I asked readers for help making this the best fitness insider newsletter, bar none.
For this survey, 147 of you shared your feedback.
Thank you. Seriously.
Digging through the responses, a few things jumped out at me that I wanted to share here.
You Are Not a Beginner Audience
Almost 74% of respondents had been training for more than five years. Hell ya!
A large chunk were coaches, trainers, health professionals or competitive athletes. Most already understood that protein is useful and randomly flailing around on a BOSU ball is not advanced programming.
Good.
That means I can keep descending into the physiology nerd chute hard.
You Want Science You Can Actually Use
The three most requested areas were:
- Applying research to real-world training
- Metabolic health, longevity and aerobic base
- Recovery, HRV and sleep
Readers also wanted more on strength, muscle, VO₂ max, conditioning, nutrition and body composition.
No shock there. What was more useful was how you wanted the information delivered.
Almost 74% wanted practical training and nutrition examples, while about 65% wanted short, actionable tips.
You still want the deep science dives. However, you want me to land the plane and tell you what to do with the information.
Message received.
I’ll keep the science. Making the application clear is just as important: what to try, how much to do, when to adjust it and how to fit it into real life.
Time Is the Recurring Enemy
About one-third of respondents mentioned time, scheduling, work, family or competing priorities as a major obstacle.
In other words, you do not need another perfect program designed for someone who apparently lives beside a squat rack and has no job, family or laundry.
That is why minimum-effective-dose options, realistic programming examples and ways to combine strength, cardio and recovery belong in the conversation.
You should not need a second life to fit training into the one you already have.
We Are an Experienced Crew With Some Mileage
About 86% of respondents were 40 or older, and nearly 59% were 50 or older. I’ve got some mileage myself, so I hear ya.
That does not mean “easy chair fitness.” It means intelligent training for people who want to stay strong, build muscle, improve aerobic fitness and remain hard to kill for a very long time.
Material for Masters athletes matters here, including recovery, longevity, bone health, aerobic programming and adjusting training as your mileage goes up.
There was also strong interest in custom aerobic training blocks: about 77% of respondents were at least somewhat interested.
That deserves a thoughtful approach rather than throwing together another generic Zone 2 PDF and releasing it into the internet swamp.
Thank You for Shaping the Conversation
If you completed the survey, thank you again.
Your answers help shape the information I share and how I explain it.
The priorities are clear: keep the science, make the application useful and account for the actual humans trying to fit training into busy lives.
Onward,
Dr. Mike
