We call the strength protocol: BLOCKS – explained below
BLOCK PROTOCOL
Our BLOCKs are 7 minutes each
(each week we’ll add an additional block to get us up to 35mins/day
– Inside the block we have two movements – A and B – we’ll look at picking those moves, below
– within each move, there are SETS of 5 reps each.
in a block we use the following
To be completed each week day, 5 days in a row. Each block is to be completed consecutively, in the same workout
5 REPS of MOVE A –
PAUSE to recover – with the minimum recovery you need
followed by:
5 reps of a MOVE B
Pause with as little recovery as possible
ONE SET = MoveA + MoveB
UNTIL THE TIMER RUNS OUT
REPEAT moving between A and B
RECORD the SETS plus any additional REPS for that block
EG you may complete 5 full sets PLUS 2 additional reps of MOVE B
TARGET: each day, try to get at least ONE MORE REP in that block.
WE strongly recommend each FRIDAY before the next week, check out the moves for the coming week, and then MAKE five CALENDAR appointments for these workouts – one for each day of the working week. The weekends are recovery/active rests like long slow walks.
That’s the protocol.
You are moving as quickly as you can to produce PERFECT reps. Quality is more important than quantity. EFFORT is both mental and physical
The key to making this protocol as effective as possible is to find out what your REP load is.
Rep LOAD
This REP LOAD is determined by finding out what LOAD you need to get to TEN reps, where you feel like you could do only 1 or 2 more reps.
SO – it’s NOT 10 reps to absolute failure, but ten with 1 or 2 in the tank.
By finding your 10 rep load you then use that load for the 5 reps of the SET.
Suppose you want to do a squat form for MOVE A.
Doing ten full ass-to-grass reps at a pace that gets you breathing with effort is too much to keep good form – you have to put your hand down to get back up on the last few.
So you try the box squat variant instead. Fantastic
you can do 10 box squats on a low box – without keeling over AND it’s effortful.
You would then use that set up for your BLOCKS but you’d only do 5 of those reps each set.
TEST is for 10 REP range; USE is only 5 reps in the actual BLOCK.
Week 2 is our first week running this protocol.
Week 1 – try out the moves (listed here) and find
1) what are the variants of the moves that work for you that
2) let you do the 10REPS (with one or two more possible in your tank).
**** TO REALLY find the most value in your sets: do some kind of warm up to get your heart going BEFORE you test out these moves…..*****
Putting Together an A and a B
The moves are listed as Pull Push Squat Hinge. Complementary A and B moves would be
- a squat and a pull (eg box squat and door pull)
- a hinge and a push (eg Wall RDL and chair push up)
- a squat and a push (eg ass to grass squat and push up)
- a pull and a push (eg chair row and chair dips)
So once you know what your possible moves are from our list, chose an A and a B for that week’s block.
Each week, you can, for example, either do TWO blocks of the same A and B with a two minute pause between blocks, or do two different A and B combinations each week – whatever feels right to you.
Warm Ups
Warm ups help shift the body into workout mode. Yes if a tiger were chasing you other systems would turn on more or less in a heart beat to get you to that place very quickly. But
1) you’d pay for it later and 2) there is not a tiger chasing you.
A warm up can be anything that elevates the heart and gets the blood moving to the periphery – that stuff away from your heart and lungs and into your limbs is one way to think about it.
A good warm up takes about 10 minutes of moderate effort – so you can keep breathing through your nose but you feel it. you can
- run
- bike
- skip
- do jumping jacks – or low impact step out and in
- leg swings
- military march type leg and arm up
- bunny hops
- etc
Warm up example: SUN RISE SALUTATIONS – BEGINNER FLAVOUR
Personally, i’m loving the challenge of a good ol sunrise salutation repeated as many times as required inside 10 minutes.
here’s a great GUIDE – https://youtu.be/scCaXmgzNQo
You may want to give this a go BEFORE trying the strength moves in the series here (they’re all listed in the Exploring Movements Channel – and we’re building them into the app too)