Phase 10's Peaking Phase!
That's the theme. Peaking. Peaking for fall sports, fall races, fall events and fall photos. Q3 is the only quarter that has 4 phases. The rest of the quarters are comprised of 3 phases. The last phase of a quarter is always our peaking phase in which week 1 feels like week 3 (isn't that what you said on Tuesday Amita, that week 1 felt like week 3?). That's because by the time you hear & maybe see the movements, you already know what to do. You almost don't need to see me demo because of your familiarity. If you don't need to see the demo and you know what to do in most cases just by hearing it, then it means the demos if any are shorter, leaving more time to do the full workout in week 1.
Doing the math. If week 1 feels like week 3, then what will phase 10's week 2, 3 and 4 feel like? Hopefully they feel like change happening FAST!
Tapering / Unloading
Empowerment weeks and week 1's tend to be tapering and unloading weeks. Often times and in many cases you do much less work than you did in week 3 and/or week 4 in which you do the full workouts. These tapering and unloading weeks allow you to recover so you can realize and reap the benefits of your efforts from the previous phase & quarter by becoming stronger, leaner, faster, quicker and more energized.
That realizing and reaping the benefits is what I'm aiming for you to experience in your peaking phases and most especially THIS peaking phase.
When you taper for a race it means after your longest run say for example 22miles if you train for a marathon, you'll have 1 to 2 weeks of unloading or tapering in which your mileage decreases so you can recover and get stronger to peak for the marathon.
In strength & conditioning or specifically in Change Your Body Boot Camps, we spent June, July & August, phases 7, 8 and 9, building strength and skills through some of our most advanced programming and heaviest loads. You've heard me call these intensity phases, in which we increased the intensity each phase. You also may have noticed the reps decreased this quarter with some exercises starting with as few as 4 reps (e.g. 1-leg squats to a MB). The reason the reps were so few is because the intensity of the exercise, skill was so great that it took a lot of effort (and time) just to get 4 reps, compared to 1-leg squats on a bench or to a bench, which are equally challenging, but not as intense as 1-leg squatting to a ball. And 1-leg squats are much more intense (and take more time) than rear foot elevated splits squats, which are way more intense (and take more time) than a regular split squat.
So P7, 8 & 9 were intensity phases and much like running your 22 mile in preparation for a 26.2 marathon race, we're now going to begin our taper.
Armor vs. Lead Suit: Same, Same, but Different!
Another thing you often hear me say is putting on our armor. When you lift weights, when you strength train, when you challenge your body with difficult strength and skill exercises, you build up your body & mind to be stronger and more durable. You put your armor on. Little things don't bother you as much or at all and big things can often look like a challenge you can meet and take on.
Physical Armor
Story: When I play basketball and I've strength trained earlier in the day, I have my armor on. I don't even realize it until there are bumps, contact and collisions with other people. They notice it, but I don't. And if they don't like it they start complaining or giving me contact or cheap shots back. It's fine and part of the game, but that's the beauty. I don't even feel it. When I played basketball in high school before starting to lift weights regularly in college, I was ALWAYS on the ground from contact and collisions (I graduated 5'11, 147 lbs.). Now I'm only on the ground if my feet get tangled up with someone else's. It's so fun to have your armor on.
Psychological Armor
Story #2: The other part of your armor is your courage or psychological resilience. You spiritually, emotionally, mentally, your confidence, your attitude, whatever you want to call it, when your armor is on, you either don't feel pushback or no's or negativity, or it doesn't even matter, because you have the durability, resiliency, confidence and focus to keep going on the path you've chosen in the moment and you almost can't be stopped. It's awesome. It's fantastic. It's noticeable by others. It feels great.
Vanessa's an Alpha. Her way isn't always right (I mean it's almost always right, but I may not always be ready to hear it), and sometimes you have to push back. Our developers bully my non-American neighbors and try to bully me. Nope. I push right back and give my neighbors the words and encouragement to push back for themselves. The Alves are tough. When they were in Portugal and were sustenance farmers and didn't have enough food, they rented out the kids to other families to help with work on their properties. When they came to America, they were called, "green horns" and everyone doubted them because they were immigrants, so they were constantly having to prove themselves. When your armor is on, you might not even notice pushbacks or words people say. Vanessa is always saying, "how did you feel when so and so said that." "I didn't even notice", would be my reply. "That didn't make you feel bad or bother", she might say. "Nope! But now that you mention it, it wasn't very kind of them."
