We are OFFICIALLY in the second half of the training year, but before we talk about what is to come let’s reflect back on the month of June!
We had plenty of named workouts, a test of Cali Bear, and a retest of Fran. The overhead press (sometimes getting upside down!) was our main focus. We saw it once a week to help continue building confidence and capacity.
We also saw two GRIND workouts a week during the final month of our “Towing Capacity” cycle. This solidified our more anaerobic (or sprint) system, so we can now switch gears and build our aerobic system during our next phase. Lastly, we saw a barbell complex once a week to set us up for our next strength cycle that will be all about the Snatch + Clean & Jerk!
In July, our strength cycle is actually going to start in the second week of the month.
This is to account for the Fourth of July holiday week(end), when we traditionally see lots of athletes traveling. The first week of the month will see some nods for what’s to come, but the cycle won’t officially start until the following week, 7/8!
This strength-training cycle will center around the Snatch + Clean & Jerk, culminating in a 1RM test.
Week 1 will be an opportunity to build to something heavy that can be used to base percentages on for the remaining weeks…if you already have a heavy 1RM you can also use that.
From there, we will see triples, doubles, and singles leading into a de-load and a 1RM test! We will also see alternating weeks of Back Squats and Deadlifts but these are just supplemental lifts, the stars of the show are our two Olympic lifts!
Our conditioning phase will switch to a focus on shorter, more explosive efforts, which means we’ll see more sprint workouts each week. The intent is to take the long-distance base we established in the last phase and now work on dialing up the intensity.
We can always stay in the “comfortable” long distance workouts, sometimes getting uncomfortable with speed is required and that's what this phase is all about! Our first benchmark, Jackie, highlights this concept perfectly! We will also see a retest of the Filthy Fifty, a hero workout on July 4th (Schmalls), and the classic workout: Fight Gone Bad. The last big note for this month is a higher exposure to Pull-Ups, Chest to Bars, and Bar Muscle-Ups!
We have a busy month, so let’s get to work!