Upper East Side

First of all, congratulations to everyone on the PRs and improvements over the last eight weeks! Squats went up, strict gymnastics got better, and conditioning improved considerably, as evidenced by the PRs we saw on our “Helen” re-test.

The next cycle, starting Monday, September 18th, will consist of more strength work, with the primary focus placed on leg strength, pulling, and overhead pressing strength. We’ll also be spending a lot of time on snatch and clean technique, as well as maintaining our strict gymnastics strength, developing higher level skills, and continuing to improve conditioning.

We’ll be squatting twice a week, which we did last year and was very successful. Most people saw PRs in both lifts at the end of the cycle. Mondays will be back squat (of course), utilizing a traditional linear progression. We’ll start with 4×5, then progress to 4×3, increasing weight 5 to 10 pounds each week as we work toward a 3-rep max. Fridays will be front squats, working toward a 1-rep max. You’ll also see a variety of accessory and strict gymnastic work on Fridays as well.

Tuesday will be Olympic lifting — four weeks of snatch followed by four weeks of clean. We’ll be building each lift from the top down, giving even the most experienced lifters a chance to fine tune their technique.

On Wednesday we’ll be deadlifting, also utilizing a linear progression, supersetted with a variety of overhead pressing — seated, standing, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc. Conditioning on these days will be less taxing and will complement the strength portion.

Our skill focus this cycle will be on improving your kipping pull-ups, chest to bar pull-ups, and muscle ups. We’ll be working on them in a number of different capacities. Additionally, each Friday conditioning workout will be focused on pull-up and thruster volume work as we work toward testing Fran at the end of the cycle. It will be tempting to skip this day because it won’t be the most fun (actually, it will probably suck), but take the opportunity to improve your work capacity and mentality when tackling thrusters.

Now that you know what to expect from the next eight weeks, time to set some new goals and get to work. Have fun!