Hey Everyone,
Welcome to another Sunday blog. I KNOW I missed last week – apologies team but Fathers Day and all of that…I went to play mini-golf instead of writing! Despite this, I really do appreciate everyone coming along to train with us at Round 1 – we have had some epic sessions lately and it has been so great watching everyone push themselves nice and hard throughout the sessions.
Gym news first. I am continuing to work through the survey feedback and have been trying (TRYING) to action items that you guys have identified. So far there have been quite a few little changes (that I sort of hope no-one even notices) and one larger change – the upgrade to the girls bathrooms to enable them to get changed inside what is effectively a ‘shower cubicle’. We are also making a real push to use ‘MORE’ equipment in the boxing sessions…so just remember when you are shunted from a bike to a rower to a ski in classes, well…that’s what YOU guys wanted!
In other exciting news, our new slam ball replacements have arrived and there are HEAPS of them – in HEAPS of different weight options (starting from 6kgs).. So whatever your current level of training capacity there is a solution for you. Now – this is going to increase the number of times you need to grab ‘multiple’ pieces of equipment before your session…I know it’s a pain but (again – feedback!) for us to keep changing things up not only BETWEEN sessions but WITHIN a session well – you are going to need more than one ‘thing’ to use. So – give yourself 5 minutes or so before the session starts to get your gear together and – I don’t know, maybe do a bit of a warmup? I mean, it’s sounding more and more like the ‘good old days!’.
I am getting quite a few questions about what’s happening upstairs and why have the treadmills been pushed ‘in’ etc. Well…in the same way we have ‘opened up’ the front of the strength gym we are hoping to do the same in the boxing gym. The treadmills, ARC trainer (along with some cool new toys) will be getting installed upstairs and some of the strength equipment will be either decommissioned or relocated…as part of all of this, there will be some (positive) changes to the equipment access provided to people on Boxing memberships…what can I say – it’s going to be AMAZING!
What else? Well – I am frantically trying to pull everything together for the 2021 Summer Slam. Again, as per the feedback survey I have pushed this back so that it starts AFTER the October school holidays…there will also be both 4-week and 6-week options re- participation. So keep your eyes peeled for the details…registrations will probably be available from around the start of October.
Now – when it comes to what is happening ‘next’ in the classes, well…it’s already time for my next programming update for all of the Funky Fit folks. We are just in the process of finishing off our current cycle so let’s quickly take a walk back down memory lane. The big focus for the month was working the high volume Front Squat, Strict Press, and Deadlift to get everyone ready for their retest at the beginning of September. We started with sets of 12 and slowly worked back to sets of 10 with the intention that each of you gained strength, gained confidence with the higher rep schemes, and developed a real understanding of how much weight you can put on the bar as the reps go up from sets of 3 or 5 to 8, 10 and 12. Unfortunately you can’t just do a heavy set of ‘3’ and ‘guess’ how much you could handle for 10…you have to load the bar up and live through it. Let’s be honest – it’s been kind of terrible yet at the same time some of the best training I’ve EVER done.
Obviously this cycle was heavily weighted towards building muscular endurance versus the last couple of 3-5 rep cycles which of course are focussed on building raw power.
What else? Well, we continued our accessory work – particularly focussed on both vertical and horizontal pulls (pendlay rows, chainsaw rows, etc) and lower body primal movements (Turkish get-ups, Lateral Step ups, depth jumps, Isometric RDL’s). Finally, we also took the chance to really focus in on our Hang Power Snatch and – in particular, slowly breaking down this movement to enable everyone to build up from a low weight with a strong technique focus. The whole intention going into the cycle was to develop skill in the Hang Power Snatch so we can use it more often in future training blocks.
As we shift gears into our new cycle, this week (September 13th) marks our first big mile-stone as we complete our 10-rep retests. So it should be personal record city all week this week…Once this is done, we roll into a new program and the focus changes accordingly – there will be more overhead complexes including Strict Press, Push Press, and Push Jerk to help gain strength with overhead pressing along with increasing proficiency in cycling and transitioning from movement to movement.
Further to that we are actually going to take what we practiced in the month of August with the Hang Power Snatch and work towards a 3-Rep HPS at the end of the month. We will also be working tempo work for the Bench Press and Back Squat to then test a 3-Rep Back Squat, Bench Press and Push Jerk in the early part of November – It’s going to be a great month to kick off fall, so let’s get after it!
I have tried to break down what to expect pretty simply in the table below – I really hope it makes sense and enables you guys to understand what is upcoming and where our next training phase is headed:
September/ October Strength Cycle
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