Hi there comrade! This is our intensification week, and we are going to be working on establishing some 5RM’s! Additionally, we will be conducting our MasterClass as a live version of Workout C, hitting legs, and coaching the mechanics of the squat. No one will ever be able to say again that “you don’t know squat!”
Speaking of all that excellence, our MC drops on Saturday Feb 13 at 9am MST.
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The value of establishing your known maximum in certain lifts is immense. This is one of the easiest ways to track your strength gains. You can approach this week’s test in two ways. First, if you have a lot of weights, you can progress up to your estimate of the max weight you can lift on the 4th (target 5 reps) set for the primary exercises. Second, you can just grab the heaviest weight you have, go full ham/beast mode, and just rep to failure. Either way, you get a max effort and a gauge which you should record for future reference.
You’ll notice that each workout (A, B, C) is suggested this week at 1-2X as opposed to straight up hitting each one twice. I’ll leave this up to you, but assess how you are recovering. If you wake up energetic, bouncy, and not too stiff or sore, go ahead and feed the workout addiction. But, if giving those max efforts tanks you a bit, take an extra day off and just go for a walk, a sauna, a little yoga…whatever helps you to get into a parasympathetic state and heal your body. Remember, the gains come from recovery and we sometimes want to be careful about stacking the training stimulus too tightly. Personally, I know I’ll definitely only do legs one day this week because pushing to failure with legs usually requires me to take 3-5 days to truly restore full capacity.
You don’t need to publish your results in the T2 Forum, but I’d like to ask you to comment on which exercise is your favorite in this routine. I’m liking the Bulgarian Split Squat because it feels comfortable on my joints but really exposes some of my weaknesses and challenges me. Your feedback helps me to sculpt the programming just like you are sculpting your GUNS! Beach body time is coming. Look good naked. Yea, yea, yea. But we will be ready! Tribesters are not all show and no go, either!
WEEK OF: 02-15-2021 (3rd week of month 1, Strength block, intensification/KPI test)
| WOW | PREP | PRIMARY | ACCESSORY | TIPS |
| A X1-2 M/Th | Pushups x 20 MB Russian Twists x 20 (total) | Push Day 5 x 5 ↑ wt.each set Straight sets 1-2’ rests RPE 6-7-8-10-8 Barbell Bench Press Tempo 3121 Dumbbell Incline Press Tempo 2031 | DB Lat Raise 3 x 12-15 Double Progression OHP 3 x 12-15 Double Progression Free Choice Cardio 10-20’ L1 | Find the heaviest weight you can lift 5 times in the 4th set of the primaries… or see how many times you can lift your heaviest weight. |
| B X1-2 Tu/Fr | Tubing Uni Triplanar Rows 10 per side Bar Hanging Leg Raises 2 x 10 (bent knees) | Pull Day 5 x 5 ↑ wt.each set Straight sets 1-2’ rests RPE 6-7-8-10-8 Deadlift 1-arm Row Assisted Pullup | BB Curl 3 x 12-15 Double Progression Cardio Cruise Reps 14’ total 1’L2/1’L1 Any mode | Same as above. |
| C X1-2 W/Sa | Fwd. Swings 10 per side Lat. Swings 10 per side t Hops 2L & 2R t Jumps 2X | Leg Day 5 x 5 ↑ wt.each set Straight sets 2-3’ rests RIR 4-3-2-0-2 Goblet Squat Bulgarian Split Squat | 1-leg RDL 3 x 15 light HIRTCIRC 8′ of 90”on/30”off Jump Rope Stretch as preferred | Same as above. |
Workout A Breakdown: The main difference you will notice this week is that we have adjusted the RPE of the main sets to 6-7-8-10-8. The reason for this is to allow you to kinda go through the motions in the first three sets, doing a conservative buildup/warmup, then, show up fresh and ready in set 4 for your max effort. I usually like to rest a little extra (+30-60 seconds) for that big set. See what you can do and test yourself. Then, after you’ve recovered, get a 5th set with your heavy weight that will probably be lower reps as you use RPE of 8. This workout design is a powerful strength/hypertrophy stimulus.
Workout B Breakdown: Exactly the same adjustment as above. However, there are a few things to say on the pulling moves. With deadlifts, the microsecond your form falters, you are done. Drop it. 1- arm rows can be taken all the way until you can’t complete a full rep, but no ugly twisting allowed. Keep it strict. And the pullups, well…if you can do more than 5 reps add weight, and if you need to use assist on the way up, challenge yourself to do slow negatives. Either way, YOU win!
Workout C Breakdown: The changeup here is essentially the same. Using RIR, you just want to be ready to give your all in set 4 and take it to full failure. Collapsing to the floor is fine.
Also, by now you are probably noticing that the cardio tack-on’s are getting easier. Don’t try to make them longer, just enjoy your newfound awesomeness! Keep eating your protein and building that strength and muscle mass!