We’re onto Phase 2 of our summer block of training and continuing our transition from work capacity training to heavy strength and power training.
Monday and Wednesday: Strength A and Strength B
You’ll notice a lot of similarities between Phase 1’s strength sessions and Phase 2’s strength sessions. There are a few good reasons for those similarities.
First, we’ve been practicing get-ups and swings during the A section of Strength A. Those movements take a lot of practice to master, and you’ve been making great progress with them. It’d be silly to make a change that removes that practice or moves it to another part of the week. It’s best to practice technical skills when you’re at your freshest. So, they’ll remain in the front end of Strength A.
And if you’re thinking, “Well, I’m already pretty good at swings and get-ups, how does this apply to me?” keep in mind that movement skills are perishable skills. We have to keep on them or they go away. Plus, these movements are great primers for strength work.
We’ve progressed the jumping, throwing, and core exercises in Strength B’s A section. But they’re all along the same vein. We’re maintaining our power output until we drop the hammer on strength and power training this fall.
The B section of each workout still features eustress training, as well as the same exercises. We’re doing this because eustress training is awesome and another cycle of it will do you good. And also so you can compare what you did during Phase 1 to what you do during Phase 2. Eustress training is also preparing you for the higher-intensity strength training we’ll do starting in October.
(Check out a recent episode of The Beyond Strength Show where we discussed Eustress Training)
The C’s will once again feature movement restoration work. We’ve added a few spicy and novel exercises because they’re fun and productive. We think you’re really going to dig the C2 options during Strength A. We’re maintaining the movement restoration work because we need it. It’s a good bridge between the work capacity training we did during the first half of the year and the heavier strength work that awaits us.
Tuesday: Vigor
You guys kicked ass during Phase 1 Vigor. The numbers that you put up from week to week were awesome and it was great to see you push yourselves while making such progress.
Now we need a break from the sustained, high-intensity output.
This month features shorter interval pairings. They’re fun, and you’ll get plenty of hard work out of them, but they won’t have the gnarly factor that the 4:00 intervals did during Phase1.
Not only are we giving you a break from sustained high output, but we’re also training you to generate power and repeat it. This is an important quality for performing in everyday life and for maintaining longevity. Working for around 15 seconds and resting for 3 times as long keeps your power output high while also keeping your heart rate mostly in the cardiac output zones. So, you improve your repeatable power output while also getting the aerobic training you need.
Thursday: Endurance
Phase 2 Endurance features the same set-up as Phase 1. You’ll continuously circuit three movements for 10 minutes, and then immediately begin the next circuit when the 10-minute clock is up. We’ve included more movement capacity training in this phase to help maintain your heart rate in the blue zone (if you’re using Morpheus) or in the cardiac output zone in general (if you’re not using Morpheus).
And let’s level for a second, we all need as much joint care work as we can get. That’s the stuff that keeps us up and kicking ass now and well into the future.
Friday: Resilience
The similarities continue. Phase 2 Resilience features the same set-up as Phase 1 resilience–eight-minute circuits of movement capacity exercises, carries, and strength exercises. We’ve bumped the strength reps up to 8-10 and we’ve switched out some of the movement capacity exercises while progressing others to their next step in difficulty. (The prone single arm reach in Circuit D is a real sneaky bastard.)
Like the work we’re doing during Strength A and Strength B, the Resilience sessions are laying the foundation for the intense strength work coming this fall. You’re getting a lot of reps with foundational movements and building a lot of volume with them. It will give you the skill and capacity necessary to intensify your strength training in the coming months. Also, it’s nice to just do something that feels nice after the tough Resilience workouts we did during the first half of the year.
Okay. You know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Let’s kick ass this month.
