Week Three - Day Four - Dynamic Lower Body

Saturday July 2, 2011

Dynamic Lower Body

Buy In: Catalyst Standard Warm Up with Yoga Frogs and Goblet Squats

Workout:

Back Squats 10 sets of 2 reps at 60% of 1RM (60 seconds between sets)

Supplemental (90 seconds between sets):

Kettlebell One Legged Deadlifts - 3 sets of 8 reps each leg

Back Extensions: 3 x 8

kettlebell russian twists

Cashout Metcon:

Tabata Rope! Jump for 20 seconds, rest for 10 x 8

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Matt's "Hepburn Solution" Routine by Mike Mahler (Done on Friday July 1, 2011)

A1) Barbell bench press 8x2

A2) Weighted pull-up 8x2

Rest 90 seconds between each set of A1 and A2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed. Rest two minutes, and then continue.

B) Deadlift 8x2

Take a full five minute break, and then do the Pump Phase.

A1) Barbell bench press 3x6

A2) Weighted pull-up 3x6

Rest one minute between each set of A1 and A2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed. Rest two minutes, and then continue.

B) Deadlift 3x6

Rest 90 seconds between each set.

Week Three - Day Three - Max Effort Upper Body

June 30, 2011

Max Effort Upper Body

Buy in: Catalyst Standard Warm Up with Pec Mobilization and Pass Throughs

Flat Bench Press (Conventional Bench Press)

12 reps with the bar
8 reps at 55%
5 reps at 70%
3 reps at 90%
3 reps at 95%
3 reps going for your max 3

Dumbbell Bench Press 4 sets of 8 reps

T-Bar Rows 4 sets of 12 reps

Pull-Up Super Set (Thank you to Jessika Morton for this idea)
Band Pullups 10 reps immediately followed by
Lat Pull - downs 10 reps
repeat this 4 times

Grippers

Cooldown: Foam Rolling!

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Matt's "Hepburn Solution" Routine by Mike Mahler

A1) Barbell military press 8x2

A2) Barbell bent-over row 8x2

Rest 90 seconds between each set of A1 and A2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed. Rest two minutes, and then continue.

B1) Squat 8x2

B2) Double dumbbell one-leg deadlift 8x2

Rest 90 seconds between each set of B1 and B2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed. Take a full five minute break, and then do the Pump Phase.

A1) Barbell military press 3x6

A2) Barbell bent-over row 3x6

Rest one minute between each set of A1 and A2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed. Rest two minutes, and then continue.

B1) Squat 3x6

B2) Double dumbbell one-leg deadlift 3x6

Rest one minute between each set of B1 and B2. Go back and forth between the sets until all the sets are completed.

Week Three - Day Two - Max Effort Lower Body

Tuesday 6/28/2011

Buy In: Catalyst Athletics Standard Warm Up, Yoga Frogs, Light Goblet Squats, Bar Front Squats

Workout:

Max Effort Squat/DL

Front Squat (If you haven't maxed yet, use a projected max and work toward a new PR!)

Work up to a 3RM using the following 5 set formula:

Set 1: 8 Reps at 75% or above
Set 2: 5 Reps at 85% or above
Set 3: 3 Reps at 90% or above
Set 4: 3 Reps at 95%
Set 5: Go for your 3 Rep Max (100%)

Supplemental Exercise:

Kettlebell Step Ups (goblet squat hold with, 20" box women 24" box men)

4 sets of 12 total reps (6 each leg)

Accessory Exercises:

Romanian Deadlift: 3x8

DeFranco Ab Circuit: (3 times 2 minutes rest between sets)
Sprinter Sit Ups x 10 (5 each leg)
V-Ups x 10
Toe Touches x 10
Hip Thrusts x 10

Cashout: Foam Roller

Homework:
Dinosaur Training: Are you a Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced?

