I’m down about 10lbs total. I am sitting right at 252 but should be down in the 240s by the weekend. It’s not easy but not really that hard either thanks to my complete lack of appetite. I am planning on another 10 this month to get me sub-240 and I should start to look like that picture over there —> again. Nothing much to report regarding the workouts other than I have snuck kettlebells back into the system to replace some of the cardio. I feel the KB workouts are so much more beneficial as HIIT and as cardio workouts than what I do the other days and while the other workouts are good coordination and agility based, KB work is grinding out high HR work.
What happens to the person who did lift, now doesn’t but wants to start again? The process here is not like the new person who can be scared off by technical approaches or too much work. This person generally knows what it takes to succeed physically but may not have the knowledge to produce a workout system designed to orient them towards their goal whatever that may be. Let’s assume someone has 4 days to work out plus one extra day that will be a choice of either cardio or yoga. For those 4 days you will need to hit every body part, which naturally lends itself to bodyweight and compound movements. There needs to be an orientation towards what the final goal will be which is olympic / barbell lifting, kettlebell work, HIIT WOD type workouts and agility/speed workouts (depending on the focus). For arguments sake let’s take an athlete who wants to be able to perform specific tumbling moves, let’s say from back layout full to standing back tuck full or front 1 1/2 (Rudi) or in fact anything from Barani to Rudi Randi and Adolph. Any of these things require not just great technical skill but also a good strength foundation with lots of core strength and explosive strength through the hips.
So what kind of moves are we familiar with that require fast explosive hip movements? Well, clean and snatch come to mind. Also kettlebell swings and one arm kettlebell movements of any kind are well suited to this kind of development. Add some explosive sprint / weighted sprints / sled push type work and you have a recipe for successful support of the skill training.
Specifically let’s address the 5 day rotation which will give us 2 rest days in a week. I am not a fan of using the 7 day model but since most people have jobs that solidify their availability then we have to work around that. Â Here are the 4 days.
Each day is split into 2 parts Crossfit style with a Strength portion and a conditioning or HIIT portion. We want to keep in mind the individual probably doesn’t want to spend an hour a day on this.
Day 1 – Strength – Legs, HIIT – Varied Jumps and wallballs (leg centric)
Day 2 – Strength – Shoulders, HIIT – Cleans and presses (shoulder / trap centric)
Day 3 – Strength – Back (Deads), HIIT – Pullups, Kettlebell swings, Turkish Get Ups
Day 4 – Strength – Chest (Bench), HIIT – Plyo / agility / sprints
Day 5 – Yoga / Cardio / Core specific work
2 rounds to load up to the final benchmarks and use the load up weeks as deload weeks where necessary.
Day 1 – Strength – Legs, HIIT – Varied Jumps and wallballs (leg centric)
Warmup 5×10 air squats plus 5×10 walking lunges
Air squats with 20lb collar 5×10 (20 calf raise for rest) – Will transition to barbell squats front and back
Front lunge 5×10 with 20lb collar (60s calf raise hold for rest) – Will transition to static barbell split squat
Back Lunge 5×10 with 20lb collar (Rest in 90 degree horse stance or half mid splits) – Replaced by hamstring curls or stiff leg DL
HIIT
Max effort long jumps tabata timed (4 minutes)
24″ box jumps tabata timed (4 minutes)
Full depth wallball 20lb 7×7
or
5 rounds of:
10x max effort long jumps
10x 24″ box jump
10 wallball @20lb
More to come…