Let’s start by saying that we’re glad you’re here. Right now is such an amazing opportunity, the last few months have really driven home what is important and frankly showed what isn’t vital. To overuse the now common terms of essential and non-essential elements – we’ve applied that what your training is going to look like as we get back into the swing of things.
You all have been killing it at home, the efforts, the consistency – it’s really inspiring to see the commitment from small apartments, backyards, basements, driveways, hallways and more. You’re never going to look at an ottoman the same way again – now you’ll go over to a friend’s house and remark “damn, I could do some serious dips off that.” This is also an extraordinary time in coming back to the gym.
- You’ve been doing a lot of higher repetition work in the mid-long time range. 12, 15 mins, and longer of workouts in the mid-intensity range. We used this because we’re balancing not crushing your nervous system and recognizing what most of you have had access to at home.
- Without getting too into the science weeds here… There are three energy systems, 1 – short/fast work, think 1-3 rep max work, less than 30s of an effort, lots of rest between efforts, 2 – mid-range, generally things that are what you’ve been doing at home, 3 – longer, aerobic work (30+ mins, lower heart-rate). You need a balance of all three to be a fit and healthy person. Using all three makes them each better even when you aren’t using the other two. Balance and recovery is how you improve – that’s what we’re doing behind the scenes for you.
- So, it would stand to reason that when you can have access to the gym – we’re going to put some more focus on splitting up those energy systems to start to safely prioritize balancing your fitness back out.
Here’s how we plan to bring you back.. Our first cycle back of the workout of the day will be more biased towards the powerlifts and strict gymnastics. Why? We want to build your strength back up, but with a plan. These sessions will prioritize this goal with some conditioning. The emphasis will shift so that we won’t always squat on a Monday or pull on a Friday so that it can accommodate varied work schedules for you all. These classes will be capped at 8 people to start and we’ll add sessions and space as is safe and appropriate. Our goal is for you to do the workout of the day 3-4x/week – not more to start. They will also be 45 mins long so that we have time to clean up.
The second part is building your engine back up and taking advantage of being able to get outside if you want. We’ll be writing 3 endurance sessions, our “sustain” program that can be done in the back of the main space/front of the barbell area on bikes at the same time as the workout of the day sessions. Your goal should be 2-3 of these sessions per week either in the gym or running outside. These sessions may include a simple dumbbell or kettlebell movement, but not always – the goal here is building the engine at lower intensity. The Coach on duty will be available for questions, but these sessions are programmed to be un-coached as simple yet effective and will follow the same time-frame as the WOD.
By balancing these two programs, we can take a gradual approach to safely ramping things up over time. It also makes sure that we can provide enough access to the gym and spread you all out enough for safety. Throwing you back into 6-7 days of our Workout of the Day is not the goal. The lower intensity endurance work is important as well, it will make you stronger.. Trust it. We’ll be keeping an eye on you and monitoring volume and we will step in and shut you down if you start blowing yourself up with volume and intensity. You’re here for coaching, please let us help you – your percentages nice, but for now we’re looking for excellence in form and movement – the weights will come.