PROGRAMING FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18TH
WEEEK TWO OF OUR FOUR WEEK STRENGTH CYCLE
We are in week two of our 4 week strength cycle. We are now looking to increase our weights on our three lifts this week (overhead squat, power jerk, and deadlifts) for last week as we are moving the weights down. We know the overhead squat is a super technical movement and each class should you help you master this piece. Don’t worry about weight on this movement, as much as doing it to the best of you ability.
Here are some other highlights for the week.
Monday: We have “Boat Shoes”, which is a CompTrain benchmark workout. We moved it to start the week because the weather is a bit warmer. This will be one of our last bits of outdoor running for the fall. The last running workout will be Thanksgiving, which will be Murph.
Wednesday: Heavy deadlifts for the strength and heavy cleans for the metcon. We ask that you pick a weight power clean workout for the metcon that is heavy but you can still do with excellent form. Don’t be afraid to push yourself.
Friday: Overhead squats as part of our strength, which will prime us for Isabel. It’s a short time domain workout of 30 power snatches at 135/95. We are hoping that all the work we have done with our most recent power snatch cycle will better prepare you for this piece.
We will be doing a rowing challenge following Thanksgiving, so look for more information on that in the coming days.
Someone is excited for heavy jerks this week!
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New Strength Cycles
We are excited to announce new 4 week strength cycles in the Cove programming that differ not only in the movements but also in the approach. We had great success last month with the wave method of strength training and are now moving on to a new methodology. We know that controlled and intelligent variance is the key to building strength for the long-term health of our athletes.
We will now look at Push Jerks on Mondays (and occasionally on Tuesdays), building on all the raw strength we develop with our push presses.
Mid-week is deadlift day. Nothing builds more raw strength than the deadlift and let’s be honest, it’s a lot of fun. The focus will, as always, be on maintaining great form. This will set up nicely for our next cycle, which would be cleans.
And for Friday, we have one of the more technically challenging lifts, the overhead squat. This lift will not only help our athletes with their ability to snatch (and squat snatch) but also really dial in proper squat technique, midline strength, and stability.
We will be approaching these lifts using a linear progression across. This approach has us lifting the same weight over 3 consecutive sets at a specified number of reps.
That sounds confusing, so let’s give an example. For the first week of the cycle, we will look to hit 3 heavy sets of 5 reps of a particular movement but using the same weight for that exercise. We will give percentages as guidance. We want the weight to be challenging but for this cycle, we ask that you do not increase the weight between sets. If you end up choosing the incorrect load (either too heavy or too light), you will be able to make an adjustment with the next week. Over the next 4 weeks, we will set heavy sets of 5,3,2, and singles across.
This type of training will prepare us for our next cycle, which is linear progression but this time we will be increasing the load with each set.
We will set you at the Cove and in 4 weeks, we will see stronger versions of you.
VETERANS DAY AT THE COVE
This Monday is Veteran’s Day.. We at the Cove have a large number of current and former military athletes and we are so thankful for all the efforts and sacrifices. We could not have this place to connect with one another without them and all they have done.
We are also starting a new tradition for Veteran’s Day, which is the Chad 1000X workout. This workout is in honor of Chad Wilkson. He was a Navy Seal who had been on several deployments and suffered multiple significant injuries. He suffered severely from PTSD and unfortunately took his own life on October 29th, 2018. We do this not only in remembrance of his life, but also as a way to raise awareness for suicide prevention. The step foundations was created in his honor and donations can be made to this organization here.
It is like any hero workout, in that it is challenging but it’s going to be a little different than most hero workouts. It is simple in execution, with 1000 step-ups. This is a daunting task and one that will most likely take between 1 hour and 1 ½ hours. So be aware, that your class will be over one hour, and at times, we will have two groups working out at once, similar to Murph.
As with any workout, there are scaling options. It can be done with a weight, without a weight, or in so many other ways. It does not matter what you do, but rather the intention you use to approach this workout. We hope you will join us on Monday, in honor of Chad and all the other brave veterans that have given so much to us.
We will have normal class hours on Monday and we hope you can join us in honor of Chad and all of our other brave veterans who have given so much for our benefit.
SUPER SOLDIER COMPETITION
We have had several Cove athletes not only compete in some CrossFit competitions but podium as well.
Competitions can be a bit scary, but that is their value; they give you a goal and help push you out of your comfort zone.
We wanted to highlight a local individual competition on Jan 11th and Blue Crab CrossFit (super close!), the Super Soldier Series. It is a competition designed to not only honor the hero’s of our community (military and first responders) but also is support an amazing charity, Move4Life. Move4Life was founded by Donte London, who has been coaching the Cove CrossFit Kids program the past 2 months, and is a charity that is focused on providing high quality fitness and wellness programs for low income families.
If you want to learn more about the charity, check out this video from Coach Donte.
You can sign up and learn more about the competition here and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us.
