear for a while that I should start tracking my calories again. Thanks to better meal prep, this has become much easier, and I’ve reactivated my MyFitnessPal account. In the long term, I’d like to try the MCI app, but more on that later.

In short, tracking is going well—it’s even a bit fun—and it really helps me keep an overview of my calorie intake. It’s surprising how quickly you can misjudge things when you indulge in a sweet treat or something special ;)

Week 9 - Reflection

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The deload week was really necessary and did me good. However, I think I could have done a bit more exercise. It felt a bit odd to do so little—I’ll plan things differently in the future.

Now, I’ve almost completed Week 9, and my thoughts are circling around whether the goal I set for myself is really that sensible. First, I wasn’t feeling quite as fit this week. I noticed some mild cold symptoms, but I also think the small calorie deficit—or at least not having a surplus—is costing me some strength and endurance. At times, I felt significantly less capable, or it took me a long time to really get going.

I’ve also noticed that on consecutive interval days, I’m mentally calculating what intensity makes sense for each training day. This leads to less intense sessions. While this helps me manage my energy well over the week, I think my strength gains aren’t really benefiting from it.

Two really tough strength sessions per week would probably be much better than four half-hearted ones… Plus, running is currently more fun and feels better for my well-being and health. So, I’m considering adjusting the last two heavy weeks of this 12-week program. I think my ideal 8/10 week would look something like this:

• 3x circuit training (4 exercises, 4 rounds)
• 2x 5-7km run
• 1x 10-15km run

Week 12 - Final Reflections

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It’s fucking unbelievable how well I’ve worked through this program! It was much easier to stick with than I thought, I’ve gotten so much fitter, and I now feel ready to keep training consistently. This experiment was absolutely worth it!

Unfortunately, I didn’t reach my body fat goal of 22%, but I’ll measure again soon and I’m sure I’ve made significant improvements. Calorie tracking made a huge difference here, and since starting, I’m no longer constantly in a calorie surplus. I simply lacked the experience to accurately gauge which foods might be extremely high in calories. Tracking makes so much sense and is actually fun.

I probably would have come much closer to my body fat goal if I had started calorie tracking earlier. But this experiment was a journey of continuous improvement.

Through this process, I’ve also figured out how I like to train and want to keep training. This week is officially a deload phase, but I don’t think I’ll take it too seriously. I’ll just see how well my body has recovered from the previous day’s training and adjust the intensity accordingly. This should help me avoid overtraining while keeping the fun factor high.

It’s definitely fun to design and follow a periodized training plan like this. I can only recommend it to anyone who might be stuck on a plateau and wants to make progress.