| Hi Friend!
Great Wednesday to you! I'm catching up on sleep over here and it feels great. It's very interesting to be blessed with a full life and then add something on top of it that requires a lot of planning. Starting early is really a skill and knowing how early to start is another skill. I sure admire people who are great planners, like good 'ol Hannibal Smith.
Q2 Overview Fat Loss, Muscle Definition, Beach Season #1 and Summer Sports are our themes for the quarter.
Fat Loss We're going to switch from rotating through 4 exercise strength circuits to going back and forth between exercises. I like circuits the way we use them in Q1 for weight loss and keeping exercise quality. I like pairing for fat loss because we're going to be increasing the weights to build muscle and strength and going to another exercise is a way to work an opposing movement pattern while resting the first movement pattern. The first movement pattern rests just enough to repeat the effort, but not a full recovery, which you would do if your sole goal was maximal strength.
Also increasing the weight allows you to build muscle better and building muscle and decreasing body fat goes hand in hand.
Muscle Definition Everyone wants health as a baseline. Some state it as a primary goal, others assume it if they work on self-care. Then most people want to look good and some people want to perform good. The people who want to perform good usually expect to look good and the people that want to look good will take the performance, but it's often not as important because they may not ever use it.
Let's assume everyone wants to look better if not great. If Q1 was themed around weight loss and pillar stability, then Q2 is about giving your muscles better shape and curves. Instead of flatter, leaner muscles from Q1, now we'll pump them up a little so you can feel good about the little details of your arms, shoulders and legs. We'll do this by (1) increasing the weight and (2) increasing the challenge of the exercises. We're not a body building program because that's not my interest. I like show muscles just as much as the next person, but all show with no go is useless to me, so I like go muscles that show well. Remember this commercial?
We'll use tempo (3 count down, 1 count hold and 1 count up), rep ranges, sets, loads, exercise selection, pairing to help with increasing muscle definition. Plus if you trained with us last quarter / phase, you'll have a head start because you're body is already conditioned. If you're new this phase, you'll get the advantage of adapting to a new stimulus, which regardless of the program provides for fast responsiveness.
DB Loads P4=15-35% (please increase your DB Load by at least 5% to progress forward otherwise you risk regressing) P5=20-40% P6=25-45% No one says, when life gets hard, "I wish I was weaker".
Beach Season #1 Summer is officially, Friday, June 21st, but when you go to the beach or pool is when beach season really counts for you. So just like Hannibal Smith, we want to plan early and love when a plan comes together. I recommend looking for summer and beach clothes now so you can have fun goals to aim for. Nothing gives you more purpose to your nutrition and self-care plan (cardio, strength & stretch) than booking a trip to the beach with friends and trying on new bathing suits in front of those 3 way mirrors in the open space of the dressing room area.
YOLO (you only live once) and yes its stupid and superficial, but it's also fun and self-esteem promoting to feel good and confident in your own skin and feel proud of the consistent work you put in to get wherever you get. We all need to exercise for health. You know this. I'll keep your programming interesting and do my best to help motivate and inspire you, but the easiest way to get a fire burning within you is to set fun goals that make you want to do more and become more. If going to a beach with friends gets you motivated, then do plan a trip. My parents are going to the beach with friends and they sure get motivated. I've gone to the beach with friends, family and Vanessa's friends and that's motivating. I've gone to Vegas strength & conditioning conferences and hanging at the hotel pool with a bunch of strong and fit people is sure motivating.
The other side of the coin is that life is full for you and it's already enough to show up and train. Adding any perceived or real extra pressure like bathing suits and beaches makes you want to not go or hide under a long shirt. Well, I've been there too at least for how I felt in my own skin compared to my best skin, but what's worse is not going because you're too in your head and missing out on the fun and if you really want to spin it, Hollywood loves a comeback, so if you present yourself not in your best way, it leaves the door open for a dramatic change when you've worked through your difficult phase. So either way, show up, smile and have fun.
