Welcome back!  I hope you had a great week and you feel rested and hungry for more.

The photo above is from Easter at my mom's house, where we also celebrated my Pepe's 91st birthday.  I was thinking that Easter's such a big holiday for many people that it should have a Monday off, and then I realized that most schools give Good Friday off, and that threw that idea out of the way.  You can't move Easter Sunday to Saturday and you can't move Good Friday to Monday, so unfortunately, people have to deal with shorter visit times and shorter commuting times like we chose, or longer visit times and longer commuting times.  Personally I'd prefer a Monday off, so you could visit longer and not have to deal with choosing between visit times vs. commuting times, but I'll deal with it.  If I'm going to spend time arguing for a stance, I'd much rather spend that time convincing the Mexican world that hard shell tacos are the way to go vs. soft shell.

Anyways... Cinco de Mayo is coming up so ... 

Moving forward.

Our Q2 Theme is fat loss, muscle definition, beach season #1 and summer sports ready.  Fat loss means decreasing body fat, whereas weight loss means the scale goes down.  You can still and always lose weight with exercise, especially in our program, but it's always going to depend on what you do when you're not with me.  Keep practicing your nutrition plan and work the progressions.  It's designed to be a lifestyle plan.  And keep hitting your cardio goals.  If you're doing both of those and the scales not moving, set up a call, so we can talk about it.  

Muscle definition is fun, because you're working to see your muscles.  You're working to get stronger and that's the theme for this phase (strength).  Beach season = feeling good about yourself in summer clothes and at the beach.  Summer sports means preparing you to play this summer in baseball, softball, tennis, golf, swimming, cycling, running, triathlons, rowing, kayaking, cyclo cross, beach / grass volleyball, paddle boarding, surfing, kiteboarding, boogie boarding, body surfing, lacrosse, mud runs and obstacle course races and ultimate frisbee.  

The DB Load increases 5% this phase from 15-35% to 20-40%.  The reps stay the same (5 reps for power and 6 reps for strength).  You'll notice on the strength, not so much the power, that even a 5% increase in weight may not be enough and that's going to be exciting.  It'll be exciting even if 5% is enough weight because you'll know you got stronger because you're doing the same exact exercise for the same # of reps as last phase and potentially for more sets, all with an increase in weight.  It'll be super exciting though if you try 5% and it's not enough, so then you try 10%, 15%, etc...

This could be possible because we train in Phase 4 using a strict tempo and now in Phase 5, you'll do the reps as fast as you can with great form.  This will make it less uncomfortable and allow you to realize the benefits, namely increased strength, of the strict tempo training we did last phase.  

Everything else that didn't go up in weight progressed with progressions.  

This will be our lateral day this phase and we'll use the agility ladder on this day.  

45 Degree 1-2 Stick (Lateral Skater) skipping ever other box.  This allows us to practice deceleration (braking), change of direction and explosive starts from a dead stop.  All which are useful in sports.

Cross In Front (1-side only).  This will really challenge your brain + body connection and maybe help with some neurogenesis.  You'll only crossover on 1-side and then you'll shuffle across.  This is a like a crossover in sports, followed by a quick stop and change back to the other side.  Once you learn the pattern, it's really fun and athletic to do.  

Lateral In-In-Out-Out w/ Step Behind is the same as last phase, but stepping backwards.  It'll feel confusing at first and more normal as you do the reps.  Once you get the pattern add the arm drive.

Medicine Ball Diagonal Chop w/ Pivot Follow Through will be more dynamic.  Instead of resisting rotation with your lower body and rib cage to work on "anti-rotation", this time we'll integrate them to make the movement more athletic and full body.  This diagonal pattern is what you do when you throw, serve, swing and pass from high to low.   It'll be fun.

45 Degree Lateral Skaters w/ a Stick.  These also will be more dynamic as you traverse across the gym bounding from leg to leg and sticking the landings.  This lateral push is what you do when you step to throw and/or swing.  You may not step diagonally when you throw, serve, swing or pass, but the lateral portion of the explosive push is similar to those movements.  It's also fun because you get to express your strength in a powerful, explosive movement.  The better your strength & elasticity, the more springy your bound.

