Friends, we start a new 4 week block of training tomorrow Monday November 13 and there’s one particular lift we’ll be having some fun with over this cycle and the next: the bench press.
A classic powerlifting movement, get ready take a ride on the Magical Movement Bus that is the bench press.
Keep on reading to see where we will be heading over the next four weeks!
Week 1 Day 1, Week 2 Day 6, Week 3 Day 5, Week 4 Day 4
COORDINATION: AGILITY
STRENGTH: SPEED, SPEED STRENGTH, MAXIMAL
CONDITIONING: AEROBIC
Single leg plyometrics in the frontal plane coupled with medball hammer heaves make up COORDINATION and kick off this training session. Great accessory piece to be able to handle change of directions in the plyos and the medball work builds strong obliques, hips, and shoulders. STRENGTH features a superset of a challenging single leg squat movement (Shrimp Squats) and barbell bench presses. Quads and core with the squats. Glutes, quads, low back, chest, and arms on the bench press. The session concludes with a moderately paced, moderate duration EMOM CONDITIONING workout.
Week 1 Day 2, Week 2 Day 1, Week 3 Day 6, Week 4 Day 5
COORDINATION: REACTION
STRENGTH: SPEED, SPEED STRENGTH, POWER
CONDITIONING: AEROBIC
Reactive Broad Jumps with medball Drop Step Punches will be in this day’s COORDINATION. Developing explosive hip extension and a core that produces rotational power. Power Clean and Split Jerks are the sole STRENGTH movement for this day. Working on 2+1, so two power cleans and 1 split jerk. CONDITIONING finishes off the session with 4 x 3 minute intervals of gradually increasing intensity up to 90% of max effort.
Week 1 Day 3, Week 2 Day 2, Week 3 Day 1, Week 4 Day 6
COORDINATION: BALANCE
STRENGTH: POWER, MAXIMAL
CONDITIONING: AEROBIC
When done correctly, bear crawls pack a potent punch, teaching the core how to remain stable while the arms and legs work. We crank the balance challenge up on this movement in today’s COORDINATION with bear crawls on the 2x4s. Today’s STRENGTH has the highest volume in the entire block with three movements. A snatch complex is superset with strict chinups. This section concludes with INCLINED bench pressing. CONDITIONING features another moderate paced, shorter duration “up the ladder” format workout.
Week 1 Day 4, Week 2 Day 3, Week 3 Day 2, Week 4 Day 1
COORDINATION: AGILITY
STRENGTH: SPEED, MAXIMAL
CONDITIONING: ALACTIC
Athletes will have some really tricky movement puzzles to solve in today’s COORDINATION. 180 degree hurdle hops and low bridges make for a mix of a super quick and dynamic rotational plyometric movement with a high tension, mobility challenging one. A unique day in the program, CONDITIONING comes before STRENGTH. 5 second prowler sprints at 100% maximal intensity develops your nervous system to be incredibly powerful, increases joint stiffness for faster running, and chisels lean and mean legs and hips. LOTS of rest between attempts, this is not meant aerobic but rather alactic in nature. Fatigue will feel like your brain is a bit foggy instead of muscle burning high breathing rate task. A STRENGTH triplet of high bar side lunges, half kneeling landmine presses, and kettlebell gorilla rows complements the previous work by hitting a different plane of movement and smashing the adductors and glutes (lunges), improving scapular mechanics and increasing strength in the rotator cuffs, upper traps, deltoids, and arms (landmine presses), and finally increasing upper body horizontal pulling by strengthening the lats, rhomboids, and mid traps, and low back endurance (gorilla rows).
Week 1 Day 5, Week 2 Day 4, Week 3 Day 3, Week 4 Day 2
COORDINATION: NONE
STRENGTH: POWER, MAXIMAL
CONDITIONING: GLYCOLYTIC
No COORDINATION work as this day is about crushing the CONDITIONING and so we will need more time built into the schedule. STRENGTH kicks the training off with a superset of cleans from blocks below the knee and close grip bench pressing. Lifting cleans or snatches from blocks is a great way to help simplify a particular focus of the lift (like learning how to really clear the knees as the bar travels up to the hip) and reduce wear, tear, and time under tension from constantly lifting from the floor or hang. Close grip bench presses are a good alternative way of bench, especially for people with chronic shoulder pain as the narrow grip takes stress of the pectoral muscles are loads the triceps a bit more. CONDITIONING is the week’s hardest effort. Full effort is expected as well as a good deal of discomfort. The goal of this session is to become comfortable with suffering, develop a specific energy system, and callus your mind. Good luck!….
Week 1 Day 6, Week 2 Day 5, Week 3 Day 4, Week 4 Day 3
COORDINATION: BALANCE
STRENGTH: SPEED STRENGTH, POWER
CONDITIONING: AEROBIC
Generating power QUICKLY is key skill being developed across a lot of our COORDINATION work. Today looks to develop the body’s ability to absorb force and stabilize just as quick. Single leg “Fake” MB Chops look to improve this skill. This section concludes with practicing some handstand walking. Don’t worry: we’ve got plenty of regressions to get you upside down, let alone walk on your hands! Really fun way of developing your body’s sense of how it moves through space. STRENGTH focuses on the split jerk. This session will feature a LONG CONDITIONING workout in an AMQRAP setting 20+ minutes. While the duration is longer, the intensity will still remain between 80-90% max effort.