JOURNAL

October '23 Programme

by tom MCADAM
03/10/23

Programme Overview

October's programme continues to build up to our next Testing Week which will take place in the last week of November.

As well as guaging your progress in all the usual strength, strength endurance and skill elements, we'll be including a 2k Row time trial for the first time. This is a phenomenal test of overall aerobic and anaerobic fitness and it's a huge mindset challenge as well. Look out for the Tuesday Energy programme which is designed to help you prepare for the 2k test.

Look out also for the new movement split on the Force programme.

Monday Force

Full body strength: deadlift waves, push jerk, weighted pull-ups

Tuesday Energy

Gear shift intervals. Longer intervals into shorter intervals. 2k row TT preparation.

Wednesday Work

Barbell and / or gymnastic skill followed by varied metcons, including Open workouts.

Thursday Force

Full body strength: squat waves, power clean, bench press waves

Friday Energy

Varied workouts involving running, ergs and functional movements. A mixture of "for time", AMRAP and EMOM workouts.

Saturday Work

As usual - longer, harder partner workouts

Sunday Force

Full body strength: front foot elevated split squats, renegade rows, Jefferson curls, bridges & core work

Sunday RUN CLUB

7-8km long run, ~5:30/km pace

Force Programme:

There are some changes to the exercises included in the October Force programme. We'll be incorporating a push jerk on Mondays, a power clean on Thursdays and we're dropping the linear progression squats in favour of front foot elevated split squats on Sundays.

We're excited to introduce the power clean and push jerk to the weekday Force programme for the first time. Both of these movements will help you develop power and speed as well as strength. As such they're great ways to build athleticism. They're also technical movements which require precision and technique. There is a strong skill component which we love.

In September we progressed through some pyramid rep schemes, ending with 5-3-1-3-5 this week. In October, we're moving to waves, which are a slightly simpler rep format. Week 1 will see the main lifts work through 8-6-4-4-4 reps. From there, the reps will be decreasing across the month as the weights go up (7-5-3-3-3). These rep schemes allow us to work across a range of intensities so that you get a good amount of volume as well as the input you need to start handling heavier weights.

Energy programme:

Tuesday's Energy programme has the explicit focus of preparing you to take on a 2k row test in November. In order to do this, we're working on what we call gear-shift intervals where the length of the intervals varies across the session.

In September, we started with short explosive intervals and moved towards longer aerobic efforts. In October, we're doing the opposite. We start with a longer interval of 6-9 minutes, then to efforts in the 3-4 minute range and finally to lactic intervals in the 90 second - 2 minute range.

The initial effort and the mid-range intervals are great for developing VO2 max and aerobic output. The sprint intervals at the end are great for developing your anerobic capacity as well as your ability to use and process lactate.

These sessions will give you the physiological capacities you need to take on the 2k. They will also give you practice in pacing so that you know how to approach the time trial. As many of you know, pacing correctly on the rower is extremely hard!

WORK PROGRAMME:

The Work session continues much as last month. There will be a barbell or gymnastic skill followed by a challenging metcon workout that puts that skill to the test.

Where the other days are often controlled in their effort level, we think of Wednesday as "Game Day" for those that do it. Go for it, challenge yourself and see if you can get acquainted with a bit of intensity!