In this week’s Tribute to the Tribe (you), I’ll start off by reminding you that you are AMAZING! Embracing multi-capacity physical excellence is a full-time job. And this week you are up for a promotion. We’re pumping up the volume as we explore both movement diversity and skill mastery. We’ll be managing gravitational force vectors and owning shape and position.
You’ll notice that I’ve changed up the information dissemination slightly this week. I just wanted to make sure I’m addressing all learning styles and preferences. I wrote a lengthy missive in the breakdowns to include most of my coaching cues, then made the video a brief, no-talkie, laser-blaser-taser affair. Just remember the exercise demos are double-time, so you’ll need to slow your own moves down a bit. Let me know in the forum if you liked it.
Our MasterClass will be taking on a slightly different format as well as a different time. It will be at 4:30pm MST on Friday December 11. It’s actually going to be a happy hour, meet and greet, roundtable discussion. Feel free to grab your adult beverage of choice, or a bone broth latte, or a wheatgrass/carrot smoothie, and yuk it up. Any past material or random question is fair game, and I look forward to seeing you there.
ID: 84931907393
Password: 908856
WEEK OF: 12-07-2020 (2nd week of Agility block, month 1, accumulation)
| WOW | PREP | PRIMARY | ACCESSORY | TIPS |
| A x1-3 | 4 slow reps of each of the primary exercises with light resistance to practice technique | Bench Bonanza 3-6 circuits of 6-8 reps each exercise, moderate resistance, full rests Chest press 1-arm row Step up Seated OHP Reverse hyper Heel dig bridge Tricep kickback Seated curl Leg lower/raise (partial) Bulgarian split squat | Footwork Series Stationary A/B skip x 20 Alt lat/forward 1-2 jumps x 10 SBJ x 5 Single leg hop 30 each Depth drops x 6 off low height | Pace yourself and focus on recovery breathing between exercises |
| B x1-3 | Tubing Lunges10 each Forward Left Right Backward | Overhead Squat Session, 2 circuits Squat x 5 Overhead raise x 10 Squat x 5 Thoracic extension x 10 Squat x 5 Crunch x 10 Squat x 5 Knee to chest x 10 Squat x 5 Split squat stretch x 10 Squat x 5 | Full squat sit with deep breathing x 3 minutes | Control anti-gravity movement with grace |
Workout A Breakdown: Wow! This workout of the week is Wild, Outstanding, and Wicked! We basically have a high variety of exercises performed with your bench (or cooler, or board on blocks) followed by quite a bit of footwork. There’s some flexibility in the volume of bench work, in that you can choose how many circuits you’d like to perform. The amount of footwork is fixed, but you should scale it to use the intensity which feels right for you. The warmup is performing a couple reps of each exercise to get into the groove of the movements before you launch the circuits. Here’s a description of each of the lifts:
- Chest Press: basic bench press with no rules
- 1-arm Row: one foot on floor and one hand and knee on bench. Pull up and squeeze. Get full reps on each side.
- Step-up: Hold DB’s at sides and press fully into bench foot. Avoid jumping off the back foot. Lower with control.
- Seated OHP: Sit tall and stack ribcage and pelvis without over arching lower back. Press up in the plane that works for your shoulders.
- Reverse Hyper: Lay face down on bench with hips and legs off the end. Hands forward. Contract all backside muscles and lift heels to hip height with straight legs. Keep core tight.
- Heel Bridge: On back on mat, hips and knees 90 degrees. Dig heels into bench and lift hips up to comfortable limit.
- Tricep Kickback: On stomach, head off the front end. Pin upper arms to sides. Hammer back and up with DB’s.
- Seated Curl: Sit tall. Start curl with palms facing in, finish with palms facing out.
- Leg Lower/Raise: On back on bench, legs up at 90 degrees. Slight bend in knees. Lower legs with control halfway or slightly more, then pull back up. Avoid arching back.
- Bulgarian Split Squat: Big step out, back foot on bench, pointed or folded. Keep chest up and don’t lean forward. Stiffen foot and pressure big toe side of front foot as you go up and down. Use sandbag in front.
