Let’s Talk Details
1. The Plan
2. Your Job
3. Videos
#1
The Plan
Key Exercises
Bear Crawls (Key)
Parallel Squats (Key)
Toe Touches (Key)
Assisted Alternating Reverse Lunge (Key)
Wall Push-ups (Key)
Parallel Squat (Pause) (Key)
Assisted Reverse Lunge (Key)
Assisted Step ups (Key)
+ Isometrics
Add sets to these key exercises first when you are planning your workout. The accessory movements are not as important for you to add sets to because they can add extra fatigue too fast.
It is imperative that you focus on developing your form with these exercises to maximize the stimulus and have the best progressions week to week possible. Form is foundational to everything else.
View more cues on the movements in the section “Videos” to further improve your form. Cues are the secret to getting your body to move the way you want it to.
Visualize your form often. When you get to the gym, the only thing that changes is the weight because your form should look just like how you practiced on every single rep.
Tips:
- Push Up Variations – Learn how to grip the floor with your hands. It will create tension in your arms and help stabilize you. Think about how it feels as you flex the muscles throughout the lift.
- Isometrics – Think about how the muscles feel. Try to engage them and squeeze them. The more muscles you use, the better you will be at recruiting them when you begin more difficult exercises.
- Mobility – if you want to supplement your progress, try to remove any tightness that you feel. For your hips, spend time stretching your adductors. For your shoulders, stretch and contract the back, especially consider wall slides. Also consider general stretching.
- Squats: Learn how to sit onto your heels as you sit back into the squat position. Identify what feels tight and prevents you from getting into the right position. Most muscles start out tight AND weak. Our goal is to reduce tightness to restore motion and then strengthen the muscles to achieve greater mobility.
#2
Your Job
Stay in a Good Spot this Block
You want to add just enough sets and weight to feel like you worked out, but it is not quite a challenge yet. You want a solid workout where you leave feeling accomplished.
Plan your workout and write down the weight, sets, and rep range in the Workout Plan PDF to get you ready for Week 2.
Rep Range
• Key Lifts: 6-8 Reps // Isometric: 30s-1min Hold
• Accessory Lifts: 8-12 Reps
The rep range will be the same. The only difference is that you may not be at the top of the rep range this week. This means you should still strive to hit 8 reps on key lifts and 12 reps on accessory lifts.
For Isometrics, put yourself in more challenging positions that bring you closer to 30 seconds. The goal is to spend the most amount of time in the most challenging position that you can handle.
Weight
• 3 RIR
• 60-70% of 1RM
• Weight Feels: Just Enough
I encourage you to pick a single weight for your working sets for each exercise. As you add more sets, you will notice that on the last set, your reps are most likely to be the lowest.
As long as your last set is still in the rep range, this performance drop is okay and expected as your muscles get depleted. Make sure you choose a weight that allows you to be at the top of the rep range for most (if not all) of your working sets. RIR 3 is the goal for each of your sets, however, it is possible that your last set may get closer to RIR 2.
Stay away from RIR 1! You do not want to build fatigue too fast. It is better to have the reps drop and stay in the rep range. Achieving RIR 3 takes priority over staying at the top of the rep range.
Sets
• Key Lifts: 2-3 Sets
• Accessory Lifts: 2-3 Sets
Try to do the fewest amount of sets you need to get a good pump in the muscle. However, if you need more to feel a pump then this is the week to do a little more.
Do enough sets where you struggle to maintain RIR 3 on your last set of each key lift. This is a great way to measure your effort to make sure that you are not going too hard too early but also that you are not taking it too easy.
Week 2 is the Goldie Lochs week. We want just enough but not too much volume.
Rest
• Key Lifts: 90s-180s
• Accessory Lifts: 60s-90s
It is important to rest a little longer when the weights are heavier. If you struggle to maintain RIR 3 on your sets, you may need to rest a little longer between sets.
However, whenever your rest is shorter it does have the advantage of giving you a better pump and it prevents you from lifting too heavy, so you can do more sets in the same time span without giving excessive fatigue.
Above all else. make sure your rest periods are not too short where it compromises your form!
Example
Fill out the table with your expected weights and sets before you go workout, so you have a clear mission. Then adjust based on actual performance.
Here’s how I would fill it out for a workout:
#3
Videos
