Yo Tribester! Week 4 of 5 in this (relatively) long month! It’s the penultimate week of our Agility Block and we’ve got another round of exciting and varied workouts. We are going to explore drop sets, intermittent and long-length isometrics, tuck jumps, and broad jumps…to name a few cool changeups.
As is often our pattern, there are 3 sessions that you can shoot to hit twice this week, as long as that fits your fancy. Since we are doing back-to-back days involving lifting with similar muscle groups and jumping, try to keep the loads manageable and the volume absorbable/recoverable. This will be the last week that we organize training in that manner. Next week is deloading and then we move into the 3 month Strength Block which starts out with a push-legs-pull x 2 split.
Week of 2024-01-22 (week 4 of month 2: Agility Block)
| WOW | PREPARATORY | PRIMARY | ACCESSORY | TIPS |
| A 2X | WARMUP CIRCUIT 1 light set 12 reps All primary lifts | DROP SETS Straight Sets 6 x 6 w/no rest Heavy to light Back Squat Deadlift Overhead Press Curl | TUCK JUMPS Explore for 1 song. Walk around for 1 song. Explore for 1 more song. Bike Spin Cooldown10:00 | Be a piston. Land softly. |
| B 2X | CARDIO CRUISE Any Mode 10-30:00 Zone 1-2 | INTERMITTENT ISO’s Circuits 4 x 8 each ex All medium weight Hold mid-range :05/rep Incline Bench Row Goblet Squat Bench Press | BROAD JUMPS Just a few feet. 10 x 1 Max rests Stretch Free Choice | Submax jumps. Use your arms. |
| C 2X | ACTIVATION :30 each Tubing Row Tubing Press MB Giant Circle MB Slam KB Swing | LONG LENGTH ISO’s 1:00 holds + 15 reps All light weight 1-2 rounds Lunge Left Block or DB pushup Lunge Right Assisted Pullup | SPLIT JUMPS X :10 +Z4 x 1:00 Any mode 3-6 rounds Active rest 2:00 Between rounds | Torso upright. Springy legs, tight core. |
Workout A Breakdown: The lifting here is pretty straightforward. Warm up with a circuit of all the lifts to prime the body. Then you head for the drop sets. These are also known as strip sets (stripping plates off a barbell), running the (dumbbell) rack, etc. Feel free to improvise and use whatever weight options you have available. You’ll get a huge pump as you crank reps from heavy to light, but only 1 set of each won’t make you too sore the next day. The jumps are best done on a padded surface and the idea is to play with the technique. Try not to get out of sync and slam your feet down hard. I recommend only doing 1-3 jumps, then resting for 10-30 seconds, and jumping again. Pick songs that are brief so you don’t pound yourself.
Workout B Breakdown: Once your aerobic warmup is completed, pick out some medium weights for each of the exercises. You’ll be doing circuits. On each rep, hold the mid-range for 5 seconds. At first this will be very easy, but by the end it will be quite challenging. When you get to the broad jumps, use a nice countermovement and swing your arms, but don’t give it a full effort. The landings are a little hard on Lifetime Athletes so soft-pedal this until we get outside later in the year and train on grass and at the track facility.
Workout C Breakdown: The activation flow gets you ready to rock and you can rest between the segments as you like. I’ll describe each of the long length iso’s separately:
- You have the choice of only doing bodyweight or using some DB’s, backpack, etc. for the lunges. Hold a really long, stretched out position for a minute, then rise up and down for 15 reps at the end.
- For the pushups, put your hands on yoga bricks or dumbbells to be able to sink deep into the pushup and stretch ye ole pecs (make sure your shoulders are OK with this position). Just hold it and don’t bounce. Then hit your reps in the fatigued state at the end.
- The Assisted Pullup starts with a dead hang, and then you use your assist band or bench to hit the reps.
The split jumps are those reversing staggered stance jumps which really make the legs work in a propulsive pattern. Hit 10 seconds of jumping then get on a rower, air bike, or anything else you have and hammer for 1 minute at a Z4 (about an RPE 8/10 effort) level. This will gas you out fairly hard, then go super easy for 2 more minutes before getting off and doing the next round of jumps and power output.
It’s been incredibly fun mixing and mashing movements in this block. I always like the way it makes my body feel limber and capable. As we move into the 3-month resistance-focused block, we’ll be sure to maintain some of this function as we concentrate on strength and hypertrophy. Next month will look a lot like bodybuilding. It’s so enjoyable as well as effective to go through the year and experience a multitude of athletic training models. We stay consistent enough to make real gains but varied enough to be well-rounded Lifetime Athletes.
It looks like the App is on schedule for the Feb 1 launch. I’ll have more data very soon and will report back on how you can seamlessly make the changeover. I think you are going to love it!