Monday, December 3rd

A.

STAMINA SQUATING: Alternating On the Minute x 12 (6 Rounds): Odd Minutes - 3 Front Squats Even Minutes - 6 Back Squats Both lifts are performed with the same load: 67% of our estimated 1RM Front squat.

This is the 5th iteration, increasing by 3% from last week.

Building stamina in the heart of our athletic capacity - our squat. A tremendous 1RM is something we naturally will track towards. But we recognize, most especially in our sport, the ability to cycle loadings for repetitions is a far larger battle to fight for. One is not complete without the other. And if we had to choose, given the nature of our sport where repetition capacity is seen in 90% of our events (if not more), we recognize the importance of building the Workhorse.

We'll be growing steadily over this cycle each week, building towards a finishing 70%.

B.

METCON:

"Freedom Sauce"

3 Minute AMRAP:

21 Overhead Squats (95/65) 21 Lateral Burpees over Rower Max Calorie Row

Rest 3 Minutes

3 Minute AMRAP: 18 Overhead Squats (115/80) 18 Lateral Burpees over Rower Max Calorie Row

Rest 3 Minutes

3 Minute AMRAP: 15 Overhead Squats (135/95) 15 Lateral Burpees over Rower Max Calorie Row

Rest 3 Minutes

3 Minute AMRAP: 12 Overhead Squats (155/105) 12 Lateral Burpees over Rower Max Calorie Row

*Score is total calories for each AMRAP.

In this workout, the first portion to address it the overhead squat. Our goal today is to increase in loading each part, where the repetitions descend (21, 18, 15, 12). On the 21, 18, and 15, we are looking for loading that we are very confident we could complete straight. We want this sprint stimulus today. On the final set of 12, we are looking for a weight that we know without question in our mind we could complete unbroken when fresh. This may require a single break in this workout given the fatigue, but if attempted rested, we are confident it’s there. This is the look and feel we are looking to match on that final weight… heavy and challenging, but at most, one break.

On the burpees, these are lateral to the rower (body is parallel to the rail). Our focus on these are to move with a purpose, given the sprint stimulus, but we need to keep our primary focus in check – no wasted movement. Especially when done for speed, burpees over the rower/barbell can involve lots of excessive movement. Extra steps, different angles each time… we expend energy that we don’t need to. Stay smooth and steady here. One speed throughout, focusing on tight motions and remaining close to the rower railing.

A burpee step-up can be used here for efficiency of movement. Stepping up with the inside leg, so that we can deliberately place our body as close to the rower as possible, we can minimize the amount of distance we need to jump. Jumping up from the burpee is a faster technique, but only worth the additional effort if we can maximize the handful of seconds it gains while on the rower. With that reward, comes the metabolic cost that each individual can weigh during the warm-up sets to find our best strategy for approach.

Final note on the burpees – it is worth pushing our effort here, and getting to the rower with as much time as possible. Even if we use the first handful of pulls on the rower as a recovery, we are still accumulating calories. We will recover on the movement – we just need to get there first. As we recover our breathing on the rower, use the clock to time our final push in each interval, fully capitalizing on the exponential calorie accumulation as we move towards a higher power output.

As we become fatigued on the rower, the most common faults we see tend to be: 1) Poor posture on the seat (slouched) 2) Shortened range of motion

Expect these rows to be challenging, metabolically. We will get there fatigued and breathing heavy. This is what we are after today. Remind ourselves two cues to counter the common faults above…

1) Sit tall. Try to sit on the hamstrings of your leg, and fight to maintain your posture in each stroke. The better we hold this posture, the better our power transfers from our body to the handle.

2) Stay long. Maximize each pull of the stroke to the full range of motion. This is by no means looking to create additional range of motion, but instead focusing on maximizing connectivity for each pull. Long and efficient strokes will last longer than short and choppy strokes, which our body tends to resort to in times of fatigue.