First things first. At her first weightlifting competition, my fourteen year old lifter made 33 kg on her snatch and 52 kg on her clean and jerk. Great job!

We are going to change things up a bit here for the next four weeks and move to an undulating periodized training model.  This means that we will undulate between periods of high and low intensity throughout the week.  You can choose between 2 and 4 workouts to do depending on your fitness level and other activities.  Personally, I will be doing a medium intensity, high intensity, and low intensity workout with rest days in between.  I will also be bike riding and running at a low intensity on two of my off days.

Intensity and volume should have an inverse relationship.  In other words, the more intense the workout, the less volume you should do.  Volume means overall time and/or repetitions.  Performing high intensity workouts too frequently and at too high a volume can lead to overtraining and central nervous system fatigue.  This affects overall performance and strength.  One high intensity workout per week is plenty.  For athletes training for a competition or short term gains, two high intensity workouts can be appropriate.  However, for most of us, one is plenty.

Beginners, stick with your circuits. You can do these three times per week if you alternate exercises.  You can start incorporating some of the alternative exercises we’ve used in our training sessions.  Check with me if you have any questions.

Those of you looking to lose bodyfat, include a 30-45 minute medium intensity steady state cardio session 3-5 times per week at least 4 hours before or after your workout. This can be a bike ride, fast walk, jog, treadmill at an incline, etc.

Monday, May 24th

Medium Intensity:

Barbell complex:
Front squat
Clean grip Snatch
Push press
Split squat right
Split squat left

8 reps each exercise, 5 rounds

Circuit training:
Split squat 10-15 reps (use dumbells and hold them at your sides)
Dumbbell press 10-15 reps
Deadlift 10-15 reps
3 rounds

Tuesday, May 25th

Medium Intensity:

Strongman/Bodyweight circuit
Choose a distance and weights that are challenging, but low intensity enough to do 3 rounds.
Farmers Walk (use dumbbells or kettlebells)
Tire Flips (alternative exercise, power clean)
Rope Pull (alternative exercise, body rows or pullups), distance or max reps

Wednesday, May 26th

High Intensity:

15 reps front squat or kettlebell swing
200-400 meter run (do not sacrifice speed for distance, speed and intensity is more important here)
2 minutes rest
3 rounds
2 minutes rest
Finish with 400 meter run

Thursday, May 27th

Circuit training:
Weighted step-ups, 15
Pushups, 15
Deadlift, 15
3 rounds

Friday, May 28th

Low Intensity:

45 minutes of cardio

OR

Complete the following circuit at a moderate pace, ie not for time.

30 lunges
15 pushups
15 situps
5 rounds

Saturday, May 29th

Optional, bench press 5×5