This is part 3 in a series on Getting Started in Super Strength and Endurance. For part 1 click here. For part 2 click here.
More questions to answer and consider in getting started on your journey to super strength and endurance. How much time do I have available for training? How long per session and how many days a week? What else do I do or have in my life that affects training? (i.e. martial arts four days a week, or work 18 hour days, or new baby/wife/house/job, etc) What will I need to do to balance all this? Your plan must encompass for example that you do grappling three days a week, work 50 hours and have time for one thirty minute session on Wednesdays and a longer (hour to hour and a half) session on Saturday. You have (and know reasonably how to use) a couple kettlebells, a sand bag, a power rack and barbell with plenty of weight (for now until you outgrow it). You think it’s important to squat 500lbs and can do 350 right now. You want to do 1000 swings with a 24kg kettlebell and you can do 400 right now. You’ve gotten used to the exercises and training volume/recovery.
If you want to up your squat, increase what you squat each session.
So what now? Well you have clear parameters (2 workouts a week, etc) and clear goals (move squats from 350 to 500, more KB swings from 400 to 1000). Start with the most straight forward plan and then add to only when it stops working. That would be something like do each lift once a week for five progressively heavier sets of low reps to a max for the day. Add a little weight each week. If it doesn’t add one week, relax it probably will the next. If it doesn’t for 3 weeks or more, rest and restart.
If you have an extended stall, then you can start adding more advanced techniques for your heavy work or simply add in one thing at a time as you complete a 6-8 week training block. (i.e., max partials, or progressive distance partials, etc.) Details on Partials Training can be found in the DVD here.
I would usually organize training by priority. For instance – The exercise you want to improve most should usually be early in the workout and on a training day that provides you with the most recovery. Hopefully you can see that by asking and answering these questions you’re following a logical progression to establishing the path to your best workout considering your life and your goals. For a general pattern you want to work each movement pattern heavy once a week. Add to that at least one strongman movement (which can be an overlap or replacement to barbells), and one intense interval conditioning workout and one extended “long strength” muscle cardio workout and you have a full package.
Fitting within the example framework we’ve built from answering the sample questions we could do something like this:
Day 1: 30 minutes
- Deadlift 1×5, 5×1
- Heavy sandbag shoulder x 10 singles
- 15 minutes mix light sandbag clean and press, sprawl, 2 hand kb swing for intense intervals.
- Finish with 2-3 sets wrist roller.
Day 2: 1-1/2 hours
- Squat 1-2×10, 5×1
- Press 1×10, 5×1
- Row 1×10, 5×1-5
- KB continuous swing for the rest of your time or prescribed reps for the day building to your goal.
That’s just one way to put it together that will fit the bill for this particular start into strength and endurance. This is just a basic template. All of the ideas behind it can be found in much more detail in Twisted Conditioning 2.
God bless,
Bud Jeffries
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Getting Started In Super Strength And Endurance – Part 3
This is part 3 in a series on Getting Started in Super Strength and Endurance. For part 1 click here. For part 2 click here.
More questions to answer and consider in getting started on your journey to super strength and endurance. How much time do I have available for training? How long per session and how many days a week? What else do I do or have in my life that affects training? (i.e. martial arts four days a week, or work 18 hour days, or new baby/wife/house/job, etc) What will I need to do to balance all this? Your plan must encompass for example that you do grappling three days a week, work 50 hours and have time for one thirty minute session on Wednesdays and a longer (hour to hour and a half) session on Saturday. You have (and know reasonably how to use) a couple kettlebells, a sand bag, a power rack and barbell with plenty of weight (for now until you outgrow it). You think it’s important to squat 500lbs and can do 350 right now. You want to do 1000 swings with a 24kg kettlebell and you can do 400 right now. You’ve gotten used to the exercises and training volume/recovery.
If you want to up your squat, increase what you squat each session.
If you have an extended stall, then you can start adding more advanced techniques for your heavy work or simply add in one thing at a time as you complete a 6-8 week training block. (i.e., max partials, or progressive distance partials, etc.) Details on Partials Training can be found in the DVD here.
I would usually organize training by priority. For instance – The exercise you want to improve most should usually be early in the workout and on a training day that provides you with the most recovery. Hopefully you can see that by asking and answering these questions you’re following a logical progression to establishing the path to your best workout considering your life and your goals. For a general pattern you want to work each movement pattern heavy once a week. Add to that at least one strongman movement (which can be an overlap or replacement to barbells), and one intense interval conditioning workout and one extended “long strength” muscle cardio workout and you have a full package.
Fitting within the example framework we’ve built from answering the sample questions we could do something like this:
Day 1: 30 minutes
- Deadlift 1×5, 5×1
- Heavy sandbag shoulder x 10 singles
- 15 minutes mix light sandbag clean and press, sprawl, 2 hand kb swing for intense intervals.
- Finish with 2-3 sets wrist roller.
Day 2: 1-1/2 hours
- Squat 1-2×10, 5×1
- Press 1×10, 5×1
- Row 1×10, 5×1-5
- KB continuous swing for the rest of your time or prescribed reps for the day building to your goal.
That’s just one way to put it together that will fit the bill for this particular start into strength and endurance. This is just a basic template. All of the ideas behind it can be found in much more detail in Twisted Conditioning 2.
God bless,
Bud Jeffries