Last month’s training program reintroduced heavy strength training while dialing back conditioning. May’s training program is similar. But we’re hitting you with some notable changes to improve maximal strength and mobility while maintaining the work capacity we built during the first part of the year.
And we’re making a big change to improve your recovery and performance during your strength workouts. Let’s jump right into it.
Monday and Thursday: Strength A and B
Did you catch it?
The Strength B training session is on Thursday during this training phase. And for good reasons. We want to improve your recovery and your ability to get the most out of your workouts.
Strength A, Strength B, and Vigor are relatively intense workouts. You can do them back to back and make gains. But the schedule isn’t optimal. We looked at our own training data (mine and Chris’s). Then we chatted with some of you folks about your recovery. The data and the answers persuaded us to put another day between Vigor and Strength B. So, we are flip-flopping Strength B and Endurance. Endurance class is on Wednesday during this training phase.
Endurance class mostly keeps your heart rate in the recovery/aerobic capacity zone, meaning it will help you recover from Monday’s and Tuesday’s intense training while preparing you for another intense workout on Thursday.
We know that schedule changes aren’t always super neat, but trust us on this. First, know that it is an experiment. If it doesn’t work we will switch back to the regular schedule. Also, trust us with this. We’ve stuck with that schedule because of habit, not because it was necessarily the best training schedule. We’re confident that this change is the best thing for your progress.
Okay, let’s talk about the Strength A and Strength B workouts.
We’re using unilateral (one-sided) power progressions during this training phase for two reasons. First, unilateral power training helps you improve your general athletic ability. Second, it moderates the training intensity. The last phase’s power training was all intensity. This month we’re harnessing those gains and putting them to use athletically.
Strength training reps go up to sets of 6 while keeping the exercise options constant. Increasing the reps is part of our plan for undulating periodization. Our strength training reps during this training block terminate with sets of 3. But the body seems to adapt best to training stimuli that are introduced in waves rather than in linear progressions. So, instead of programming sets of 5, then sets of 4, then sets of 3, we programmed sets of 5, sets of 6, then sets of 3. The ultimate goal is to improve your maximal strength. We’re just walking a wavy path to get it done.
Assistance training is back and replacing mobility training at the end of the workout this month. But since Resilience gives us most of the assistance training we need (more on that in a bit), we’re bridging the gaps between true assistance training and mobility training. The result is improved athleticism.
Tuesday: Vigor
Vigor class is more dynamic during this training phase. Rather than only interval training on the cardio equipment, we’ll do some work on the cardio machines and then hop off for carries, sled pushes, etc.
The workout builds on last month’s class by keeping your heart rate in a higher training zone for longer. The goal is to circular breathe (in through your nose and out through your mouth) during each work interval.
This setup bridges the gap between the last phase’s intervals and phase 3’s threshold training. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, threshold training is back in phase 3.
Wednesday: Endurance
Same setup here, folks. We’re progressing the difficulty of each exercise, but the workout remains essentially the same. With big schedule changes, the readdition of assistance work, and the increased intensity of Vigor, it would have been silly to make big changes to Endurance. We need a constant with so many other changing variables. Plus, this class is pretty fun.
Friday: Resilience
You guys gave the 1×20 training rave reviews. We’re keeping it this time around, but with a little change – we’re doing unilateral exercises. Instead of doing 18, bilateral movements, you’ll do 12, unilateral movements. You’ll do 25% more work in the same amount of time…and you’ll still be pumping those bis and tris. 😉
This is called increasing the training density. It trains your body to do more work in a given amount of time, improving qualities like hypertrophy, cardiovascular fitness, etc.
Okay. You know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Let’s kick some ass this month.
