Summer is flying by and I hope everyone is staying safe and having a good time while doing it.
There are many different ways out there to run a successful program. We have developed our own way of doing it here at Targhee Athletics. I am not saying ours is the best available, as I think that would be very short-sighted and disingenuous…but I would say, that we have settled into a unique groove that is sustainable long term and gives each individual an opportunity to continue to grow within the realm of fitness and life, in direct relation to how much they are willing to invest in themselves. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and all change comes at the cost of something else, good change or bad change, same same. With the exception being, where you end up at the end. Further along the road to who or what you want to be…or flailing along, pulled by this monkey brain that is barely evolved enough to communicate our differences without breaking into child-like tantrums at the first sight of discomfort. But I am an optimist, I believe in the stories of heroes and the chance of redemption. I believe that if you truly want something, it is within your power to grasp, and if not yet, then pursue it with reckless abandon. But I also believe that most of us do not know what it is we truly want, so we spend our valuable time following the ideas and misguided propaganda of others. Fashion, Sex, Aesthetics, Fame, Politics, etc…Somewhere long ago I read something that has always stuck with me…”People do not have ideas, ideas have people”. Ideas that have people flame out quickly when the going gets tough. But those that try to understand ideas and strive for higher ideals, whether of wanting to be a better person, be in better shape, or live a better life…than well, the sky is the limit.
So here we are starting a new block this beautiful first week in August and it is up to you to do with it as you will. Two days a week we will be trying out a different format. We will be going straight into the conditioning right after the warm up. The warm ups for these days will be geared toward general movement prep and getting the heart rate up and central nervous system primed for intensity. We are looking to go into the conditioning pieces fresh. Without having strength sets first, this gives everyone the opportunity to crank it up to eleven, or whatever the workout prescription calls for that day. Aerobic day is still kicking around, but we are going back to an interval style, and are highly recommending nose breathing for the entire duration of the workout. The pace at which you can go, therefore, should be directly related to how competent you are at nasal breathing. We would rather you slow down and breath through your nose, then to go too fast, only to be gasping like a fish out of water shortly after the session starts. The other two days in our August training block are also formatted a little bit differently. One day is focused on single limb functional body building and the other is based on keeping our bodies strong and fast. Heavy weight for low reps followed by fast and short explosive activities.
Conditioning, as mentioned above is moved into the driver seat for two days each week. They will be shorter workouts, that are either supposed to be repeatable efforts, or multiple individual workouts that you only go through once each. We also have our easy nose breathing day and regular ol’ AMRAP day. The world burns brighter for the ingenuity of those that have gone before us and we stand on the shoulders of giants. Meaning this shit works, and what you constantly pursue, soon you will become. Also as an honorable mention, on the days that conditioning comes first, we will be doing some more functional core and total body strength work as a finisher.
Cool downs are focused on wrist and grip strength, hip mobility and a new breathing drill to help move you out of a sympathetic state and into a parasympathetic, or recovery state.
Coach