The new training cycle starts tomorrow (Monday) and will run for 8 weeks. Here’s what we will be focussing on:

Barbell – re-focus on the Olympic Lifts with 2-3 dedicated weightlifting sessions per week. Early in the cycle we will work on our positions with lots of barbell mobility and the use of Technical Maxes. A technical max will be taking your lifts up to a point where you can maintain excellent mechanics and movement at a challenging weight. Weight will only be added to the bar if you and the coach are satisfied that the technique is sound. If form is compromised due to weight, you will go back down and work at a lighter weight. This is to ensure that good technique becomes the norm, becomes the default, so that when you do come to increase the intensity later in the cycle, you will be ready. There will be some % work based of the Technical Max for the day and also some prescribed loading in workouts, this should be scaled to ensure the correct response of  a WOD.

Gymnastics – there will be three mini-workouts or ‘series’ that we will use throughout the cycle to develop pull-ups, toes-to-bar and inverted movements such as handstands and HS press-ups. Each series will include skill and strength work. The repetitiveness of these series will mean that everyone can find their current level, will know what is expected of them and have a clear path of progression to work on.

Conditioning – this cycle will largely focus on power & power endurance, as such there will be lots of short, but heavy/challenging workouts. That being said, there is scope in the programme for longer aerobic pieces that will not disrupt the strength/power work…we can have lots of fun with these! This is a good opportunity to develop your aerobic base by participating in the Endurance Exe running intervals on a Wednesday night. Also, make use of the excellent kit at the gym, the rowing machines, Ski-Erg and Assault Bikes.

Team – we have a lot of competitions coming up in the summer and now is the time to put in the work with your team-mates to develop fitness, strategies, strength/weaknesses, communication etc. Most Saturday’s will be a Team workout (apart from this coming Saturday where you can expect something a little different!), lots of fun of course, but there should be a deeper benefit to these sessions if you are competing or considering competing in future.

So, in summary, we’re getting jacked and ripped for summer!