Motivational Sunday

Hero Dedication Saturday

U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Joshua Desforges, 23, of Ludlow, Massachusetts, assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was killed on May 12, 2010, while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He is survived by his parents David and Arlene, and his loving sister Janelle.

Clean Warm up

Band rack stretch

Bar behind neck force extension both directions

(Add overhead if necessary)

Front squats

Clean technique (add jerk if necessary)

WOD

Desforges

5 Rounds for time:

12 Deadlifts w/155 m/225

20 Pull-ups

12 Clean and Jerk w/95 m/135
20 Knees-to-Elbows

Friday Week#9 Speed

Warm up

1 mile run

Dynamic walk 10m

Inchworm 10m

Walking lunge Sampson stretch 10m

Skill

Movement standards

WOD

5x

30:30

5x Ski for calories

5x Row for calories

5x Air bike for calories
5x Suicides

Thursday Week#9 Speed

Snatch Warm up

5x

Bar on back press force the extension

OHS with a 3 second pause

Drop snatch

Snatch technique

Skill

Bar muscle ups

WOD

12x

30:30

-Bar muscle ups
-Power snatches w/45 m/75

FUN AND EFFECTIVE GROUP YOUTH PROGRAMMING STRATEGIES

Kids can be a challenging group to work with. It seems like you have to tow a tough line between keeping discipline on the fitness floor and making your exercise program fun.

The two ideas are often hard to accomplish in one session or program. While we may be fearful about weight training with kids, remember that kids play, jump, run and lift everyday – just not in the structured environment and method that we are using in fitness facilities. So instead of creating a program that fits into our professional world of weight training and cardio, make exercise fit into a kid’s world by playing games that incorporate strength and stamina. Make sure “fun” is the biggest part of the program.

Create an hour of games that incorporate fun and fitness such as freeze tag, relay competitions, and challenging obstacle courses.

Freeze Tag

Leave the dumbbells on the rack and get creative on a basketball court or in a group training studio and play a hardy game of freeze tag.

Here are the rules:

• No standing if you are not frozen! Everyone must be walking or jogging at all times!
• In the first round, a frozen player must stand on one leg until saved (unfrozen by a live player) or must do 15 push-ups to become “unfrozen.”
• The “tagger” gets to choose an exercise that will “unfreeze” a player for the next round. (Give the “tagger” three exercises to choose from).
• In the second round, a frozen player must hold a plank position until saved or must perform the exercise selection and number of repetitions desired by the previous “tagger.”

Play the game for 15-20 minutes to serve as cardiovascular fitness for the kids.

Relay Race

Everyone loves a little friendly competition – kids especially. So make fitness fun by putting together a great relay race filled with resistance exercises and cardio fun.

Here is an example:

• Set up two (or more) rows of 10 cones approximately 2 feet apart from one another in a vertical line (one right after another in a straight line).
• Set up one last cone about 4 feet from the end of the 10 cones (that will serve as the exercise station).
• The first relay race will be a running zig-zag through the cones, stop at the very last cone and do 15 crunches then run backwards – zig-zagging through the cones, at the starting cone the racer must do 10 push-ups and tag the next teammate. The next teammate in line cannot run the relay until the 10 push-ups are complete!
• The relay will continue until the last person runs the race, returns to the start and does the 10 push-ups. The winning team is the team that finishes first. The winning team then gets to pick one additional exercise for the other team(s) to do (make sure to give them 1-2 choices to select from).
• For the next round, incorporate the speed ladder. Place the speed ladders about 15 feet apart and line up the relay teams in front of each speed ladder.
• Show the kids three speed ladder exercises (e.g., One-Ins, Two-Ins, Side Shuffle, In-In-Out-Out, etc.) before the relay begins and allow all the kids to practice each drill at least once.
• Each team member must perform the speed ladder exercises (one at a time) down the ladder and back. The team who finishes first (all members perform the three speed ladder exercises) wins!

Perform 2-3 relay races (about 15-20 minutes of activity).

Obstacle Course

When you think of fun, do jumping, climbing, crawling, sprinting, hanging and tumbling cross your mind? If you are a kid they do! Kids love to climb, jump over things, run around and just act like kids – so set up the best obstacle course you can think of with tons of fun obstacles and exercise stations.

