Boxprogramming:
After a summer where there has been a lot of variation in the program we are now entering our big strength block of the year.
The Strength Block will be a 12 week program with 3 different phases that you can read more about below. As always when doing a block like this we never neglect other parts of our fitness and you will still always have the opportunity to get your heart rate up and we will do enough variation to keep our fitness in all aspects.
The Block we are now entering is very similar to previous years since we often get very good results from it. The 12 weeks consist of 3 mini blocks where we do 3 weeks on and 1 week off. The week off allows us to put in more variation of movements that we do not do as often right now and also keeps motivation and body more fresh.
Block 1:
In our first block the goal is to build volume. Both in order to refine our technique and to be able to do more intense and heavy strength training in the next 2 blocks. In this block you see a lot of high rep strength sessions and Capacity Strength EMOMS. Make sure you focus on perfect movement quality and be patient in regards of weights, knowing that we will increase weight a lot the upcoming two Blocks.
Block 2+3:
Our second and third block is where we start to go down in reps and increase the intensity. For many of the sessions we will use the Max Effort Sets for the last set of a movement. This is a very successful strategy to use when we do not do too many sets during a week to guarantee that the intensity is high enough. Example: You see many workouts like this:
Back Squat: 5-5-5+ 79%
This means that you do 5 reps for your first and second set where focus is to move the bar as fast as possible. For your last set then you do as many repetitions as you can within safety. Note that you should be sure that you can hit the next lift and for these lifts you should not need a spotter.
During Block 2+3 the repetitions will start around fives and week by week we will do fewer reps but at higher percentages. This will also allow you to get used to heavier weights which is often a big part in getting stronger.
After the full 12 weeks we will test our 1 RM in the following lifts:
Back Squat
Front Squat
Deadlift
Power Clean
Strict Press
Strict Pull Ups
Pre WOD VS WOD:
During this block we are adding the most important strength session into the Daily WODS. Typically you will have 3 sessions a week that starts with a bigger strength piece. Since we are still limited by time you will also many times see that in addition to the Strength Piece in the workout there are additional volume on the same body part in the metcon that follow. For example after a 3*3+ Back Squat its very common that you see a bigger chunk of Medium to Heavy Lunges in the metcon.
You will get very strong by just doing the Daily WOD but if you really want to focus to get strong in the upcoming block you should also consider to adding the strength pieces in Pre and Post Workout. If this is something you have not done in your training before you will off course also have to focus extra on your recovery in order to make sure that the quality of each session is high. If you after a few weeks feel like the quality goes down for each session you might have to cut back again and drop the additional work.
Additional Measurements to get stronger:
Going into the fall many athletes are often extra motivated to train hard and to have more progress. If you really want to get good results from this block we recommend to also look at investing time in factors that will help your recovery between sessions. Adding Sleep, better planning of food are two things that are highly likely to increase the quality for each training. In addition to this, plan and prepare for each training session so that you always know what to do for each session before you get into the gym.
