It's gonna be MAY!
What a month April was! Our main focus was building to the Oly 1-Rep re-tests. The tail end of the Oly Cycle saw some heavy complexes AND some barbell heavy workouts and Benchmarks that highlighted all the Oly Work we have been practicing!
The end of the month finished off with some HUGE highlights, the main being the retest of the 1-Rep Heavy Snatch and Clean and Jerk. All the work we put in over the past 8 weeks paid dividends and they came out the other side looking strong and hopefully gaining a greater understanding for the Oly lifts.
We also saw some barbell heavy Benchmarks such as Ava, Cloudkicker, and an all time fan favorite: D.T.
The final week of April we had "off" from any heavy lifting to give everyone’s CNS time to recover because come 5/2 we will be diving into our new strength cycle! Let’s switch gears and talk about this new cycle and everything else May has in store for us!
As we transition into May we start off with our new strength cycle: the Wendler 5-3-1! For those new or experienced with Wendler, all should get excited to experience the strength gains that this simple and effective cycle brings to the table! We will be working up to a heavy 1-Rep Deadlift, Back Squat, and Bench Press! We will also see 2 ab finishers per week continue to build the strong core that we need for these heavy lifts!
On top of starting our Wendler Cycle we have another HUGE Benchmark workout to tackle this month…Murph! To help prep everyone we will be adding some extra credit Murph prep that can be done outside of class. This will involve a split day of conditioning and bodyweight movements and a day that combines the two to get accustomed to the volume. We will also be programming at least one workout per week leading up to Murph that will have higher volume running or bodyweight movements.
To round out the month we have a few retests: Punch Out and California Love, but we will also see a "remixed" version of the workout called "California Dreamin" so keep an eye out for a fun change! This is going to be a jam packed month so hold on and strap in for the ride!
May/June Strength Cycle
Week 1 (5/2-5/8) - Heavy 1-Rep Tests (Use 90% as Training Max)
Week 2 (5/9-5/15) - 1x5 @65% - 75% - 85%
Week 3 (5/16-5/22) - 1x3 @70% - 80% - 90%
Week 4 (5/23-5/29) - 1x5 @75% - 1x3 @85% - 1x1+ @95%
Week 5 (5/30-6/5) - 1x5 @65% - 75% - 85% (Increase Training Max)
Week 6 (6/6-6/12) - 1x3 @70% - 80% - 90% (Add 5-10lbs)
Week 7 (6/13-6/19) - 1x5 @75% - 1x3 @85% - 1x1+ @95%
Week 8 (6/20-6/26) - 1x5 @40% - 1x5 @50% - 1x5 @60%
Week 9 (6/27-7/3) - Heavy 1-Rep Retests
NCMETCON Weekly May Commitments
Test 1-Rep Heavy Back Squat/ Deadlift/ Bench Press
(2) Ab Finishers Weekly
(2) Days of "Extra Credit" Murph Prep
(1) New or Classic Named Workout
(1) Optional Partner Workout Weekly
May Benchmarks
- 1-Rep Heavy Back Squat/ Deadlift / Bench Press
California Love & California Dreamin
Punch Out