Hello Amazing and Wonderful Tribe Member! I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving and also took advantage of a few killer deals (Black Friday, etc.) on exercise equipment upgrades for your gym. As you are well aware, we are moving into winter. We’re also beginning a new Training Block.
In our Annual Training Plan, we use a block periodization system that divides the year into 5 separate blocks. Each block is 2-3 months long. Next up is a 2-month block, and it’s Agility. In this block we will be maintaining some strength, speed, power, and endurance but we will emphasize agility as our primary target.
Agility is the seamless combination of mobility, stability, reactivity, and fluidity.
- Mobility is having good flexibility and access to your range of motion.
- Stability allows you to manage intrinsic and extrinsic forces appropriately.
- Reactivity helps you to navigate terrain, opponents, and dynamic situations.
- Fluidity provides that supple, flowing movement which is artistic and efficient.
Being agile helps you to be a MOVEMENTSMITH. This is someone who owns every position and who has mastery of motion in every direction. Multidirectional competency is a hallmark of champion athletes as well as a requirement for functional longevity.
We are going to start out the block with some very basic beginnings. I’ll be asking you to explore your awareness of how your body moves and performs relatively simple exercises. We’ll work on correcting or at least shoring up any deficiencies we find (I have a LOT of them) and have some fun in the process. Try to think about mastering positions and motions during this block more so than absolute speed or workload.
One baseline for exercise programming is using the 7 basic movement patterns. It’s not the only model but it’s a decent foundation for the exploration I was mentioning. Those Big 7 are push, pull, rotate, squat, hinge, lunge, and ambulate. Much of that is bilateral, symmetrical, and uniplanar. Ultimately, we are going to work more in triplanar (multidimensional), unilateral, and helical manners (later this month and next), but for now…the basics are a great place to start.
You’ll find the exercises relatively easy and familiar. Put your personal signature on them and notice how your body “self-organizes.” Take note of anything that feels uncomfortable and adjust accordingly. This will provide great data for our MasterClass meetings or email coaching and I encourage you to let me help you with this discovery process.
You’ll also notice that these workouts only require about 45 minutes of time investment. Consistent with our SEASONALITY model, in which we perform microworkouts during these two darkest months (unless you are in the southern hemisphere…reach out to me), you’ll enjoy a bit more exhilaration and a tad less “grind.”
Week of 2023-11-27 (week 1 of month 1: Agility Block)
| WOW | PREPARATORY | PRIMARY | ACCESSORY | TIPS |
| A 2X | PUSH Bench Press 3 x 12 RPE 6-7-8 Overhead Press 3 x 12 RPE 6-7-8 | SQUAT Front Squat 3 x 6 RPE 5-6-7 Back Squat 3 x 6 RPE 5-6-7 | Cardio Cruise Any Mode 15:00 Zone 2 | Shoot for full range and deliberate technique. |
| B 2X | PULL Inverted Row 2 x 10 Assisted Pullup 2 x 10 | HINGE Deadlift BW – 20% 6 x 6 | Quick HIT Jump Rope + KB Swing :30 each 3 rounds 1:00 rests | Get a sense for the movement path your body prefers. |
| C 2X | ROTATE Tubing Trunk Twist 50 each way MB Russian Twist 2 x 30 | LUNGE Bulgarian Split Squat 2 x 10 each leg Walking Lunge 2 x 20 (total steps) | Stretch Doorway Rotation :30 each way Long Lunge 1:00 each leg | Appreciate weight shifting and foot pressures. |
Workout A Breakdown: We are starting out with a horizontal and vertical push sequence. Three sets of 12 with any amount of rest you need. Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) has you selecting weights at about 60-70-80% of 10-rep max (10RM). Use any DB, BB, etc. that you like and any technique variation such as arm path that you prefer. That’s light enough to not require any special warmup.
The squats use lower reps and RPE because of their metabolic demand. Use your sandbag, barbell, or kettlebell for the front squat and perform the back squat with a barbell, sandbag, or backpack. If you don’t have a variety of weights, don’t worry about it. Just use what you’ve got. Get a sense for how each pattern feels and note the differences. Rest as much as you want.
The aerobic finale is using any machine (treadmill, bike, rower, elliptical) or going outside and locomoting in Zone 2. That’s your steady endurance gear which passes the “talk test.”
Workout B Breakdown: The pulls are bodyweight movements which simply use fixed reps. Adjust body angle for the rows and assist method for the pullups to be able to get 10 full reps each set.
Deadlift can be done with a barbell, trap bar, DB’s, KB’s, buckets of gravel, etc. You can even use a very heavy resistance band (stand on it) if that’s all you’ve got. Ideally, you’d use your bodyweight minus 20%, which is fairly light. If you weigh 200 pounds, use 160…and so forth.
The high intensity interval training circuit is doing a minute on and a minute off for 3 rounds. Go directly from 30 seconds of rope jumping (or invisible rope if you have none) to kettlebell swinging for another 30 seconds, then rest a full minute and repeat with quality 2 more times.
Workout C Breakdown: For the tubing trunk twist, use any heavy band or tubing you’ve got. Anchor it at waist level on something sturdy and get some tension into it. Then pull and twist (any form is fine for now) using a wide athletic stance. Turn around and do the other side. The old Russian Twist variation that we’ll be using is sitting with knees bent and keeping your feet on the floor. Recline back about 30 degrees and rotate the ball with arms and shoulders while keeping an engaged core. Don’t touch the ground with the ball.
The Bulgarian Split Squat is a rear foot elevated variation. Use any bench, box or stool for the back foot and any length of stride you like. Load it front, back, contralateral, or ipsilateral any way you like. Use just enough resistance to challenge you but try to really capture most of the range you have available. Walking lunges also get free choice loading. Try to pay attention to how you feel weight move through your foot, knee, and hip as you progress.
While you can always do more pet stretches if you like, spending a little time on the ones listed is great. Stand in any door jamb and keep your feet pointing forward and rooted on the ground. Place hands on opposite sides of the jamb (right crosses over to left and vice versa). Use these contacts to hold max rotation in the spine and hips but maintain your breathing (not easy). The long lunge looks like an exaggerated sprint start. Spread the feet as far as possible and put the hands on the ground. Keep your head up. The back knee can either touch the ground or not.
That was a bit more text in the weekly document than I usually like to put in. Thanks for bearing with me but I felt it would be valuable to lay out some foundational elements. We’ll be going to some amazing places in this block, but a simple start felt right.
MasterClass this week is Wednesday November 29 0800MST. As always, if you can’t join us but have some questions, shoot me an email (just respond to the daily eBlast) and we’ll jam.
I commend you in this mutual pursuit of excellence. Athletic fitness meets athletic longevity. Oh yes!