🏋️‍♂️ Workouts 🏋️‍♀️

- Overview: This is the third week of our 8-week Power strength cycle. This cycle improves absolute strength & explosive power through contrast training, in which a heavy lift is paired with an explosive movement.

Weeks 1-3: Bench/Squats/Deadlifts that increase in load & decrease in reps

Week 4: Back-off with alternate lifts

Weeks 5-7: Push Press/Squats/Power Cleans that increase in load & decrease in reps

Week 8: Explosive power tests

- Today, we're contrasting heavy back squats with light dumbbell squat jumps to stimulate power development. BE EXPLOSIVE in your squat jumps. Moving with as much speed as you can is what stimulates the body to become more explosive.

- Aim to increase in weight from last week. You can choose to build in weight over your working sets, or stay at the same weight across. If you're feeling good, your technique is dialed in, and you want to, feel free to go heavier than 93% if you have it in you today!

- Hips and knees should reach full extension at the top of each rep, and hips should pass below the knees in the bottom of the squat.

- Fitness Attributes Improved: Absolute Strength & Explosive Power

- Maintain a straight, neutral spine throughout the lift by bracing your core, keeping your ribs down, belly tight, and upper back engaged.

- Stance should be slightly wider than hip width to keep force production in an ideal plane.

- Initiate the movement by sending your hips back and down while actively driving your knees out to keep them tracking over your toes.

- Squat through the fullest range of motion you can while keeping the chest lifted and weight balanced mid-foot to heel.

BACK SQUAT

- Squat to a Box or Bench

- Front Squat

- Deadlift

- Hex Bar Deadlift

- Back Rack Lunges

SQUAT JUMPS

- Broad Jumps

- Vertical Jumps

- Jumping Lunges

1:00 Bottom Of Air Squat Hold

10 Air Squats

10 Lateral Lunges

0:30 Empty Barbell Bottom of Back Squat Hold

6 Empty Barbell Back Squats

8 Back Squats at Light Weight

5 Back Squats at Moderate Weight

Build to Starting Weight

REPEAT FROM 8/11/2025

- Overview: This 10-minute test gauges your aerobic power by measuring how much sustained output you can generate on the bike. It’s a benchmark for your current aerobic capacity, providing a baseline to personalize your training moving forward. Settle into a challenging, but sustainable pace and hold on, the best you can.

- The pace you start at should feel equivalent to an RPE 7 (effort scale), and by minute 3-4, it will feel like an RPE 8. By minute 8, that same pace will begin to feel like an RPE 9.

- Your goal is to hold the highest average watts that you can over the 10 minutes. Record your watts as ”reps” in the app (ex: 200 watt average = 200 reps).

- Substitution Conversion: If you don't have an Echo Bike, but have access to a Concept 2 Bike Erg, the conversion of wattage is roughly a 1.35x multiplier. (ex: 225 watts on the Concept 2 = ~300 watts on the Echo Bike). If you're logging a score in the app and complete this on a bike erg, multiply your bike erg wattage by 1.35 to record the Echo Bike equivalent as your score. This score, combined with your bodyweight, will calculate your Bike FTP for the CompTrain Fitness Assessment.

- Intended Intensity: RPE 7-9

- Fitness Attribute Improved: Aerobic Power [VO2 Max]

- Target Score:

• ECHO BIKE: 330-400 Watts (M), 200-330 Watts (W)

• C2 BIKE ERG: 250-300 Watts (M), 150-250 Watts (W)

- Warm up for at least 5 minutes, including 2-3 short efforts at increasing intensity.

- Start at a pace you can hold. Settle into your target wattage by minute 2 and attempt to hold it for the remaining time. If you go out too hot, you’ll fall off later in the test, and we ideally want to increase our wattage in the last minute or two.

- Lock in your breathing and posture as early as possible. Keep your cadence and rhythm deliberate, especially as fatigue builds.

- In the final 1-3 minutes, lean in and gradually push your wattage higher. Leave room to have a strong finish, but not enough that you can sprint at the end.

ECHO BIKE

- Bike Erg

- Row

- Ski

- Run

- Treadmill/Runner

5:00 Easy Bike

*At The Start Of Each Minute: 0:05-0:10 Sprint

- This session is meant to help downregulate the body, restore tissue quality, and improve range of motion. Move deliberately, focus on your breath, and treat this as dedicated maintenance work to help you recover faster.

- Foam Rolling: Spend about 60-90 seconds per side, using slow passes and pausing on any hot spots. This helps release tension and increase blood flow to the tissue.

- Stretching: Use long, passive holds (30-60 seconds per side) in each stretch. Keep breathing and avoid fighting the position. Let the tissue gradually relax.

- Intent: Your goal here isn’t to smash the muscles, but to create softness in the tissue and ease in your movement. This session should feel like you’re giving your body something back.

- Fitness Attribute Improved: Mobility