Training goal

Conditioning

Conditioning is the work that keeps a skill available late. Femke Bol’s HIIT sits next to the hurdles. Jon Jones uses intervals and treadmill sprints inside a lifting week. Islam Makhachev puts uphill sprints under a wrestling camp. Katie Ledecky’s aerobic volume is the pool version of the same idea, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s mix of cycling, running, and swimming is the football version.

Conor McGregor’s MMA overview belongs here because a camp day is more than the highlight round. Marchand and Biles carry extra conditioning in their own weeks — dryland cardio, and the swimming or biking Biles uses for stamina — so the latest grid below includes anyone whose plan lists this goal.

Strength and power is the force. Mobility is the recovery that lets you repeat the interval. Fight skills is what the engine is for, if the sport is the cage.

Start with Femke Bol’s HIIT — intervals in service of the 400m hurdles.

Latest conditioning breakdowns