Lead Suit
Sometimes however the armor can feel heavy. Nobody wants to feel like their armor and/or their body feels like a lead suit weighing them down. Especially when you have so many responsibilities and people counting on you.
Tangent: When you make time to train and you train, you change your identity and become this superhuman version of yourself. It's an awesome experience. The side effect is people around you now expect you to be that person all the time because you're more awesome than ever and who wouldn't want to be around superhuman people. It's cool.
When your armor starts to feel heavy and worse if it feels like a lead suit you need to rest & recover asap. Imagine how heavy a runner's legs feel after a 22mile run. Do you think they want to run 24 or 26 miles the following weekend? No way. They haven't recovered and adapted yet. They need to back off, unload and taper so that the super compensation effects (results) of overreaching (running further than they have all program) can progress them forward to peak for race day.
That's the same same here. You've built up strength and durability, skill and athleticism, power and explosiveness all summer and now it's time to show it off. You don't want to be strong and slow. You want to be strong and fast and athletic.
So we're going to peak you. Peak you for fall sports, fall races, fall events and fall photos.
Plus. Everyone, not just CYBBC people, are transitioning from summer vacation mode into fall routines and kicking butt mode. Work's going to get more focused. Parents are going to have to support kids more with school and chauffeuring to after school activities. It's time to finish strong on your Q3, fall and 2024 goals, and get ready for the upcoming holiday season. The college kids and buzz are back in the city and what better advantage for you to shine than to have your program energize you so you can step up and stand out to perform at a high level.
How are we going to do it?
Many movements will get simpler.
e.g.#1: 3:1 Push Up to Downward Dog becomes Push Ups
The intensities will get lighter so you can get faster while the movement is still be present so you can preserve your strength.
e.g.#2: last phase, you had (3) suggested strong days with a DB Load of 30-50% BW and (3) suggested light and fast days w/ a DB Load of 15-35% BW on each workout card. This phase you'll have (3) suggested strong days with a DB Load of 20-40%, 25-45% and 30-50% BW and again (3) suggested light and fast days w/ DB Loads of 15-35% BW on each workout card.
The intensities are still there to help you keep your strength, but their sum totals will be less allowing you to recover more.
e.g.#3: we used to do 20:10, work-to-rest for 3 rounds, in which you did as many reps as possible in 20 seconds and then you rested for 10 seconds. This would help emphasize training fast and expressing your strength, skills and athleticism quickly. Plus it would develop your anaerobic endurance because of the quick pace.
e.g.#4: we are now going to do undulated periodization (big words) and have (3) different interval intensities you'll use for strength training. 30:15 for 2 rounds, 60:30 for 1 round and 20:10 for 3 rounds. On the 30:15 days, you'll choose medium loads and levels, with the goal of picking weights and exercise levels that you can do for the full 30 seconds. On 60:30 days you'll pick light weights and simple levels that you can do for 60 seconds straight without resting. On 20:10 days you'll choose more challenging weights and skill levels that you can do for 20 seconds straight without resting.
e.g.#5: we'll do straight sets or cluster sets vs. supersets or circuit training. This means you'll do all your sets of push ups before you move on to your lower body exercise. This will develop endurance in your muscles and help you to build muscle and strength. Plus you'll get a hypertrophy and fat loss aesthetic affect.
e.g.#6: speaking of aesthetics, if we're trying to peak you for fall sports, races, events and photos, then taking off the "lead suit" should also have an aesthetic affect by helping you to present more functionally lean with increased muscle definition. And you should see it in your face, but like always this comes down to what you do in the kitchen, at the table and what you order from the menu. So most of the time try to choose foods that support your health, body composition and performance and stop eating when you're content, satisfied and no longer hungry.
Phase 10 Warm Up & Cool Down
You know I'm very responsive and if you don't know, hopefully I'll positively show you that. However, I am having trouble responding to Pete & Stephanie's request to give more time to the "FFE and RFE Half Kneel Instep to OH" and "... Cherry Picking Arm Drivers". As always I welcome your feedback. Julie T gave me a great idea, to make the movements before and after more simple, so it's easier to transition to and from. That seed is planted and I'm marinating on it.