Summer Sports I play no sports right now. Most of my cardio minutes are walking to and from school. Most of my sprints are racing Vivi or Vanessa, save more my 2-4min of conditioning when I do the strength workouts you do. One day, though sports will fit again, and using all the athleticism we're developing in our training sure makes sports a lot more fun. We're all busy, but one day, wouldn't it be cool to have sports fill up your cardio minutes. That 60min window on your cardio day, instead of going for a walk or a run, you played tennis, grass / beach volleyball, kiteboarded, paddle boarded, mountain biked, swam, kayaked, played in a lacrosse league or softball league or played ultimate frisbee or surfed or hit balls at the driving range or batting cage or ran stadium steps. Wouldn't that be so much more fun. Walking or going for a run is a default you can always fall back to when life is most challenging or stressful. It's simple, but when you have momentum and more "time" why not participate in sports. Its social (loneliness is the greatest poverty), counts towards cardio minutes (health and body composition) and you get to learn new skills, stay young and use your training.
Q2 Dates - March 25 to June 8th.
- 3 Phases
- 11 weeks (10 weeks of training, 1 week of empowerment)
- Phase 4: March 25 to April 13 (3 weeks on, 1 week off)
- Phase 5: April 22 to May 11 (3 weeks on, 0 weeks off)
- Phase 6: May 13 to June 8 (4 weeks on, 0 weeks off)
- Q1 & Q2 overlap for a 7 week straight stretch: 4 weeks (P3) + 3 weeks (P4)
- Q2 & Q3 overlap for a 10 week straight stretch: 3wks (P5) + 4wks (P6) + 3wks (P7).
- P4, Empowerment Week: 4/13 to 4/21
- No classes Memorial Day Weekend: Fri, 5/24 to Mon, 5/27
Phase 4 DB Load is 15-35%. Please increase your weights by at least 5% to continue getting stronger and have your experience more closely match the words and theming of the phase and quarter.
Fat Loss, Muscle Definition, Beach Season #1 and Summer Sports. All same as above. Here's how it'll look. |
| |
P4 Warm UpsEvery time we start a quarter I like to - regress the complexity of the warm ups
- address common imbalances I saw the last quarter
- address common injuries one might be exposed to by participating in the forth coming sports season by including preventive measures
- prepare you for that days activities
Warm Up Equipment We'll use everything during our warm ups on everyday. You'll need: - foam rollers
- mini bands
- light dumbbells (1-10 lbs)
- heavy dumbbells (Total DB Load = 15-35% BW)
- 1/2" and 1" super bands
- towel
- mat
- water
Workouts
We finished Q1 and P3 with 2 straight weeks of high intensity, high volume record weeks that left many feeling sore and unusually tired. This is good and bad. It's good to overreach so you can progress and get better (SAID principle of specific adaption to imposed demands and PRE, which is progressive resistance exercise), but we want to be careful to not overtrain (signs of overtraining are joint pain with inflammation, but not injury, high resting heart rate upon waking and being sick for no reason). If we can manage this fine line well you can get better, stronger and fitter.
Taper Weeks If you've ever trained for a race and experienced a taper or unloading week, the 1st two weeks of Phase 4, will feel like those in that we'll reduce the volume and intensity significantly because we're teaching new programs and progressions for our quarter and phase. If you felt bad towards the end of Q1, you should be feeling a whole lot better by the end of the 1st week of P4 and maybe even amazing by the end of week 2.
This recovery allows your body (muscles & joints) and your central nervous system to repair, heal and grow so you can get better and experience super compensation.
Super Compensation Wikipedia says, "In sports science theory, supercompensation is the post training period during which the trained function/parameter has a higher performance capacity than it did prior to the training period.[1]
This means that the full benefits you trained for in Q1, P3 don't really show themselves during the actual training of the phase / quarter, that they finish showing themselves in the time after the phase / quarter, especially when contrasted with the different themes and emphasis of the next phase quarter.