• On a basketball court or in the park, set up 5-10 stations of exercises for kids to do.
• Start by placing stability balls at one station – this will be where the kids will do crunches.
• In between the first station and the second station, place 7 small hurdles. The kids will have to jump over each one on their way to the next station.
• At the second station, place light dumbbells. The kids will have to perform 10 squats, 10 overhead presses and 10 push-ups before moving on to the next station.
• In between station 2 and station 3, place 5 cones. Kids will have to zig-zag through the cones before they can get to station 3.
• At station 3, place light tubing. Kids will have to perform 10 bicep curls and 10 tubing rows (make sure there is a helper or fitness advisor at station 3 to hold the tubing) before moving on to the last station, station 4.
• In between station 3 and station 4, place the speed ladder. Kids will have to perform 1 speed ladder exercise before ending at the last station.
• At station 4, place light (2 lbs) medicine balls (instruct the kids not to throw the balls around). Kids will perform 10 single leg Romanian dead lifts and 10 medicine ball squat jumps. When they are finished, they will sprint to the finish line.
• Time the players and the best time wins. The winner gets to choose new drills performed between the stations (give your winner a choice of three exercises they can choose from to help organize them).

Have the kids run through the obstacle course 2-3 times. This activity will take 30-45 minutes.

When putting together group training programs for youths – fun is the name of the game. If the kids are not having fun, chances are it will be harder to keep their attention or get them to participate. We want to associate fitness with fun, making an impression that will last for years.

Be creative with your programming. Remember that exercise does not have to always be so structured – you might find that adults may want to participate in these games as well!

Wednesday Week#9 Speed

Warm up

The complex

3 minute jump rope complex

10 singles/ 10 singles as fast as possible/ 10 singles/ 10 double unders

2x

-Push up complex (5 close/ 5 shoulder with apart/ 5 ultra wide)

-Pull up complex (5 close/ 5 shoulder with apart/ 5 ultra wide)

-Mid section complex (5 tucks/ 5 v-ups/ 5 Hollow rocks)

-Posterior complex (5 superman/ 5 super rock/ 5 good morning)

-Stationary lunge complex (5 forward lunges/ 5 lateral lunges/ 5 reverse lunges)

Skill

Rope climbs

WOD

For time:

3 rope climbs

30 thrusters w/65 m/95
20 bar facing burpees

Tuesday Week#9 Speed

Warm up

2 rounds of:

5m - 10m - 15m

-Forward/ backward

-Shuffle

-Carioca

-Sprinting

-*10m broad jumps*

Skill

DB snatch & deadlift

WOD

5x

30 deadlifts w/95 m/135

60 double unders

10 DB snatches w/45 m/70

75m shuttle run

*Rest 3 minutes after each round*

Monday Week#9 Speed

Gymnastics Warm up #2

2 minutes jump rope

-Net climb

-Inversion/ skin the cat/ inversion/ pike pull x3/ inversion/ SLOWLY lower

-Bucket work x5 wipers or x5 round the clocks

-3x handstand holds

-Strict TTB

-Close grip OHS

Skill

Wall squats and faults in the squat

WOD

5x

20:40

-GHD sit ups

-Air squats
-Push ups

Motivational Sunday

Hero Saturday

U.S. Army Sergeant Dale G. Brehm, 23, of Turlock, California, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based in Fort Lewis, Washington, died on March 18, 2006, when he came under small arms fire from enemy forces during combat operations in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. He is survived by his wife Raini, father William, stepmother Linda, and mother Laura Williams.

Partner Warm up #4

Ping pong the following for 3 rounds:

Suicide

7 OHS with barbell

7 good mornings

7 dips

7 pull ups

7 GHD sit ups

Skill

Rope climbs

WOD

Brehm

For Time:

10 Rope Climbs, 15"

20 Back Squats w/155 m/225

30 Handstand Push-ups
40 Calorie Row

5 MISTAKES THAT MAY BE HOLDING YOU BACK

By: EWA JANUSZKIEWICZ

Fully committed and more determined than ever, you feel like you’re on the right track to achieve your strength goals. As you train, you track your metrics, but see no real progress. What are you doing wrong? After all, you’ve watched, read, and listened to every youtube tutorial, instagram clip, podcast, and article that has ever existed surrounding strength sports and nutrition. You have been training for an entire cycle now. How are you not a world champion yet?!

Let’s be clear. Even though we live in a time where everything reflects the “here and now” mentality, strength training still takes time. Vasily Alekseyev, Brian Shaw, Hafthor Bjornsson, Kimberly Walford, Becca Swanson, Dmitry Klokov, Andrey Malanichev, Jill Mills, Blaine Sumner, and Taylar Stallings didn’t accomplish all of their strength goals over night. What they did do, however, is plan properly and execute accordingly. Being a champion has nothing to do with luck, but rather, with diligent planning, effort, and time commitment.

