Happy Veteran’s Day. Thank you to all veterans. It’s Eleven Eleven and we are in training heaven. The second week of our third and final month in the Endurance Block. Last week we did some varied and unique work. This week is similar.
You’ll be facing 6 workouts. You can approach them menu style and do them in any order that suits you. In fact, if you really love one session (or find it to be a challenge you want to “re-do”), you can do it twice. Just not on consecutive days.
Week of 2024-11-11 (week 2 of month 3: Endurance Block) KB = KETTLEBELL, MB = MEDICINE BALL, DB = DUMBBELL, BB = BARBELL, E = ELASTIC BAND OR TUBING
BW = BODYWEIGHT
Workout A Breakdown: This session tasks you to rethink the whole “getting my workout done” mindset. Instead, focus on walking as much as possible, all day. Everywhere you need to go within reason, just be a pedestrian. This is obviously going to work better on a weekend day for most, but see how many steps, minutes, or miles you can do. I did this version already, but am going to do it again. I walked 14 miles over 7 hours in 6” deep snow on closed logging roads. It was amazing. Share your “day of walking” in Member Submissions.
Workout B Breakdown: Hit your swings using any variation you like. Nothing too heavy. Just get rolling. The slams are fun. Try to use high intent and force. This is a lot of reps but you got it. The pushups are done in bouts of seconds (not reps). Rests are only 15 seconds. Using your knees is fine if you need to do that.
Workout C Breakdown: Use a heavy band and a chest-level anchor for the twists so you can turn and flex downward slightly. Power cleans come off the floor to a catch at the shoulders. You can sub dumbbells if you don’t have a bar. It’s good to use plenty of rest, moderate load, and focus on great form over low reps with this kind of lift. Thrusters, or full front squats with an overhead press finish, really work the long excursion against gravity.
Workout D Breakdown: Here we have an interesting approach to aerobic volume. Use any mode and preferably a variety of exercise options. You could bang it out for 2 hours if you are gonzo, but 40 minutes morning, lunch, and evening look tasty to me. You’ll be surprised how your body will easily handle this approach because of all the work we’ve been doing leading up to it.
Workout E Breakdown: The rows use an ascending ladder which can actually get a bit ugly. Adjust your incline as needed to get the reps. Then get down and dirty with ATG gobsquats using elevated heels. I pity the fool who tries to stay with you as you do 10 reps every minute for 10 minutes. Elite performance. The push press uses a bit of a leg impulse so it’s not a strict press. Very piston like. You’ll need a half dozen breaks to get this one finished. Rest with the bar at your shoulders for a few breaths, then bang on.
Workout F Breakdown: The situps use anchored feet and very bent knees, mimicking a throw with each rep. You can modify this to just be a power crunch if your back doesn’t love it. The presses are fairly standard but the 12 reps gets a big pump. Finish off the pattern and those pecs, delts, and tris with a lot of elastic presses.
Delightful sessions for dynamic dudes and dudettes. Even though it’s true that the fork is more powerful than the dumbbell or training shoe when it comes to body composition over the long term, you’ll burn off a pound or two of body fat this week. Without beating up your joints. We’re just keeping the metabolism running steadily with all the training stimulus.