Happy Labor Day Weekend! It’s the end of summer. The beginning (at least in some ways) of fall. And WE are starting into our 3-month Endurance Block. You’ve done an outstanding job working on strength, power, speed, and agility throughout the year so far. We’ll keep those capacities alive in your beast as we now really develop superior endurance.
Endurance is basically the ability to sustain output. It’s cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular fatigue resistance. These elements present some unique challenges in training but their benefits are outstanding. Endurance is strongly correlated with health and longevity and you can even think of it as allowing you to just do more of whatever you love, be that strength training, sports, or life pursuits such as hiking, golf, or frigging yardwork.
We are going to kick off the month with two basic workouts this week. One is an outdoor locomotion affair (taking in the glorious early fall weather) and the other is some solid home gym nourishment. As you begin your endurance training, focus on a mindset that uses repeatability…in other words just tell yourself that you can keep doing whatever you want for as long as you desire. These workouts are simple in that they don’t have the huge variety we use during most agility or power sessions. The concept is to get really good at doing one thing before even considering another. Be a MASTER.
Week of 2023-09-04 (week 1 of month 1: ENDURANCE Block)
| WOW | PREP | PRIMARY | ACCESSORY | TIPS |
| A Out 2-3X | Walk 10:00 | Run or Ruck 20-40:00 easy/steady | Walk 10:00 | Classic Cardio Sammy! |
| B In 2-3X | KB or DB Swing :30 on/:30 off 5 rounds | SB Push Press 15-12-9-6-3 :30 rests 2 rounds | MB Goblet Squat On ramp AMRAP 3:00 | Really OWN the tool and the move! |
Workout A Breakdown: This baby can be anywhere from 40-60 minutes depending on your time available and other proclivities. Casual, unloaded walking starts and finishes the session. In the middle, you can either run (jog) or hike with a modestly loaded backpack. You can even mix it up through the week. Locomotion is such a natural gift of the bipedal human, and we are going to be building it up quite a bit. But for now, keep everything in that popular “Zone 2” (of 5) output where you are steady but can talk a bit as you cruise along.
Workout B Breakdown: Here we are approaching the concept of MOVEMENTSMITHING in a different manner. Instead of doing 17 exercises, we are taking 3 compound, whole-body movements and building high durability and competency.
- The Kettle Bell Swing: You can use a dumbbell (held by one end) if you don’t have a KB. This is great activation and it uses a great hinge pattern. It sneaks up on you a bit as you hit it for 30 seconds, then rest 30 seconds before going again. The last two rounds will present a challenge to keep form and rhythm smooth.
- The SandBag Push Press: The main difference between a push press and a thruster is that with the push press, you use a slight leg impulse to assist your overhead press, but you don’t go way down into a full front squat. Here we have a classic push pattern in a descending ladder, done twice. Try to be very “piston-like” as you progress along.
- The Medicine Ball Goblet Squat: Your med ball isn’t super heavy because we just want a little weight in front of the chest. This allows for a counterbalance and helps you to stay upright. If you don’t have a ramp to stand on, just put your heels on a 2 x 4. As Many Reps as Possible (AMRAP) in 3 minutes is completely devilish. However, use rest-pause technique, stopping as much as you need to get it done. I’m not thinking any of us can bang away non-stop for 3 minutes, but you never know.
When you are finished with this one, you may want to do a few minutes of easy walking or cardio and maybe a stretch or two, but that’s optional.
We’re still holding our personalized MasterClass sessions this month. If you haven’t gotten yours, just ping me and we’ll set one up. Those have been fun to help folks problem-solve and customize a bit. Next month we’ll be moving to regular weekly didactic sessions (academic discussions with bonus whiteboarding and other educational powerhouse tools).
I hope you enjoy this block as much as I probably will. Let me know if you have any questions.