SO WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU DOING WRONG? 

1. YOU DON’T HAVE A COACH

Even the best athletes generally tend to have coaches. People who are coaches to others probably still have a coach of their own. Why? Because it’s always beneficial to have another point of view. Someone to bounce ideas off of and help you improve technically can be vastly beneficial to your performance. Even lifters who coach themselves now, have, at one point or another in their careers, had a coach. A coach will guide you by tracking your training metrics, monitoring your fatigue and recovery, and by creating a training program.  Coaches are valuable because they point things out that you would never normally be honest with yourself about. Was that weight too difficult? Are you cutting depth on your squat? They are also there to encourage and push you. They can help you figure out what is and is not working and they likely have experience in coaching others. Experience is knowledge, and knowledge is power.

2. YOU’RE CREATING YOUR PROGRAM FROM WHAT YOU SEE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is a useful resource for motivation, networking, and fun. What it is not good for is helping you create a successful program. Trying to piece together a workout based on someone else’s social media is not going to be beneficial. Sure, checking out other lifters’ form, technique, or assistance work can be helpful, but should not be relied upon when attempting to train consistently for a meet. In this case, build your program from what you’ve read in textbooks and articles, or better yet, hire a strength coach. A program that focuses on the heavy compound movements and allows you to gain both mass and strength is going to optimize your performance. This is unlikely to be created from your favorite internet friends’ social media.

3. YOU DON’T FOLLOW A NUTRITION PLAN

Personally speaking, I did not understand how much of an impact nutrition can have on my performance until I actually began following a diet plan. I began my journey with Chris Aydin, through Inov8. I followed a flexible dieting plan and was very successful. As I began to learn more about nutrition and training, I connected with Nick Shaw of Renaissance Periodization. Over the years, as I dialed in my nutrition, I made huge progress in my performance while remaining in the 63 kg (138 lb) weight class. Eating whatever you so choose is great – and delicious – but don’t expect to get optimal results without properly fueling your body. Your body needs an adequate amount of macronutrients and micronutrients to help you train with intensity and recover sufficiently to allow you to continue training. Nutrition takes time; but it is really so easy to do if you commit yourself to it.

4. YOU DON’T HAVE A LONG TERM PLAN

Progress in powerlifting is not linear. As a beginner, it might seem that it is because every time you step into the gym, you are getting better. However, this will slow down. There will come a time when you aren’t hitting a personal best every week. This is why it is so valuable to have a long term plan, and stick to your programmed numbers. If you try to move too quickly, without focusing on the basic strength principles, technique, mobility and stability, you put yourself at risk for getting injured. I understand the temptation to push your limits in the gym. However, it is not worth it when looking at the long term plan. Your central nervous system is heavily impacted by higher intensity lifts, and your fatigue will increase as you continue to press for a higher gym total. Improper recovery will result in more difficult training days, and ultimately prevent you from progressing as your program suggested you would. Save your glory for the platform.

5. YOU’RE WAITING TO BE ‘GOOD ENOUGH’ TO COMPETE

Sign up for a meet. Don’t be the very person that is holding you back! Lifting is a sport of longevity, and one in which your most meaningful competition is yourself. The more experience you have on the platform, the better you will become at competing. There is no qualifying total for competing in a local meet. Give yourself time to train consistently. Move through hypertrophy, strength, and peaking, then test your strength in a meet. Training can get tedious and overwhelming. Having something to look forward to is a great motivator. 

Summary: 

It is tempting to get sucked into the “here and now” mentality, especially when there is constant pressure from our society to be good at everything, and be good at it immediately. It is rare for an athlete to become the strongest overnight. Below are 5 mistakes that are preventing athletes from being successful:

1. Not having a coach

2. Trying to build a program through what you see on social media

3. Not following a nutrition plan. 

4. Losing sight of the long term plan
5. Waiting until you’re “good enough” to compete

Friday Week#8 Volume

Warm up

BURGENER WARM-UP:

1. Down and "Finish"

2. Elbows High and Outside

3. Muscle Snatch

4. Snatch Lands at 2", 4", 6"

5. Snatch Drops

SKILL TRANSFER EXERCISES:

1. Snatch Push Press

2. Overhead Squat

3. Heaving Snatch Balance

4. Snatch Balance without a dip

5. Snatch Balance with a dip

WOD

10 minute AMRAP

7 OHS

7 full snatches

7 SDHP

(w/65 m/95)