So during your 1st two weeks of phase 4 as, you learn the new workouts and participate in reduced intensity and volume because of the teaching weeks, you're body will actual repair, heal and grow faster and you'll start to feel more of the effects from the previous training. When we hit week 3, you should theoretically perform at a much higher level because of the previous high intensity training and the following unloading rest period. It'll set you up well for the final 10 week stretch of Q2 and Q3 overlap. It's all very exciting to write about because I've experienced it before, so hopefully I do a good job of coaching you and programming for you, so that you can experience it as well.
|
| | | Workout A This will be our linear day this phase.
Core 1: Upper & Lower Body Plyometrics Med Ball Chest Throws (2-8 lbs) and Linear Hurdle Hops
Chest Throws You'll practice throwing again with 2 hands vs. 1-hand and putting force into the ground without shuffling or plyo hopping.
Linear Hurdle Hops You'll practice putting force in the ground and moving forward on 1-leg, the same as you do in running and all sports, especially volleyball when you go in for a spike.
You'll also practice controlling your knee in the frontal & transverse plain, so it doesn't move side to side, when you pre-stretch, hop and land. If your knee caves in (goes medially or inside) that's a sign of many knee injuries, so we'll want to correct it asap.
Core 2: Power and Stability We'll re-introduce DB Power exercises that will be part of our summer DB complexes. Workout A will be neutral grip and workout B, palms down.
DB Hang Jump Shrugs - Neutral Hang = knees. This exercise is a full body power exercise taken from Olympic Clean and Jerks and Olympic Snatches. Its the 2nd pull from those lifts (above the knee) and using DB's vs. Barbells. It's a very simple exercise to teach using DB's, even safer to the barbell and still high yielding for both performance (speed & power), muscle building and aesthetics.
Side Plank @ Wall We'll actually be doing side bridges at the wall. Side Bridges are reps up & down. Side Planks are holds on the wall. Bridges help you get strength to hold longer. The wall is a truth serum to show you and I whether or not you can hold a neutral poster against the wall. It's great for addressing imbalances and promoting anti-lateral flexion so you're more energy efficient when your standing, moving and running. Plus it targets the shoulders, love handles and sides of the butt & legs.
Strength Big changes this phase. - Work to Rest Sets are 30:15
- 3 Rounds with 9 Total Sets
- 3 Exercise Pairs (Lower Body Right, lower body left & upper body)
- Rep Tempos of 3-1-1 (3 count down, 1 count hold, 1 count up)
- 5% heavier loads
- 6 reps / set
DB Front Squat Grip Reverse Lunge We progress the split squat to a reverse lunge this phase. It's more dynamic yet provides less soreness than a forward lunge. The FSG strengthens the whole body, especially the shoulders and core and allow you to use a lighter load than if you held the weights by your side.
Feet & Knees Together Inverted Rows Feet wide is easier than feet together so we'll progress by challenging your stance. If you've had trouble progressing the last phase or so, this will allow you to continue improving in combination with the tempo.
1-DB SLDL SLDL = single leg dead lift. The 1st Quarter we did Offset Stance RDL's to work on single leg hinge patterns with the extra stability of a toed foot. Now we'll take away that extra stability and really challenge your single leg hinge pattern that is more common to sport and life.
The 1-DB will require a greater rotary stability challenge at the hip, which will force you to learn how to control your dynamic balance on 1-leg, helping to reduce your injury risk in that leg while weight bearing and moving.
Band Push Ups We worked on trunk stability the last quarter and now we're going to work more on upper body strength this phase with the addition of a band and the controlled rep tempo. Your core strength should have good carryover from last phase, so this phase we'll use that to help you get stronger arms. Stronger arms = better looking arms and will help when when introduce pike and hand stand progressions for Q3.
Conditioning Triathlon Relays Go 3/4 court, get Reach to Overhead on the Backward Lunges, which is both a body building move and a dynamic control move for better knees, hips, low back, and upper back stability. The high knee runs are 60 turnovers and we add 1 extra set in the OH Towel Run back after the high knee runs.
Baserunning has a changed order, but otherwise is the same. These are both fun because they remind you of base running in baseball and softball, but also because they're progressively longer sprints.