DB Hang High Pull is the next progression leading you to a Snatch progression and in our case a speed snatch.  Some won't progress to a speed snatch because it'll be contraindicated for your shoulder health and you'll stay with the high pulls grooving the technique and working to increase the load.  Of the ones who do progress to the speed snatch, many different weight loads will get used from the very light (5-10 lbs), to the medium (10-25% bw), to the heavy (30-45% BW).  In any case, this full body, compound, explosive, DB Power movement will help you develop power, coordination, athleticism and build full body hotness.  I like to think the pheromones, really start to come out when we add the DB complexes in Q3 and this olympic movements are part of there reason for it.  Full body, multi-joint, compound movements under load, have great hormonal, muscular, cardiovascular and bone density responses.  Especially when they load your axial spine and your appendicular limbs (arms and legs) longitudinally (compressive).  

Side Planks against the wall, are supposed to be more challenging because now you have to hold your body against the wall vs. sliding up and down like with side bridges.  The wall is your truth serum.  It tells you if your joints are properly stacked and aligned.  You're working on anti-lateral flexion, which helps to reduce energy leaks when you move.  Think IT-Band Syndrome (lateral knee pain) or losing your balance on 1-leg.  It also targets the side of the butt, the love handle areas and the deltoid area of the shoulder.  All areas most people would welcome giving attention too.

Neutral Grip Pull Ups is our progression from chin ups.  Work you're progressions.  If you're tired of slowly progressing, the easiest fix is to do more sets.  EVERY WORKOUT aim to get at least 4 sets AND a PR (personal record), whether its a teaching week or a record week.  Do 5, 6, 7 sets if you have too.  You will get stronger and you'll get nicer arms and abs too.

DB OH, FE 1-Leg Bridge is changed to DB on Hip, FE 1-Leg Bridge.  Update your cards please.  The DB OH switches on your abs more, which allows you to control your lumbar-pelvic region better when bringing however it makes your lats more tired, and since we're pairing the 1-leg bridge with the neutral grip pull ups, I'd like your lats to get a rest.  So instead of the foam roller, we'll put your foot on a bench and put your DB on 1-hip.  This for many will feel tiring.  It won't feel challenging like holding a DB overhead did on your arms, but it'll isolate your glute and hamstrings and you'll probably get tired in that area if the weight is sufficient.  

This is a hip extension exercise.  Hip extensors are your sprint and jump muscles and also gives you a place to hang your pants.  Plus, the stronger your butt is the better your stomach looks and the less low back and leg pain you may get.

DB Standing Arnold Overhead Press is cool.  It's basically a DB version of the Barbell Military Overhead Press.  It looks cool, is a great expression of upper body strength and has innumerable benefits.  Its going to make your muscles look strong and well defined.  It's going to have a hormonal effect which will help you to decrease body fat, build muscle, increase bone density and give you more energy.  It, similar to the DB Hang High Pull may give you the "phermones" that you've heard about.  I don't know if there's research on this and I don't recall ever seeing it, but what I do know is there's like a cloud or aura of something when you're around people who do this kind of training.  You can feel the energy coming off them.  It's hokie, so I'm not going to build my business around it, but I've experienced this feeling personally and I've been around people who've exuded this and if you feel and/or experience it, you can place it in the hokie phermone bucket.

Seated Against Wall, Alternating Shoulder Flexion is the level 1 exercise for the overhead press.  It's not as sexy as the overhead press, but neither is a shoulder injury or not being able to wash your hair or reach the top cabinet or lift milk, or take off / put on a shirt... if you get a shoulder injury.  Work this and any level 1 mobility progressions with the intensity you would if it were level 3.  As a baseline everyone wants good health.  Then body transformations and finally performance.  This exercise will help your upper body posture so you can stand taller, have less tension headaches or upper back aches.  It'll also stretch out your lower half because you're sitting against the wall, so if you feel stiff, you get to combine stretching with mobility strengthening.

DB Goblet Lateral Lunges are the exact same as last phase except the DB load increased.  If you're still working level 1 or 2, work your progression with detailed attention and aim to get a 4th or 5th set in per workout by the end of the phase.

This strengthens your lower body in the frontal or side to side plane.  Stepping, throwing, swinging & serving all move in the frontal plane (as well as the transverse and sagittal plane), plus it'll help you to be more durable and injury resistant to inner thigh and groin injuries.  

Conditioning stays the same with the exception of order changes both in Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 and in the actually base running (D1) and multi-directional relay day (D2) set order.  Plus the relay day now adds a band so you'll get to move against resistance to feel more force into the ground and also be able to say you train like Tom Brady.  The triathlon relay stays the same.  Hard, effective and awesome!