We are now in Week 9 of the Hercules Cycle and continuing to build on those progressions. This week we will be starting things off with a Segmented Deadlift to slow things down a bit and get some time under tension in correct positions on Monday. Tuesday will be our #TEAMPRVN Tuesday workout, which is meant to be a fun and challenging workout across the board for all of our athletes on all of our tracks. Our elite athletes even get after this one and have some fun with the community. We will then build into Wednesday with a 3RM Front Squat before circling around on a Tempo Strict Press Thursday and finishing off the week with a challenging 20:00 AMRAP. Our Saturday Team Workout is one of my favorites we have had on the docket in a while as its a challenging Chipper style workout with the focus on split work between all 3 partners and maintaining intensity on each set throughout. Gotta love a day with Dumbbell Bench Press, Toe to Bar, and Wall Balls in one conglomeration of work. Sunday will finish the week off with a burner of a workout, focused on building up our lactate threshold pace and the ability to push longer and harder in workouts.
Weightlifting / Strength:
Monday: Segmented Deadlift + Seated Vertical Jump
Wednesday: Front Squat 3RM
Thursday: Tempo Strict Press
Gymnastics Skill Development:
Tuesday: Burpee Bar Muscle-Up
Wednesday: Wall Walk Volume
Friday: Strict Pull-Up Volume Development
Saturday: Toe to Bar: Quick Linked Sets of 5
Specific Metcon Focus Points:
Monday: 500m Row Time Trial
Tuesday: #TEAMPRVN Tuesday
Wednesday: Run Buy-in and Cash-Out with a Couplet of Front Squats and Wall Walks
We are now getting into Week 8 of the Hercules Cycle, which is actually week 1 of the back half of this cycle after our little deload week we just hit in Week 7. This means we will be going back into the style and structure of how we laid out the weeks earlier in this cycle with some minor changes and tweaks to keep athletes engaged and progressing. We are leaning into the Back Squat, Bench, Clean and Snatch progressions this week with the focus on revamping and building up over the final weeks here before our testing phase just before the holidays commence. We have included some fun workouts this week to challenge our athletes with a mid-cycle test of “Jackie” on Monday, an EMOM Bonanza on Wednesday with 3 Couplets going on the 2:00 mark, and having in some other focused muscular endurance work Thursday and Friday before tackling a challenging Hero WOD on Sunday.
Our Saturday community WOD day is a great day to add in a “Bring a Friend Day” as it is simple, fun, and will have athletes working together for a fun Saturday workout. We love to bring in these simple conditioning focused Saturday workouts to build up a big gym environment with lots of athletes getting involved and create a fitness party on a Saturday.
We are now getting into Week 7 of the Cycle. This week we are doing a bit of a deload. By that, we mean we are taking out some of the strength work and tackling workouts that will keep the overall volume on the body lower. As always though this does not mean we are necessarily limiting intensity all that much through structure, but it is suggested that if you have some athletes that have been very consistent and hitting all the fine points of the week, that they should ideally tackle this week at about 80% of their typical effort and just work on moving and feeling good throughout. This will help promote recovery going into the back half of this cycle. Due to the length of this cycle, we will be still progressing and working towards the same specific pieces, but adjust styles of strength, oly, and gymnastics work to keep things interesting and athletes engaged.
Here is a bullet point list of what to expect coming down the pike!
Weightlifting / Strength:
Wednesday: Power Clean and Push Jerk Complex
Gymnastics Skill Development:
Monday: Toe to Bar Volume
Wednesday: Gymnastics Density Workout
Saturday: Ring Muscle-Ups
Specific Metcon Focus Points:
Monday: Challenging Max Rep Finisher Interval Workout
We are now getting into Week 6 of the PRVN Affiliate Cycle. This is the last week before our little deload here mid-cycle so get ready for a fun and challenging week that has us progressing in loads and challenges. We will start off the week with a heavier Deadlift and posterior chain focused day. This will lead us into the week and the focus on the Hang Squat Snatch on Tuesday, which follows a similar pattern to how we tackled the progressions in Week 4 of this cycle. WE will then move into our Wednesday workout, which is all about gymnastics density work and leaning into a little more of a coaching and progression focused day on both the Bar Muscle-Ups and Legless Rope Climbs. We will start to round out the week on Thursday with a long leg stamina workout of Machine, Wall Balls and Double Unders before finishing things off on Friday with a weightlifting focused strength day. Saturday brings us into the partner chipper with the Hero WOD “Jag 28”. Sunday, finishes off the week with a good old fashion pump day that will leave athletes feeling their chest for a couple days after!
