July Programming Focus

Last month was a blast! We geared back into a strength cycle and slowly ramped up the volume -- training never felt so good! The main focus of last month in both the strength and conditioning was to carefully reintroduce athletes to volume and intensity. We started with low volume tempo work for our strength movements, and we kept the conditioning efforts at a moderate volume and moderate intensity. As the weeks went on, we adjusted the tempos and by the end of the month we had athletes completing bigger sets with shorter tempos or completing an accessory movement immediately following a strength movement. We also took the conditioning efforts from, “oh that’s not too bad,” to “wait, I’m doing how many reps?” 

Going into July, we are going to get back into a more familiar strength cycle that will involve wave loading. Wave loading will have athletes start with a certain amount of reps, say 7-5-3, and then they will complete another “wave” of those sets. The goal is to go heavier on the second wave, to further develop neurological and muscular strength. The heavier loads should “feel lighter than expected” for most athletes, and this is teaching their bodies to improve the power output of their muscles! Our conditioning efforts are still going to be programmed with the same mindset of a tough challenge, moderate intensity, and lots of fun. We will also see the return of some benchmark workouts this month! These workouts can really push athletes to their limits and we want to be 100% sure everyone is ready to handle that kind of stress before throwing them into the fire...always keep this mindset when you’re on the floor! We are excited to get everyone back up to speed, and we also want to keep in mind there will still be people coming in that have been away from fitness for a while over the next few months. So, as always, train smartly, scale accordingly, and make sure to have an amazing time!