A year of training is eight to ten blocks of four to six weeks each, a lighter deload week between most of them, and the seasons laid over the top: ski conditioning from October, indoor anchors through the rain, hiking prep from March, a lighter summer that forgives travel, and a September reset. The lifts, the weekly rhythm and the written log stay the same all year; what changes between blocks is the emphasis, the rep ranges and the conditioning tool.
That is the calendar a coach holds when they write your program. Here it is month by month for a North Shore reader, with what moves and what stays put.
The year, month by month
Blocks do not care about calendar months, but seasons do, and on the North Shore the seasons set the deadlines. This is a representative year for someone training two or three times a week; a runner's or a paddler's year shifts the emphasis, not the shape.
| Month | Block emphasis | North Shore layer |
|---|---|---|
| September | Reset: retest the main lifts, rebuild the habit, moderate loads | Work and school restart; the easiest month to hold a booking |
| October | Strength-endurance: higher reps on squats, lunges and hinges | Ski conditioning begins eight to ten weeks before the mountains open |
| November | Power and landing: lateral work, medicine-ball throws, short treadmill intervals | Rain season starts; the booked session becomes the indoor anchor |
| December | Deload, then in-season maintenance: two sessions a week, loads held | First ski days and holiday travel, absorbed by the maintenance dose |
| January | Strength build: lower reps, heavier top sets | Dark mornings; the 5 am open and a fixed slot do the motivating |
| February | Strength build continues; a deload late in the month | Still skiing; the longest uninterrupted build of the year |
| March | Hiking prep: incline walking, step patterns, carries, downhill leg work | Snowmelt sets the timeline; the low trails open first |
| April | Hiking prep continues; conditioning volume rises | Quarry Rock and Lynn Valley are in play; the Grind is close |
| May | Test week on the main lifts, then a deload | Grouse Grind season typically reopens; long daylight |
| June | Maintenance with a mountain bias: two sessions, mountain days as conditioning | Hiking, trail days, Spirit Trail rides |
| July | Maintenance; travel weeks carry one portable session | Holidays; heat pushes training into the early slots |
| August | Maintenance, with a light build in the last two weeks | Late-summer events; September is coming |
Count the deloads: roughly one every five to seven weeks, four or five in the year. They are placed against the season as much as the block: one before the mountains open, one after the last big hike, so the body arrives fresh at the thing the block was for.
What changes between blocks
Between blocks, a coach changes emphasis, not identity. The same squat is there in October and January; what differs is how it is loaded and what surrounds it.
- Rep ranges: higher in the October block, lower in the January build, moderate in maintenance
- The conditioning tool: medicine-ball power in November, incline walking on the Woodway treadmills in March, hill repeats before the Grind
- The accessory work: lateral lunges and Cossack squats before ski season, step patterns and tibialis raises before hiking season
- The number of sessions: three in a build, two in maintenance, one portable session in a travel week
- The set structure: straight sets early, top sets with back-off sets when the build gets heavy
Inside a block, the program repeats on purpose: same movements, same order, rising loads. The repetition fills the log with comparable numbers, and the comparison tells the coach when the block has done its job. The ski conditioning guide and the hiking-season on-ramp show the two seasonal blocks in detail.
What stays the same all year
More stays than changes, and that is deliberate.
- The five patterns: squat, hinge, push, pull and carry, in every block
- The weekly rhythm: the same booked days, so the habit survives the block changing underneath it
- The written log: every load recorded, because a retest only means something against last September
- The warm-up, and the two-in-reserve default on most sets
- The coach reading the log, which turns a year of sessions into a year of training
Travel weeks, sick weeks and the weeks that vanish
A year has interruptions, and the calendar absorbs them. A travel week in July costs almost nothing: it lands in a maintenance block, and a hotel dumbbell session holds the line. The same week in the January build costs more, so a coach who knows it is coming places the deload there instead of fighting it.
A sick week is a forced deload; if it lands near a planned one, the planned one moves. Two missed weeks in a row is where a coach retests rather than resumes.
Where you join the calendar
Nobody starts in September on purpose. You join in the middle of whatever block is running, and your first block is your own: learning the patterns, finding loads, building the habit. The first 90 days describes that on-ramp; after it, your calendar syncs with the seasons like everyone else's.
At Coresa, small group training is programmed in blocks with individual loads, so the calendar above is the one the room runs on. A 1-on-1 program follows the same seasons, with the assessment and your goals deciding the emphasis. For the season map in broader strokes, see training across North Vancouver's seasons.
Common questions
How many blocks should a year have?
Eight to ten for most people, depending on how often deloads fall and how many weeks life removes. Beginners often run fewer, longer blocks because simple week-to-week progression keeps working.
Do I have to take the deload weeks if I feel great?
Take most of them, and certainly the ones placed before a mountain season, because those are protective. Feeling great in week six is often the last week before you stop feeling great. The exception is a block already interrupted by travel or illness, which has had its deload already.
What if I start in February, in the middle of the strength build?
Your first weeks are your own on-ramp whatever the month. You join the build at your own loads, and the March shift to hiking prep arrives for you the way it does for everyone, with lighter weights and a shorter log.
Does a 1-on-1 program follow the same year as the group?
The same seasons, a different emphasis. A 1-on-1 program starts with an assessment and the blocks are built around your goals: a runner's year around race dates, a return-from-injury year around the physiotherapist's milestones. Which format suits you is a question for the consult.
