Oh, by gosh by golly! This is one heck of a Partay Week! There are several outstanding workouts for us to explore, including a really zesty Workout C with a mobility flow as well as a High Intensity Circuit. We’ve also got a little KPI testing inserted into that mojo!
As you know so well, KPI’s are Key Performance Indicators. While we are in the Agility Block and we’re trying to mainly just get better at overall movement, we can still test ourselves in a few areas. The challenge here is that you’ll need to hit all 6 (twice for each of the 3) sessions this week to register your progress. I’d love it if you could post something regarding that experience in the T2 Forum as well!
Workouts for the Week of 2022-12-12 (week 3 month 1 of Agility Block)
| WOW | PREP | PRIMARY | ACCESSORY | TIPS |
| A | Bench Burn 50% max 50 reps rest/pause | Weight Circuits 4 rounds 10 reps 1:00 rests Landmine Row L Landmine Row R K Landmine Press L K Landmine Press R KPI: weight | Yessis Reps 1 x 20 Susp. Row F.E. Pushup Spider Curl DB Skull Crusher Weighted Situps | Squeeze your reps. |
| B | Gear Check 50# pack Boots Traction Aid Clothing | Ruck Trek 40 min. RPE 8/10 KPI: distance | Static Stretching Calf (straight) Calf (bent) Ham Glute XLeg/Bend Quad | Steady output. |
| C | Basic Mobiflow 10 each Trunk Twist Sidebend Toe Touch Supine KTC Supine 9-3 SL Bridge L SL Bridge R Fetal Arm L 180 Fetal Arm R 180 Prone 8-4 ½ kneel L twist ½ kneel R twist Stand Ham Reach Jump Jacks | HIT Circuit 4 rounds :30 on/:30 off 1:00 between circuits MB Slams Box Jumps KB Swings Jump Rope Slide Mtnclmbr Skater Bounds MB Thruster KPI: HR | Dynamic Stretching :30 each F-B leg swing L & R S-S leg swing L & R G-H-Q L G-H-Q R 90/90 Pipe Raise | Be elastic. |
Workout A Breakdown: This is UB PUMPOSIS. You are warming up with the bench press because it’s practically the safest way to get things moving and jump into the circuits. Rest/pause technique means you hold the bar or bells at lockout for a “rest” until you can bang some more reps. This won’t feel difficult at first but it’s a good burn towards the end. We are keeping it UB because we hit the legs moderately in rucking and then hard in Workout C.
The main portion of this workout is the loaded circuit. You can set your barbell up as a landmine by wedging it into a corner with some old rags, or between two heavy dumbbells along the wall. Use padding to protect the bar, floor, and wall as needed. You can also use a pipe, dowel, or broomstick rigged with an elastic anchor. This is not difficult so try not to make excuses or skip this setup. Kneeling presses are uniquely challenging and the rows (stand sideways to the bar ende and use the hand closest to the bar) also provide a “functional” feel. The KPI goal with these movements is to initially select a fixed weight (but should be heavier for row than press) that allows you to finish near failure but with good form on that 4th round. This may take a little trial and error. Then, in the second workout of the week, attempt to increase the amount of weight used for the session (same weight for all 4 rounds) in each of the two exercises.
Yessis reps are based on the research of Michael Yessis PhD who is a sport scientist. One set of 20 reps is a great training stimulus if you really focus hard for the entire duration. This is as much mental as it is physical.
- Suspension Trainer Rows: Just throw a rope or strap with handles over your rack and straighten/stiffen the body almost horizontal looking up. Breaks are fine if needed.
- Feet Elevated Pushup: Place feet on stool, box, or bench and use a slightly narrow hand placement.
- For Spider Curls lay face down (head over top end) of incline bench (can prop flat bench on cinder block). Great way to get more out of a curl.
- Skull Crushers: Lay on back on flat bench. Use two DB’s. Hold elbows high and fixed. Lower hands down to somewhere near the hairline, ears, or slightly behind head that feels OK on your elbows. This is the secret for this exercise, finding the bell path that is joint-friendly.
- Take it old school and anchor the feet. Then hold a weight plate on the torso. Keep knees bent and do partial situps (don’t lay head down) for glory.
Workout B Breakdown: It’s the Ruck That Doesn’t Suck! The gear check is the opportunity to make sure your pack is loaded well. If you have a 5 pound pack, a 45# weight plate works well. However, I prefer sandbags. If using a meat shelf system, strap it into the midback area (avoid too low). Otherwise, put a pillow or sleeping bag in bottom of pack to elevate the weight a bit. With winter weather, boot waterproofing and possibly devices like microspikes or Yak Traks may be useful. The clothing system will need good ventilation as you will heat up after the first few minutes.
Since it’s a steady chug, just hold your perceived exertion of about 80% max. Your goal is to go just a little farther the second time you do it. This will also coincide with pace increases, since the 40 minutes is fixed. You don’t have to worry about HR…we’ll be using that in the next workout and it’s OK if you hammer above 8 RPE once in a while.
Once inside, drop the pack and doff the coat, then proceed to do the static stretches. These get “poo-pooed” by some critics, but for LIFETIME atheltes…they can be useful. Do 30 seconds each side. This will take 6 minutes, making the session 46 minutes. We’ll review the basic technique for each position in the MasterClass if anyone has a question.