Here is a bullet point list of what to expect coming down the pike!
Weightlifting / Strength:
Monday: Deadlift 4-3-2-2
Tuesday: Hang Snatch 3 Rep
Friday: Clean and Jerk EMOM, Front + Back Squats
Sunday: Bench Press + Plyo Contrast
Gymnastics Skill Development:
Wednesday: Bar Muscle-Up + Legless Rope Climb + Handstand Push-Ups
Saturday: Strict Pull-Up Volume Work
Specific Metcon Focus Points:
Monday: Run + Dead: Inspiration from Legends Master Championships
Tuesday: Overhead Squat + Lateral Burpees over the Bar
We are now getting into Week 5 of the Hercules Cycle. We are challenging muscular stamina this week with our Weekly Challenge of “Death By Push-Ups and Air Squats”. This is a specific bodyweight challenge that will be absolutely fun to test and even more fun to watch. Put those scores on the board and build the energy in the gym! Coming down the pike this week is a solid flow of workouts with a hot start on Monday, where we will be getting into some specific oly work and then barbell conditioning, before moving into our squat progression Tuesday with a midline blaster of a combo, before tackling a longer workout Wednesday focused on aerobic capacity. Moving into Thursday, we slow things down with a more upper body focused strength and stability style strength portion and EMOM, then Friday we will get into some specific work for the Chest to Bar as a main skill piece and focus for the day before hitting a fun triplet with a new movement added in with the high stick jump over. Our Saturday workout moves into a more steady state midline focused workout for time in teams of 3, performed as a waterfall which will add a little fun and competition to the mix. Sunday rounds out the week with a Gymnastics centric day, bringing in some work on a Seated Strict Ring Muscle-Up or strength progression thereof.
We are getting into Week 4 of the Hercules Cycle. We are excited to see all of the excitement and fun building in the community around the Weekly Challenges, tests, and progressions we have been laying out. The goal here with the next two weeks will be to keep building and progression in our loads and skill work before a minor deload and then into the later half of this cycle before our re-test phase and transition phase through the holiday season. Here are the finer points and outline of what we are tackling for the week.
Weightlifting / Strength:
Monday: Snatch Complex + Overhead Squat (Working on the Progressions building over the cycle to a new 3RM Hang Squat Snatch)
Wednesday: Deadlift Progression with the goal of building loads over the course of 4 sets for the day with added barbell conditioning to the mix as added accessory and posterior chain focus.
Friday: Bench Press (Heavy 3, Plus Drop Set of 5 for Absolute strength and hypertrophy)
Gymnastics Skill Development:
Monday: Toe to Bar, Light touches
Tuesday: Ring Muscle-Up Progressions (Sub Today will be Feet Elevated Ring Rows and Ring Dips as opposed to the Pull-Ups today as we are getting into strict pull-ups on Thursday.
Thursday: Handstand Walk Skill Development and Strict Pull-Up Volume in the Conditioning Piece.
Sunday: Handstand Push-Ups and Kipping Pull-Ups.
Specific Metcon Focus Points:
Tuesday’s 20:00 AMRAP: Wall Ball + RMU + Run
Wednesday: Barbell Conditioning and Cycling with added fun on the Bike
We are getting into Week 3 of the Hercules Cycle and continuing to build into the focus and key points of the cycle. We will be tackling our Squatting progression this week that also works into enhancing positions in the Clean and developing better core control and stability around the hips. Then on Wednesday we will transition into an Overhead Complex that will enhance strength, power, and speed with positional work for the Push Jerk and Split Jerk. Friday finishes off the week with our Clean Complex with more of a focus on the pull off the floor and pressing through the ground. This week is meant to be more of a target and overload of the Clean and Jerk rather than the Snatch and next week we will target the Snatch as our primary Oly Focus.
For our conditioning work this week we are hitting a burner of an EMOM on Monday with the goal of completing as many of the minutes as possible, but the choice to take off as many minutes as needed to keep the work quality. We will then hit a full out V02 Max Style workout on Tuesday with Full Throttle. This workout is targeting the time domain of 4:00 on/2:00 off for 6 sets which will create a big challenge for our athletes. Our Wednesday workout targets our strict gymnastics strength and hits the Ring Push-Up, which is one of the most effective exercises for developing proper mechanics through the horizontal press. Thursday, should be thought of as a key target workout for us for the week with a big chipper. The goal here is pacing and strategy. Learning how small bites and small rests throughout can really enhance and create a better overall result rather than going out hot and trying to hang on. Friday’s workout is meant to target more of a short and powerful workout with the Dumbbell Cleans, Lunges, and Renegade Rows. This will ideally be about a 1:1 work to rest ratio to keep overall volume lower as a nice sandwich between two longer style workouts on Thursday and Saturday. Of course we assume that not everyone is hitting each and every workout here, so it should flow well depending on how people manage their weeks.