For the accessories, we’re going to be doing some footwork. Cutting, jumping, and landing skills are essential in the Lifetime Athlete, but we’ve got to be gradual in “callusing” the body. Many people avoid these movements because they feel their back will go out, their knee will blow out, or their uterus will fall out, or they will snap a bone in their foot or rupture a tendon. None of this happens when you are smart and progressive with training. Just coax your body along but don’t skip the movements. We are building a foundation of excellence. Elasticity must be trained or it dies.
- A/B Skip: Many of you will remember these skips from the drills we did earlier in the fall. If you are new, don’t worry, the vid shows all. However, now we do the skips in stationary fashion and alternating from side to side. Coordination and timing are part of being a Lifetime Athlete. Practice this until you can make it look good. Total number of touches is 20 and it goes rightA rightB leftA leftB and so forth. Hands in sync.
- Lateral-to-Forward Jumps, alternating: This is called a 1-2 method because you go out on 1 foot (the outside one) and you land on 2 feet facing forward with absorption. Go left once, then right once, for a total of 10 times amassing 5 reps each way.
- Standing Broad Jump (SBJ): A classic playground and gym class move, and a great athletic developer. But the landing is a bit harsh so soft pedal this baby for now, Just do a countermovement, swing out, and land, but keep distance at about 50-60 percent of max.
- Single Leg Hop: Needs little explaining but this is a ball of foot staccato motion. Think about being hippety hoppity pippety poppity.
- Depth Drop: This is the art of stepping off a board, box, bench, table, etc. and sticking the landing like a cat. A great place to start is to use a book or board and carefully execute each rep. Don’t rush. If you can drop off your bench that’s great but don’t force this…you’ll get there. This strengthens tendons and bone density like no other movement.
As you can see, this is a lot of training. Pace yourself and work on breathing deeply, slowly, nasally, and getting long exhales between exercises. You don’t want to go balls-out beast mode seeking some kind of stupid ass burn and produce a lot of ugly, shitty movement. Practice the art form of your beast.
Workout B Breakdown: Now just grab a quick warmup of a few lunges assisted with elastic tubing. Refer to vid for details. Then, we focus on one test of mobility and movement competency by doing a breakdown sequence of the overhead squat. You’ll practice 5 reps of the overhead squat using a pipe, dowel, or broomstick, then do 10 reps of the following corrective movement, then 5 more squats, and so on.. Keep repeating these sandwiches until you’ve done 2 circuits through the experience, getting lots of reps in the squat. Here are the correctives:
- Overhead Raise: Lay flat, knees bent, take straight arms overhead as far as you can. Inhale as you expand and repeat 10 times. If you can’t get your arms in line with the ears in the squat, this helps.
- Thoracic Extension: Use a foam roller if you have one, otherwise a tightly rolled beach towel or blanket (or pillow, or sewer pipe…make it happen) will suffice. Support your head and neck as you work on backward bending in the shoulder blade area. This helps to improve the mobility of your mid back which needs to extend as you descend in the squat.
- Crunch: Just a basic ab squeeze with a few considerations. Don’t crank on your neck but practice feeling the lower back press flat down into the floor. This helps your sacrum to counter nutate so that you can maintain the stack of ribcage and pelvis like a cylinder.
- KTC’s: Alternate a single knee-to-chest squeeze to improve your hip flexion at the bottom of your squat.
- Split Squat Stretch: This is one of the best ways to improve your ankle dorsiflexion mobility. If you feel like you hit a wall below parallel and your heels come up, it’s probably because you lack enough forward translation of the shin. From a short stagger, descend into a full squat with front foot flat and back foot folded or pointed. Lean onto the front foot and drive your knee forward. Hold a few seconds, rise up, then repeat. Don’t alternate. Do all 5 on each side one at a time.
OK, in wrapping up this week, I want to commend you for being a part of the Tribe. I realize that this is a time of year when everyone is exceptionally busy and it’s sometimes a struggle to get workouts in. And while the holidays can be festive, it can also be a time of depression and loneliness for some folks. I’m here to help. I want you to succeed and I’m happy to do whatever it takes to accomplish that. If you are finding it challenging to get your workouts in and would like to do a personal zoomsesh to train, reach out to me in the Forum and we’ll make it happen. I have some extra time over the next few weeks and I’d be thrilled to spend it with you. And if you have any questions or comments, bring them to the MasterClass next Friday. I’ve got your back.