We start a new cycle on July 5th. For the next four weeks, we are continuing the climb out of mediocracy and embracing the higher calling of doing hard and unpleasant things, knowing that enlightenment is only one or two more workouts away. Keep your eyes on your goals, and let nothing cloud your vision. It is so easy to be lulled to complacency by the beautiful sirens that sing so sweet and drive for inaction and the easy passage of time that erodes all things in the end. Stay hard, keep hammering.
Build: One day this cycle in our strength work, we will be doing some supersets. The concept of a superset is to perform two exercises back to back, followed by a short rest (but not always). This effectively doubles the amount of work you are doing, whilst keeping the recovery periods the same as they are when you complete individual exercises. You get more bang for your buck, and most importantly…an insane pump in the muscle groups being used. Try to resist the urge to run in and take a selfie in the bathroom, we are here to train, not post veined-out pics on the gram. Another Build day focuses on pull-up strength and a new movement that we have never done before…A one-arm Bulgarian split squat thruster. Our last Build session this cycle actually involves two pieces. No conditioning on this day. Only beefcake gains. All lifts will be performed at tempo as well.
Charge: Quick and hard. Get some. Short sprint style workouts, with plenty of recovery time in-between efforts…the goal is to make them repeatable…but barely. You should only be able to repeat the exact amount that you are doing. If you had to do 4 instead of 3, you could not hold the pace but you can for 3 because that is how many were required. Couplets and triplets all day.
Grind: A couple of different Grind sessions coming along this block. One of them is all class long. Interval weight training at its best. Lift something heavy and fast, then right into some cyclical cardio. Push the pace, stay present and drive it deep into enemy territory. The other Grind we have going is definitely a burner. For time effort. Do the work, beat your friends, and remind them of it constantly.
Sustain: Is running season over yet? Nope, just getting started. We've got a big test coming up at the end of the summer. Work on trying to be precise in pacing according to what the coach says with regards to the intent of the workout. We want to be able to shift gears, not just be stuck in 1st. We want access to all 6.
Cool Down: Core, grip strength, and some inner thigh isometrics. Working on some gait contralateral cooldowns as well. A contralateral pattern involves an action and/or movement of opposite sides of the body working together. We train a lot of the time in the sagittal plane, so by doing some skipping or marching we are able to get the brain back into the grove, and the theory is that by doing so, we are better able to adapt from the stresses voluntarily placed upon us.
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