Greetings Great Tribe Member!
It’s week 1 of month 1 of the Power block. This is a 2-month block in which we take your strength (the athletic force production capacity which you developed oh so well over the past few months) and use it in a more explosive manner. Power is defined as Force x Distance/Time and this means that you are now concentrating your efforts into outputs that can be quantified multidimensionally.
Actually, that last paragraph sounded more complicated than it needed to be. I’ll simplify power a bit more. It’s how far you can move a given load (or just your body) and/or how fast you can do that. Power combines mechanical and metabolic properties and it has an aerobic as well as an anaerobic component. Anaerobic power looks like some of the pushing, pulling, and dragging exercises we will be performing. An example would be your time for a 30-yard run pulling a 40 pound sandbag. Or how far you can throw a 5 pound medicine ball. Aerobic power can be explored as how far you can run in 5 minutes. All good.
On the force-velocity curve, power lives in the middle. And that’s one of the reasons why we place it after our strength block and before our speed block. This is how professional athletes and Olympians train…so why shouldn’t we?
Also, we head outside for 5 workouts per week, 2 or possibly 3 which will require your FittKitt! Mondays are field workouts, Thursdays are trail workouts (usually), and Saturdays are track workouts. In addition, Wednesdays and Sundays are optional outside sessions. We’ll use the home gyms for Tuesday and Friday. Each week I’ll be updating the programming, and also providing location information for local peeps who are joining our group sessions.
This week (beginning on Monday, May 3rd), we’ll be doing all 3 of our major sessions (Monday, Thursday, and Saturday) at the Belgrade Youth Sports Complex on Spooner Road. We usually park and train near the east end of the soccer field, but can move around depending on who’s there and what they are doing. I’m keeping the location consistent this week, and maybe next, to get things rolling and not throw too much at you at once. Also, remember that if you are local, all you have to do is show up, and I’ll coach you through everything. But if you are anywhere in the country other than the Gallatin Valley, all the instructions are included below. Enjoy!
Times: (consistent ALL summer)
Monday: 6:00pm
Thursday: 6:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am
WEEK OF: 05-03-2021 (1st week of month 1, POWER block)
| WOW | PREP | PRIMARY | ACCESSORY | TIPS |
| A MON FIELD | Med ball x 10 Chop/lift L Chop/lift R Locomotive Giant swing Alt back lunge Rainbow tap | Zigzag run x 4 3 x SB back squat x 6 +40 yd run Condicircuit 30 sec on/30 sec rest 2 rounds Tubing curl Tubing lunge press Med ball slams Foot anchor situps SB front squat V-ups | SB bucket squat x 50 reps (rest-pause) Bucket SB suitcase carry 100 feet L 100 feet R Strap mobility Hams Calves Glutes Quads | Embrace natural movement on a natural surface. |
| B THU TRAIL | Walk 1 mile | Stone Lifts 2 x 10 Push press Bent row Front squat 1-leg alt RDL Thruster Power hike or run 1 mile Walk 2 miles | Fence Stretches 20 sec. each Calf 1 Calf 2 Hammy Foot up Quad Squat sit | Be the beast that your genes want you to be. |
| C SAT TRACK | Tubing x 15 Strikedown Hip flexion Hip abduction Drills 2 x 30m each Skip Lateral shuffle Gallop | 20m accelerations x 4 100m strides x 4 SB stadium steps or bench step-ups 4 x 20 Medball walk lunge x 100m 2 x 200m | Fence leg swings 20 each F-B Lateral Flex-ext | Get familiar with the usefulness of the athletics arena. |
| D TU/FR GYM | 1 set of 6 reps of main lifts All light weight | 2 circuits of 9 reps of main lifts All medium weight Bench press KB goblet squat Bent row OHP Deadlift Curl Skull crusher Lateral raise | 1 set of 12 reps of main lifts All light weight | Perform basic maintenance. |
| E WE/SU FREE | Think of yourself as an efficient locomotor | Free choice cardio Any mode 30-60 minutes easy | Oxygenate the soul | Stay in recovery mode. |
Workout A Breakdown: Field day. Refer to the video for the basic med ball warmups, doing 10 each.
- Zigzag run: This can be very approximate. Set up 4-6 cones or other objects (water bottles, hats, buckets) that are on roughly a 45-degree angle and about 10-15 feet apart. Run through, staying to the outside of the cone, 4 times. Start slow and go a little faster each time, but don’t go all out. Concentrate on staying low, feeling athletic, and making hard cuts.
- Squat/run combo: This is known as complex training, or post-activation potentiation. Set up two cones or objects 40 yards or so apart. Designate one cone as start and one as finish. Perform 6 full, strong reps of the back squat, dump the bag, and take off on a 7/10 effort in the 40 yard dash. Do 3 reps total but don’t go any faster than the first rep. Work on digging in and driving out powerfully.