Week Three - Day One - Dynamic Upper Body

Monday June 27, 2011

Dynamic Upper Body

Buy In: Catalyst Standard Warm Up

Workout:

60% of 1RM Competition Bench Press

8 sets of 3 Reps (60 seconds rest between sets)

Supplemental Exercises:

Kettle Bell Clean and Press: 3 sets of 8 reps each arm

Lying EZ bar triceps extensions 4 sets of 12 reps

Chin Ups: 4 sets of (as many at a time as you can do)

Cashout MetCon: Row 2 Minutes, Rest 1 x 3

Week Two -Day Four - Dynamic Lower Body

Saturday June 25, 2011

Dynamic Lower Body

Buy In: Catalyst Standard Warm Up with Yoga Frogs and Goblet Squats

Workout:

Back Squats 10 sets of 2 reps at 55% of 1RM (60 seconds between sets)

Supplemental (90 seconds between sets):

Rack Supported Pistol Squats - 12 each leg x 4

Good Mornings: 3 x 8

Ab Wheel 4 sets of 5 reps

Cashout Metcon:

Tabata Swings! Swing for 20 seconds, rest for 10 x 8

Week Two - Rest Day

"The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know." -- Socrates

Matt and I received our new Pendlay Do-Win lifting shoes this week (Which are awesome, btw.). We decided to grab an empty bar and a video camera to see how our base squats were fairing.

What a lesson in humility...

We quickly realized where our sticking points were in the squat. That's the beauty of the program we're doing. Every training day, the goal is to lift, assess, and correct. Our sticking point is leaning forward in the squat (According to EliteFTS this is the most common squat problem). I finally broke the habit of my knees buckling inward, but our squats can quickly turn into raised good-mornings. So now that we've assessed the problem, what's the correction?

First off, our anthropometry comes into play on how vertical we can get. Matt and I will be less vertical in our squat since our legs are longer than our torsos. but the goal is to strengthen our bodies correctly so we utilize all the proper muscle tensions to get that bar back up.

Forward motion is caused by improper back tension. A few exercises to help strengthen this are back extensions, good mornings, planks, and reverse hypers. An awesome series by Matt Wenning called So You Think You Can Squat? addresses this issue and provides ideas for accessory work to strengthen the back.

Another cause of forward motion in the squat is improper Hip/Hamstring mobility. We'll help this by making sure the hips are open and warm by including more hip mobility in our warmup.

Dan John has a great video on practices to open up the hips for proper Squat Form.

Some other great openers are Yoga Frogs, bootstrappers, Goblet and Tea Cup Squats, light O Squats, and front squats (For an explanation on how the Front Squat fixes the Back Squat, there is a great post by Mark Rippetoe on the Starting Strength Forum. The squat is a hip lift, Mark Rippetoe has a great video for fixing this. An Example of these can be found on this video from Fixing the Squat by Again Faster

One thing to note: There are different techniques employed by different squat and lifting styles (Olympic vs. Powerlighting). For reference, the article Olympic vs. Powerlifting Squats by Geoff Neupert and Mike Robertson explains the difference and how to incorporate them both.

In summary, the lift will correct itself as you keep your back properly tense and tight (Causing "big chest"), your hips open, your knees properly coming over your toes, (1 inch over), and your hips loaded and driven through the movement.

So here's to getting in the hole and driving out of it!

Week Two - Day Three - Max Effort Upper Body

Thursday June 23,2011

Max Effort Bench Press:

Buy in: Catalyst Standard Warm Up with Pec Mobilization and Pass Throughs

Workout:

Floor Pin Press:

8 reps at 60%
5 reps at 80%
3 reps at 90%
3 reps at 95%
3 reps going for your max 3

Bent Over Row: 4 sets at 12-15 reps

Incline Bench Press: 3 sets at 8 reps

Barbell Pull Over: 4 sets of 12-14 reps (Form Note: Make sure arms stay bent or this movement can hurt your shoulder blades)

Grip work: Bottoms Up Presses (As many as you can do x 4)

Cast Out: Tabata rows! (20 seconds of rowing, 10 seconds rest) 8 rounds

Homework:
Max Effort Work by Jim Wendler (Note, we work up to a 3RM )