Saturday is a big day. This is the workout for Lazar and we will be honoring him by performing a WOD of special significance.
All in all, this will be a fun and focused week with the goal of building into some long efforts towards the end of the week and rounding out our body with focused strength and stability work.
**This Weeks Special Challenge**
For Calories:
Tabata Mash-Up
8 Rounds
20 seconds Max Calorie Echo Bike
10 seconds
20 seconds Max Calorie Ski Erg
10 seconds
Score = Total Calories Achieved (Sum Echo + Sum Ski)
We are now in Week 2 of the PRVN Affiliate Hercules Cycle.
For our Strength and Olympic lifting work, we will be tackling some more technical work on the Snatch to start off the week with our 3 position snatch in the percentage range from 65-75%, before moving into our back squat progression with some heavier sets of 6 followed by speed goblet squats for a fun little contrast style strength session. We will then work into some more contrast strength work on Thursday with the Deadlift and Bench Press combined with plyometric movements that are included in order to improve more neural drive, increasing motor recruitment.
For our conditioning focus this week, we are starting things off on Monday with a banger of a workout. We have a sprint couplet that works to provide a nice dose of intensity and interference. Tuesday we are tackling a challenging threshold style workout meant to target our progression towards a Jackie PR with the combination of escalating Pull-Ups, light barbell Thrusters, and Calories on the Rower. Wednesday has us working into a longer V02 Max style workout of 4 minutes on /2 off for 6 sets of a flowy triplet of Sandbag run, Toe to Bar and Burpee Box Jump Overs. Thursday will primarily just be a strength day for our Main WOD, but we do have some active recovery endurance work for our competitor crew or anyone looking for a lighter day to do something more recovery focused in Open Gym. Then, on Friday we finish off the main part of the week with a challenging workout that gives us vibes of Semi Final Event #1 with Running + Clean and Jerks. The goal here is to work on fast running and quick singles on the Barbell. Saturday, will be a partner triplet of Wall Balls, Bar Muscle-Ups, and Abmat Sit-Ups with varying styles to how we are tackling the movements with our partner. Then on Sunday we finish things off with some gymnastics strength focused work with Handstand Push-Ups and accessory movements.
The overarching goal here with the week is to vary and manipulate time domains, movement patterns and combinations in an effect that elicits a broad stimulus for adaptation. Have fun and get after it!
This 12 week cycle, broken into two 6 week progression blocks, will continue to build on the technical weightlifting work and top end front squat strength we built in Achilles. We will now start to focus on slightly higher volume strength and weightlifting sets in the 3-5 rep range. Our overarching goal here is to develop a bulletproof base of strength for the coming season – to be ready to tackle the 12 Labours of Hercules…or whatever else comes our way.
Programming Approach:
Our weightlifting work will be almost entirely complex based, to refine our technique and develop confidence and positions with multiple repetitions through varying positions. We will follow a similar approach with our primary strength progressions in the Back Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift – aiming to develop our raw lower body power and strength before heading into the holiday months and pre-open cycle prep. Combined with this, there will be a high emphasis on bodyweight strength, incorporating strict pulling and pushing, and related accessories, multiple times per week. Athletes will see one isolated gymnastics skill session per week focusing on developing capacity and confidence with higher skill movements, and one EMOM per week dedicated to cycling a wide variety of movements and developing pacing strategies at different intensities. On top of this, we will of course keep things varied within our daily metcon conditioning with a wide range of time domains, styles of workouts, and even the flow of the day in order to keep things exciting and fun for all of our members.
Strength and Oly Cycle Programming Goals:
-3RM Hang Snatch & 3RM Hang Clean + Jerk
-5RM Bench Press
-3RM Back Squat
-3RM Deadlift
Our challenge for you guys is to keep technique at the forefront of our weightlifting and high level gymnastics, continuing to hit each session with the highest levels of intention and focus. Do not be afraid to adjust percentages down a bit or move to a lower level on the skill progression in order to dial these things in and make sure we are continually refining our movement patterns, especially in the basics. Our key focus should be on accumulating and executing high quality reps – whether that’s with our weightlifting work, strength progressions, gymnastics work, or just in our everyday conditioning work.