- Conditioning Circuit: The condicircuit combines movement mastery with pacing opportunities. It’s a bit of a burn. There are 6 exercises (see video) that you go through in order, doing 2 circuits. Each exercise is performed for 30 seconds, and then you rest for 30 seconds before going on to the next movement. After you finish, walk around for several minutes and have some water.
- Sandbag Bucket Squat: In this exercise you can use a front or back position for your sandbag, and then you work on squatting 50 times to touch your butt to the bucket (turned upside down) each time. Use rest-pause technique in which you can stand up and take a few breaths as needed to git’r done. It won’t be easy but you are tough and you’ll show the world what excellence looks like.
- Bucket-Sandbag Suitcase Carry: Put your sandbag in your bucket. Carry it 100 feet in the left hand, turn around, and head back with the right.
- Strap stretches: Use your strap or rope to loosen up.
Workout B Breakdown: Trail session. This week we are keeping it basic and staying on the field, using our med balls as stones. Walk. Lift. Run or power walk. Walk again. Stretch. Any questions?
Workout C Breakdown: Track session. If you have a track available, by all means use this facility. Our local group will be sticking to the field, since it’s track season and the kids have meets on Saturday mornings. Don’t worry, we’ll get there plenty of times in the summer. It’s early in the year, so in this workout we are not running lots of mileage or sprinting at max velocity…just doing some good preparatory work.
- Tubing or band work. Per video, doing 15 reps each leg. Use your rope/strap and tubing band to rig up.
- Drills: There are three drills which are skipping, lateral shuffles, and galloping. You’ll want to refer to the video and it may take some practice to get the technique down. Don’t worry, we’ll be using these moves all month so you’ll have plenty of time to become proficient. Take lots of rest here. Do one drill for 30 meters, then slowly walk back and repeat again. Don’t drill both ways. Work on getting a feel for lightness, and quality force expression into the ground, not hurryslopslapping.
- 20-meter accelerations: You’ll notice that when we are on grass, I typically say “yards” but on the track it’s “meters.” Just convention. Estimate or measure off 20m and work on falling forward from a 2-point stance and accelerating out. Don’t give it your all, just be purposeful. Always walk back slowly and take extra rest before the next reps. This is all about quality and we are not rushing.
- Strides: The track is 400m and each straightaway is 100m as well as each curve being 100m. It’s all marked out with lines. Pick a straightaway (homestretch or backstretch) and run in the outside lanes as part of proper track etiquette. If it’s crowded, be sure to run in a counterclockwise direction to avoid collisions. A strider is just getting up to a fast but controlled speed and cruising it for the 100m. Go only as fast as you can while being totally relaxed. If you are tensing and straining, slow down. 4 reps with plenty of rest.
- Steps: Throw your sandbag on your shoulder and get 4 rounds of walking up about 20 stadium steps (this gives you 10 steps and 10 steps right). It’s fine if your stadium has 13 or 31 steps…just use what you’ve got. Also, if there is no stadium, just use a bench or stair and alternate stepping up and down in one place. It’s all good. You can even step up on a rock or log if you are in Alaska (shout out to Danette!).
- Medball Walk Lunge: Hold at tummy and lunge walk a straightaway. Howdy glutes!
- 2 x 200m: Run (don’t sprint) half a lap two times. See if you can find that gear between jogging and sprinting.
- Leg Swings: These are a great way to loosen up and remove the kinks.
Workout D Breakdown: Now you are in your gym doing some good, solid, basic pattern lifting. Warmup is one set light of all exercises. Main is 2 sets medium. Accessory is one set light. Use the movements to pump, squeeze, align, and restore your beastly body. Natural iron supplementation. Nourish yourself.
Workout E Breakdown: Otherwise known as “low, slow, cardio-mojo.” Head out for a walk, jog, bike, paddle, etc. and just go easy. Whatever kind of zone or metric you use, make it comfortable and at an effort level that you can talk at length without gasping. This builds the foundation for some of the soul-crushing workouts we’ll do later this summer. Actually, the only souls who will get crushed are those who don’t train with us, as they will be destroyed.
MasterClasses continue. Let me have some of your feedback if you are so inclined. I make those workouts easy bonus stuff and also include some performance education. Requests are welcomed.
| MASTERCLASS | DAY | TIME | LINK |
| WIN WORKOUT (guided training) | Wed | 11am MDT | Join Zoom Meeting ID: 83949244947 Passcode: 173730 |
| RECOVERY WORKOUT (guided training) | Sun | 10am MDT | Join Zoom Meeting ID: 89342108994 Passcode: 619331 |
The T2 Forum is the ideal place for you to make comments and ask questions about all the things we are doing. It’s there for you and I encourage you to take advantage of it. You are awesome, as I always say. I really appreciate your participation and this never-ending quest for excellence that we embrace.