Workout of The Week #92
“Do you ever get bored of training?” Somebody asked me this recently and my answer was ‘not really’. A big reason why training gets boring to folks is because they always do the same thing. It’s why i’ve been a fan of undulating periodization of late. I’ll also use different training modalities depending on the phase and I experiment with atleast one new thing every 3-6 weeks.
I’ve recently been tinkering with time domains. Time domain training is frequently used for improving conditioning, but you could easily manipulate time ranges and reps to fit just about any goal.
Examples:
Strength Gain
Squat 5 x 3 every 3:00
In this exmaple you’d complete your working sets in just 15 minutes (after warming up of course)
Muscle Gain
Tempo Dumbbell Bench 4 x 40 seconds every 2:00
You’ll be done in 8 minutes and have 1:20 rest between sets. Not a ton of rest time, this would be more effective as an accessory especially in an accumulation training phase.
Power / Speed Strength
Box Squat 12 x 2 every minute on the minute w/ 60% + 20% Band Tension
Traditional westside style pendulum wave session. In 12 minutes you’ve hit 24 reps with moderately heavy weight and moved it fast. You could do something similiar with loaded jumps, power cleans, or snatches as well.
Don’t go too heavy. the point isn’t to get brute strong, it’s to get faster.
Conditioning
The options here are endless so i’ll leave you with a couple you probably haven’t tried before. High intensity conditioning (“HIIT” as it’s called sometimes) is often misunderstood, you don’t need a ton of time at high intensities. Depending what you’re training for, even just 5 to 10 minutes a week of HIGH effort can have big benefits. The key is quality, effort should be HIGH, not “medium intensity interval training”, consequently, rest should allow you to recover enough to perform at high intensities. If endurance is the goal, then modify the methods below to pace accordingly.
Alternating EMOMS
Begin by selecting 2-4 movements. Perform one movement for 3-8 reps the first minute, then 4-8 reps of the next movement the next minute, etc. repeat as many times as prescribed. You can go heavy and do less reps (closer to 3 reps) or go lighter and keep it snappy for higher reps (closer to 8 reps).
Reverse Tabata
Everybody and their mother has heard of Tabata. But then again most the new trainers I employ give me a glazed look when I tell them about anything that wasn’t in a NASM textbook so i’ll explain briefly anyway. Tabata is 20 seconds of high intensity followed by a 10 second rest/recovery period. It is traditionally only done for a couple minutes because it sohuld be at 160%+ of your VO2 max (yeah it sucks, like a lot). Reverse Tabata you will do the inverse, instead of resting for half the time you will work for half the rest. I like a 20 /40 split for reverse tabatas instead as well. Go hard or 20 seconds, then rest for 40 seconds. You can do this just on a bike, sled, or feel free to get weird and use weights. Swings, thrusters, Pushups, medicine ball throws, etc.
Aerobic Power / Aerobic Bodybuilding
Select 2-4 movements and perform each of them for a minute with 10 seconds of transition between them. Do 15-30 minutes of total work. We could get into the nuances about how this isn’t “technically aerobic” due to the pressure load and potential heart rate, keep intensity moderate at most. The point of this method is to build work capacity.
Example:
4 Rounds
A1. Assault Bike x 1:00 Rest 10s
A2. KB Clean & Press x 1:00 Rest 10s
A3. Dumbbell Lunge x 1:00 Rest 10s
A4. KB Seesaw Press x 1:00 Rest 10s
The Workout
9 Min Kettlebell AMRAP
Minute 1: Single Arm Snatch 3L/3R
Minute 2: Single Arm Clean & Press 3L/3R
Minute 3: KB Swing x 10
Repeat 3X for a total of 9 minutes
I’m working on compiling some of these workouts into an Ebook format, along with the 500 other things I want to do. Once that’s up i’ll post it for free in the substack. Until then checkout this stuff. Recipe manaul, nutrition guide, lean for life playbook, gain to win method.