Roughly a decade ago I decided to conduct a simple experiment--I wanted to see how fit I could get on limited training. Initially, 'limited' was defined as three hours a week (or more accurately, six hours spread over two weeks), and I was measuring fitness by my endurance ability across many sporting disciplines--running, biking, swimming and paddling. The results exceeded my expectations. Despite the fact that conventional wisdom (and just about any 'expert' I asked) suggested that on such a limited training regimen I should keep my ambitions modest, I achieved a level of fitness greater than I'd ever previously enjoyed. I became faster and developed far more endurance than ever before.

Over the next five or so years I asked and explored many questions--why did low volume training work for me? What was the best use of my training time? How often should I work out? What intensity levels could I achieve? What was my ideal schedule physically? Mentally? How could I avoid injuries and maintain motivation? I also researched high intensity training protocols and the mental aspects of performance as they pertain to endurance events.

As I went I found myself in what amounted to an undiscovered country--a no man's land of sort. There was plenty of science on higher intensity training and it's physical benefits, but no one else seemed to be using it as a way to drastically reduce training volume while preparing for epic ultra endurance events. I decided to change this, and wrote my first book, UltraMental: an unconventional approach to training for endurance events on a few hours a week (or less).

Since UltraMental I've continued training for and participating in a few big events every year--from ultra-marathons to those epic winter bike races and multi-day adventure races I mentioned before. My ambitions have not become any more modest, but my training has continued to decrease as I've focused almost exclusively on true high intensity training--efforts that simply cannot happen for more than minutes at a time. Last year my weekly training volume was one hour a week or less, and that is where the idea for this little series of Guides came into being.

That's right--only One Hour a Week can have you in better shape than you have ever been. I know it simply seems too good to be true and you're probably chomping at the bit to get started, but first we better look at some of the fine print...