Multi-Directional Relays are still sideline to sideline. We've reduced the Ready Position Bounces (RPB) to 1, added Power Skips for Height and changed the order. These patterns are applicable to all field and court sports.
|
| |
Workout B Is our lateral day this phase.
Core 1: Upper & Lower Body Plyometrics Medicine Ball Diagonal Chop (4-10 lbs) is for all the high to low cross body throwing (baseball, softball & lacrosse), baseball swings, golf swings, and volleyball spikes. We'll start over with a parallel stance to practice putting force into the ground while maintaining a braced core.
Lateral Skaters with a Stick. This is frontal plane power which is used in throwing, swinging and change of direction. Think pitchers throwing to home plate or fielders throwing to a base. Batters stepping towards the thrown ball or tennis players returning a volley.
Core 2: Power and Stability We'll do DB Hang Jump Shrugs from a Palms Down Grip which is similar to a DB Snatch Grip and we'll do High Plank Reaches which trains Anti-Rotation and Anti-Extension. These 2 Anti's help to stabilize your core so your low back injury risk goes down, develop core stiffness to transfer force better and will help to make your stomach look better (hello beach season.
Strength DB Goblet Lateral Lunges are to train strength in the frontal plane. Thing throwing, batting, returning a serve or swinging a golf club in which you transfer force from 1-leg to another. Like most every exercise, there will be 3 levels. Level 1 (body weight lunge to reach) works on hip mobility, level 2 (reach to overhead) works on hip mobility and scapular stability and level 3 (goblet lateral lunge) works on straight up strength.
|
| Chin Ups Work your progressions. Get 4sets and a PR before you go home. If you're not progressing, tell me so I can help. It usually is because you're missing workouts and/or not training frequently enough. Training 2x/wk is good and 2x better than training 1x/wk but you're playing the long game to get better. 3+/wk is the fastest way to get better and that makes sense because you have more repeated exposure.
Progressions: Level 1: Holds L1a: band on foot L1b: band on shin L1c: body weight
Level 2: Movement L2a: Negatives L2b: band on foot, assisted chin ups L2c: band on shin, assisted chin ups
Level 3: The Real Deal L3a: body weight chin up progressions L3b: weighted chin up progressions
Note: 1st person to demonstrate 4x10 of perfect technique pull ups, gets the Dip / Chin belt named after them.
Feet Elevated (FE) 1-Leg Bridge w/ DB Overhead (OH) is our hip extension exercise for Workout B. Most everyone will start with Level 3. If it looks to challenging I'll either have you take away the DB or take away the roller or both. The FE on the foam roller will allow your hip to go through a greater range of motion, helping you to gain both better hip mobility at the hip, stability at the knee and low back and greater strength in your hip extensors (glutes and hamstrings). Plus the roller creates a sagittal plane stability challenge when you try to keep the roller from rolling, so you strengthen your calves and hamstrings, which is great for countering the effects of sitting. A, 'ahem, nicer booty to hang your pants from for fitted Fridays, is also a bonus.
DB Half Kneel Arnold Overhead Press is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. If you want to look like Arnold, you have to move DB's overhead like Arnold. Last quarter we did alternating DB's which worked on pillar stability, but required you to use a lighter weight because of the balance challenge. This phase we'll use two DB's at the same, which will require a different stability challenge and allow you to build more muscle.
To get to do this exercise you have to pass the Level 1, Supine Bent Knee Alternating Shoulder Flexion exercise AND Wall Slides. If you pass both of those you're shoulders are healthy enough to load overhead. If not, working the Alt. Sho Flexion is the best option for you.
|
| | | Cool Down Same same, no difference. Do these stretches at the end of your workout to help you start your recovery (reduce injury risk), get grounded for your day and help transition to your rest and digest nervous system (Parasympathetic).
That's it for today.
Happy training and see you tomorrow for Workout A and/or Friday for Workout B. If you have to do a make up consider doing the back to back, tomorrow and Friday, or planning to train 3-4x next week to make it up.
Your coach,
Mike Alves
p.s. the photos are in and they're fun. I'll share them tomorrow. |
|
|