Workout C Breakdown: Gymkata is the only term that can really apply to this session (definitely watch the trailer…taking it back to ‘85). I like to encourage everyone to be a MOVEMENTSMITH. This is someone who owns every position and has mastery of motion in every direction. It’s a special kind of secret weapon fitness ninja.
A mobiflow is simply a mobility flow series in which you smoothly cruise from one movement to the next. It’s a way to both improve and test your suppleness. Just follow Daddy in the video, pausing it as needed. You’ll be doing 10 each of the following:
- Standing Trunk Twist with arms straight out to the sides. Try to get 100 degrees of rotation or better.
- Open up your stance a little and do a sidebend and reach. 10 total so you get 5 each way.
- Bend your knees as much as you need. Touch your toes and then reach for the sky.
- Lay on your back and alternately bring a Knee to Chest. Give it a light squeeze and release.
- Stay on your back and put your arms out to sides. Alternately lift up a leg and then roll it over to tap the toe at either 9:00 or 3:00 depending on how you envision the clock. Your hands may lift up but over time try to keep them down.
- Single leg bridge LEFT is simply a hip thrust with a pause, keeping the other leg in the air. Get 5 on each side.
- Roll onto your side in a fetal position. Stack the legs and keep the hips/knees/ankles at 90 degrees. Stack both arms out to side. Then lift the top arm and rotate it 180 degrees all the way to touch back of hand on other side without moving the legs. Get 5 on each side.
- Roll to your stomach. Again place arms out to sides. Now alternately tap the feet at 8:00 and 4:00.
- Rise up into a half kneeling position with one foot forward. Arms out to the side and twist each way 5 times. Switch legs and do another 5.
- Standing Ham Reach: Rise up into a long staggered position and turn the back foot out slightly. Straighten front leg. Reach down the front leg as far as possible 5 times, then switch legs and do other side.
- Jumping Jacks on a 4-count. 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-2…and so on.
Ye Ole HIT Circuit is a gasser. You are going to do 4 rounds of the circuit. Do each exercise for 30 seconds, then rest and reset for the next exercise for 30 seconds. You can have all your stations set up beforehand. Then give yourself 1 minute rest (whoopee) between circuits. OK…let’s talk about these killer moves.
- Med Ball Slams are simply picking up the MB and power slamming it down with a big trunk crunch and loud exhale. You can use expletives in the later rounds.
- Box Jumps use any plyo box, weight bench, or other platform which is available and safe. 12-16 inches is a good height range. Do a countermovement jump up onto the box, then carefully step back down (don’t jump off backwards) for the next rep. Towards the end you’ll need to gather yourself to prevent tripping.
- Let’s use the Freedom Swing version of the Kettlebell Swing which is to keep a very rigid torso and upper extremities and take the bell from low to high overhead. As always, control the descent and use the hip thrust as the power generator.
- Basic Jump Rope: Just work on being light, crisp, and snappy. A steady, staccato rhythm is all we need. If your ceiling is low like mine, just use an “invisible” jump rope.
- Sliding Mountain Climbers: You may have to rig something up here, but it’s worth it. One idea is to use a big piece of old cardboard (glossy box really good) and a couple rags under your shoes. You do the mountain climbers by sliding instead of lifting the feet. No impact to the joints and great core work. 30 seconds 4 times is a hellagood dose. Also, I need to hound you not to say you can’t set this up…just get it done.
- Skater Bounds ask you to bound laterally for height and distance, but not so much for speed. Take the time to load and explode, sinking into each side before reversing.
- Back to your med ball for the thruster. This is a full front squat (ATG) with a piston-like OHP to finish each rep.
- KPI: Immediately at the end of the final round (after thruster), check your heart rate. Write it on a white board. Example is WC 12/14 HR = 148. Because we will fix the loads and times, we are looking for your HR to possibly be lower the second time. This may be somewhat nonlinear because sleep and fatigue issues may have an impact. But definitely explore this test. If you don’t have a monitor, just palpate your carotid pulse for 10 seconds and multiply times 6. Simple.
The Dynamic Stretches are a nice cooldown and fairly easy to do. You can take your time between moves as needed.
- Forward-Backward Leg Swing is simply holding onto something and swinging the leg in pendulum fashion. Do each side for 30 seconds.
- Side to Side Leg Swings will loosen up your hips. Make sure you are holding something sturdy like your rack.
- The Sidelying Glute-Ham-Quad stretch is basically laying on one side and grabbing the foot. Pull the knee to chest and squeeze for a second or two. Then try to straighten out the leg while holding the toes (this may take a while). Finally, fold the leg backwards and pull heel to butt and stretch the quad.
- Roll onto your back and rest your calves on the bench so that you have 90 degrees at hips and knees. Grab a pipe or dowel and hold it at bench press finish position. Keep back flat and inhale as you take the pipe overhead. Goal is to eventually touch knuckles to floor without arching your back or bending elbows.
This shit is pure DOPE! And you are so WOKE on advanced, comprehensive training for LIFE! And if you have a few questions or want to get to the next level…
| MASTERCLASS | DAY AND TIME | MEETING INFO |
| Training and Refining Movement | SATURDAY 9:00am-10:00am MDT | Join the MasterClass |
Kill. Crush. Hammer. It’s not yet time to relax out the year and go all puppies, clouds, and flowers. Dominate!