Hi Friend,
Happy 1st Friday of January to you! Vivi went to school today for the first time in 20 days. Hallelujah and yay for her. That means it's time to take advantage of the free childcare and get stuff done! Here goes:
1st Quarter Overview
Here's my vision for you. You finished the year stronger than ever. It was the most advanced programming in 15 years and after a welcome rest to finish the year and a short period of reacclimatizing your body and schedule to living a high performance life, we're going to come in like a lamb and go out like a Lion.
Theme: Weight Loss, Pillar Stability & Spring Sports Ready
1st Quarter is always the same thought process. I anticipate the worst and hope for the best. I anticipate that you may (or may not) have taken a break from training, fully immersed yourself in the fun and joys of the holiday and that you may not have trained as fully or optimized your nutrition. You may be stiff and/or achy from travel or reduced movement. Bloated from all the fun holiday food & drinks. Yet peaceful and spiritually filled up.
Now it's time to get your body feeling good, re-ignite your metabolism, address any lingering aches, while getting you to feel fast for the coming fun spring activities you might want to participate in.
We'll do this by reducing the DB Load (15-30% BW), simplyifing the exercises (Body weight supine bridges and DB Hang Jump Shrugs instead of 2-DB Bench Hip Thrusts or the DB Complex respectively for example), using timed work sets for strength (20:20), emphasizing more core (4min of 4pt stability aka planking), training fast from Day 1 (almost full workouts if not full) and a high volume to preserve and enhance your lean mass while creating an environment where you body will let the scale lower and your body fat to decrease more easily.
Total DB Load is 15-30% BW
Simpler Movements
Interval Work Sets for Strength
Return to Basic Planking Levels
Near and/or Full Training Volume from Day 1
Fast Pace All Quarter
Feel Good!
Training this way should make you feel good. If you were concerned about getting started again because of so much time off, you'll be pleasantly surprised to be reminded how good it feels to move and train and how this specific workout is perfect for where you're starting from.
Insider Trading
You should feel energized all quarter. You know how "insider trading" is bad, we'll if you could by stock in you, I'd buy as much as I could because I know that you're energy is going to be up and upper all quarter long. Sometimes in the other 3 seasons when we have strong days, you might not feel so energized because you pushed it, got crushed and got better at the same time. You might be tired after, but when you recover you level up because you trained so intensely.
This is different. I'm aiming for fast workouts all quarter so you can anticipate feeling high and higher energy all quarter. Buy stock in you now!
Progress the Program as you Progress
Because you finished the year so strong and presumably because you may have taken a break at year end (if you didn't start where it feels best for you), you'll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you get in shape and how much easier things are for you. Don't rush it. Let it come to you, but do stay mindful and check in with yourself.
Week 1
I envision that the first week you'll just do basic stuff because that's how hard you want to train. Cool! Feel good, have fun, get energized.
Week 2
You'll feel a little better by mid week so you might up your levels (and/or weights) from say level 1-2 to level 2 or level 2-3. Keep training fast, but if you're curious or if you're body tells you to, level up.
Week 3
Around midweek here, same thing. You might feel like you could do a level 2-3 or a solid level 3. Go for it. Have at it!
Week 4
Here your body's feeling great, your momentum is back, you're eyes are sparkly, your energy is super high, your to do list is a bunch of check marks and cross offs, you feel like you're winning. High Five with your bad a** self. You rock. You might do level 3-4 (is there such a thing) or you might say, "hey Mike! I need a challenge, what do you got for me?". Won't that be fun.
Your corporate knowledge (aka CYBBC knowledge), movement competency, muscle memory and training age are growing every day and rewarding you by letting you train more intensely with higher weights and more challenging movements. You're really starting to feel like an athlete and high performing human. Your diet is getting more and more specific to optimize your health, body composition and performance. You actually can eat more because you're burning so much you need calories to keep kicking butt at such a high level. #LifeIsGood You're finding yourself either exploring more fun athletic endeavors and/or participating in your favorite activities more often.
So go with it. Follow the plan. Have fun. Rinse & repeat.
Q1 Schedule: Jan 2 to March 15 (10 on, 1 off)
7 weeks straight to start the year
off New Year's Day (1/1), MLK Day (1/15), President's Day (2/19)
Empowerment Week (public school winter vacation): 2/17 to 2/25
3 weeks straight to finish the quarter
Phase 1: Jan 2 to Jan 26 (4 on, 0 off)
Phase 2: Jan 28 to Feb 16 (3 on, 1 off)
Phase 3: Feb 26 to Mar 15 (3 on, 0 off)
Weekend Workout Schedule
I call them weekend workouts to preserve flexibility to do other cool stuff, but right now what's working are the stretch & sprints.
It's a great casada.
The stretch makes you feel good.
The sprint energizes you.
It's early in the day so you feel energized and good all day.
It's social as the virtual and in person, the 6am, 9am and 6:30pm all get together.
Sometimes there's breakfast / brunch opportunities to continue the happy hormone highs with your peers.
Dates:
7:30-8:30am, Sun, 1/7: Stretch & Sprint @ MC
7:30-8:30am, Sun, 1/28: Stretch & Sprint @ MC
7:30-8:30am, Sun, 3/3: Stretch & Sprint @ MC
*Sunday's stretch & sprint is in jeopardy due to the anticipated snowstorm. I'll text and email if it needs to be canceled and will find a date to reschedule it.