Benchmark Metcons / Tests
“Grettel”
“Jackie”
“Big Kelly”
We will test “Grettel” and “Big Kelly” early on in this cycle, but create a progression over the course of the cycle to tackle “Jackie” to the best of our ability. Expect doses here and there along the way that look similar to “Jackie” in order to really prime the system and develop high end capacity here.
Special Weekly Challenges
New to this cycle will be the special weekly challenge. This is something that can create some fun and life in the gym. We will put up a challenge or benchmark to test. This should go up on the whiteboard and you can create a fun leaderboard in your gym of who has tackled it. Create a prize and some fun along the way. This could be a Sandbag Carry, 50 Calorie Echo Bike, 100 Burpees for Time, Etc. We would also suggest putting out a prize to the athlete that hit the most weekly challenges over the course of this cycle. Have fun with it and keep us in the loop with your members attempting these challenges.
Week 1 Special Challenge!
New to this cycle will be the special weekly challenge. This is something that can create some fun and life in the gym. We will put up a challenge or benchmark to test.
This is our transition week / test week, which coincides with the week of the Games. We will be having some fun tests along the way while still working to balance energy systems, strength development work to challenge the body through a multitude of planes of movement, time domains, and styles of workouts. This week starts things off with our 1RM Snatch before tackling a workout built off the workout “2-2-2-3 Intervals” from a few years back. It’s called adaptation because this is our adaptation of the workout. We will then be making our way into our #TEAMPRVN Tuesday Workout, “Double DT ” with the goal of working on our barbell cycling capacity and lighter loads than traditional “DT ”. Today will give us plenty of time to work into some practice and mechanics prior to jumping into the workout. Wednesday has us tackling “Mikko’s Triangle” for our Aerobic Capacity and Machine Conditioning piece. This is a great test to hit multiple times per year, so if you haven’t yet, definitely jump in here today. Thursday is meant to slow us down and work on some controlled gymnastic strength work before coming back around with a dose of intensity on Friday with our 1RM Front Squat into “17.5” for a little Thruster + Double Under action. Finally the weekend will bring us into the fun with a partner Games workout of “Bicouplet 1 and 2” before hitting Sunday to round things out with some overhead pressing strength and a strength / stability EMOM.
We are in our final week of the Achilles Cycle. With that we are pushing a lot of our 1RM Tests to our test phase / transition week in the week to follow, which also lines up with the week of the Games. The hope is that we can get some fun and excitement built out around the week of the Games and have athletes testing along with the best athletes in the world. However this week does start us off in our testing phase with the 1RM Clean and Jerk on Monday and then rolls into some fun things coming down the pike with the Partitioned Standard on Friday as well as some heavy percentage on our Front Squat that is meant to prime and top off the system going into test week. This week’s focus shifts between challenging our weightlifting on Monday to more of a skill focus on Tuesday, then into more sustained aerobic output with a posterior chain implemented Wednesday. On Thursday, we shift the focus to absolute strength work with our Front Squat progression before finishing off the week on Friday with our test workout “The Partitioned Standard”. Our weekend rounds out with a fun member of the Month WOD Steve with a triplet of Wall walks, Rope climbs and heavy cleans
This week we have a good mix of workouts and are getting into the final 2 weeks of the cycle here, which means things should be progressing nicely and our percentages are going up. We will be starting off the week with our Split Jerk progression, along with a challenging triplet of Double Unders, Dumbbell Snatches, and Lateral Burpees over the Dumbbells. The focus for Monday is more on speed and mechanics throughout the entire day with the triplet entailing a time domain of around 11-15 minutes. On Tuesday, we shift the focus to a more strength based day with a Back Squat focused strength EMOM that also includes L-Sit Pull-Ups and Contralateral Box Step-Ups. The focus here will be around bracing and getting heavy on the Back Squats. Wednesday circles us around to a long mixed monostructural workout centered at building our lactate endurance. Thursday we move back around to a more strength / skill based focus day with a Handstand Walk to start off with and work into a triplet of Kettlebell Swings, High Box Jumps, and a “Wall Walk Complex”. We also have the option to finish the day with quality strength accessories. On Friday, we will move into an Oly focused day with our Snatch progression as we are moving into the final sessions leading towards our 1RM test. We will combine this with a challenging couplet of Overhead Squats and Toe to Bar to round out some quality work to finish the day. The weekend will lead us with another fun two part segment with a couple couplets of Ring Muscle-Ups and Burpee Box Jumps, followed by Deadlifts and Burpee Box Jumps. The focus here will be on some skill work to start the day and then getting into the fun. Sunday brings the focus back to strength development with a quality strength EMOM and accessory work meant to be done directly after in the class setting to finish off the Week before heading into our final week of the cycle!
