In June, we saw a few unique focuses...1.) Re-tests from February (“Death Row” and some of our favorite Open workouts); 2.) Tempo prescriptions for our main lifts; 3.) Weekly dose of the AMRAP Mentality with an AMRAP inspired from Jason Khalipa; and 4.) Continuing our Weightlifting Wednesdays with progressing the clean and snatch. We’ve seen great progress and patience in all of our lifts -- respecting the tempo and slowly progressing the clean and snatch.
With this in mind, here’s what you can expect for July! First, we are going to continue our Weightlifting Wednesday trend. Through July we will progress toward single-rep heavy efforts in the EMOM format. This will set athletes up well for retesting their 1RMs in August. Next, we will see our benchmark retests from March...get ready for: “Cali Bear”, “Jackie”, and “Helen”. Last (but not least), we are going to experiment with layering in a squat cycle to NC60 through July and August. You can expect to squat at least 2x/week for load and/or volume as well as progress further towards heavy rep-max attempts via a 5-3-1 progression. Another added benefit to the timing of this cycle will be retesting the 3RM Front Squat and the 5RM Back Squat both in September. Get ready to ride the gain train!
Breaking down the July & August Squat cycle...
Starting July 1, we will incorporate an 8-week squat cycle in our NC60 program. We choose to experiment with a dedicated cycle for a few reasons. First, the timing of this cycle made a lot of sense for us based on the re-tests of 3RM Front Squat and NCFIT Baseline 5RM Back Squat in the coming months. Second, after weeks of exposure to tempo-based lifting, we felt the athletes were ready to tackle this kind of focused cycle. Lastly, even though we don't believe in "rigid" cycles all year-round we wanted to experiment outside of our traditional programming methodology to see how both athletes and coaches respond.
The cycle will follow a 5-3-1 format. We will also incorporate a deload week before and after our heaviest lifts. See below for the full 8-week cycle!
Week 1 - 5x5 (30X1) @ 60-70% of 1RM
Week 2 - 5x5 (20X1) @ 65-75% of 1RM
Week 3 - 5x3 (30X1) @ 65-75% of 1RM
Week 4 - 5x3 (20X1) @ 70-80% of 1RM
Week 5 - Deload / 5-5-3-3-1-1 (conservative 1-1)
Week 6 - 5x1 (20X1) @ 80-90% of 1RM
Week 7 - 5x1 (20X1) @ MAX
Week 8 Deload / 5-5-3-3-1-1 (conservative 1-1)
One last note...even if athletes only participate for a few weeks (or miss a week, etc) they will still benefit from getting a heavy bar on their back. Don't let the pressure of a "cycle" get in the way of the actual win...showing up to the gym, giving your best, having fun and getting after it
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