Hey Team Funky,

Our next strength cycle will start NEXT WEEK – Jan 15th. It will be a beginner-style cycle for old and new athletes to start on a clean slate. Obviously this is only a ‘broad sketch’ of how things look right now but in general, next week will be 1RM testing for our 3x key lifts for this cycle (Back Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press) and from there we will go into a percentage based program.

I’m not sure how everyone else is finding the tracking under FitBox but I am enjoying the simplicity of it – I will say though, I find the easiest way to do it is to go into the ‘Performance’ menu (find it under the ‘3-lines’ at the bottom right of the app screen), click ‘MOVEMENT’ and select the lift…that seems to keep everything in ‘order’ for me and makes finding previous efforts so simple!

Anyway, onto the details of this program: “Back to Basics”.

Back to Basics (Jan 15th-Feb 19th)

This will take us back to the basics for the start of the New Year. This 6-week cycle will focus on the 3 basic power movements (Back Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press), where we will hit maxes early and retest again. We will also be taking the Olympic Lifting down in weight and focusing on light barbell cycling to help prepare for the Open. During these six weeks, please take the time before starting each powerlifting session to show athletes how to properly bail out/spot the lifts (Back squat/Bench Press).

Part 2: Slight Deload/Volume/Grease the Groove (Feb 19th-March 11th)

This will be a bit of a ‘mini deload’ where we dial back the weights a little and instead use some density work (eg.  Do 3x Reps every minute for 10-minutes at a ‘manageable’ weight) and work in a bit more conditioning.  Essentially we want to continue to grease the groove by dropping back the weight BUT we (at the same time) want to continue to maintain our engine.

Part 3: Back to Basic Finisher (March 18th-March 25th)

Pretty straight forward – a one week ‘build it back up’ followed by a test…it’s gonna be AWESOME!

Now – before I go into an overview of the cycle, we really (REALLY) need to get some 1RM tests done next week…so gym or no gym what would be great if you could make a bit of time to get your 1RM’s in the books over the next couple of weeks so that when you return you can jump in with confidence…I mean, YES – it’s always possible to jump into a program mid-way and we will 100% help you find a weight and get the work done, if you are an experienced athlete and want to do the program, getting your testing done in the next couple of weeks and RECORDING THOSE NUMBERS can only be helpful!

Session Layout: