November: This Month in Training

November: This Month in Training

FORCE

DEVELOPING PHYSICAL & MENTAL GRIT
PHASE IV: MONTH II  / GRIT. GRIND. GO.

PHASE OVERVIEW:

Two months to go in 2024 and we plan on finishing the year strong!  In November we will continue what we started in October by focusing on workouts that develop our physical and mental grit.  This month the name of the game will be GRIND for both our strength work as well as our conditioning efforts.  

In October, we introduced some higher rep strength training with sets of 10 across a variety of movements.  That theme will continue in November, but expect to see even HIGHER rep ranges in a more condensed format.  So, we might see something like 30 heavy Back Squats completed in as few sets as possible.  Or, 50 Strict Pull-Ups for time.  We’ll see some real tests of mental fortitude.

Our conditioning work will continue to develop both anaerobic capacity through short, high-powered intervals as well as aerobic capacity through longer, more moderate intensity efforts.  The plan this month will be to push towards the extremes of both ends of the conditioning spectrum; our anaerobic work will be very short, and very intense while our aerobic work will stretch us out longer than usual and require pacing and sustainability.  

And of course, consistent with our theme for this cycle, variety will be the key.  We are looking to be prepared for any and everything life throws our way and the workouts each week will reflect that.  Get ready to GRIND. 

 

TWO-WEEK TRAINING PROFILE

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

FLEX

INTENSIFICATION BIAS PROGRAMMING II – BUILDING LOAD & INTENSITY
PHASE IV: MONTH II / CULMINATION STRENGTH PHASE

PHASE OVERVIEW:

That’s it. There are just two months left in the year, which means we are officially kicking off the FINAL 6-week microcycle of 2024. We have spent the entire year alternating back and forth between accumulation (volume for hypertrophy) and intensification (loading for strength) cycles to optimize for major GAINS! 

In October, we went back to a more conventional upper/lower body split. The current 6-week cycle has had us tackling (2) upper body push/pull days, (2) lower body days, and (1) shoulder, arms, and core day. This cycle has also included a heavy dose of antagonistic supersets, allowing us to keep rest periods relatively short and squeeze more quality reps and sets into each session. 

We’ve also experimented with Myo Reps, a unique format that uses rest/pause sets to take movements past the conventional point of failure. This cycle has been all about GROWTH, but in November, we are pivoting back to strength, with our final 6-week cycle kicking off on 11/11. 

To finish the year strong, we will revisit our 5x5, 6x4, 8x3 strength progression we used earlier this year. This was a great way to progress week over week and proved to be very effective for those of you that were following FLEX back in June.

The goal will be to work toward a 3RM test in the Bench Press, Weighted Pull-up, Front Squat, and Deadlift. Let’s finish the year STRONG!

FINAL STRENGTH CYCLE OF 2024

Movements: Bench Press, Weighted Pull-up, Front Squat, Deadlift

EMOM

DEVELOPING PHYSICAL & MENTAL GRIT
PHASE IV: MONTH II  / GRIT. GRIND. GO.

PHASE OVERVIEW:

In November, we enter month (2) of our final phase of 2024…GRIT. GRIND. GO. Our goal in October was to kick-off this phase by revisiting a handful of our favorite ‘named workouts’ from 2024. Last month we retested – THUNDERSTRUCK, IRON MAN, RIDERS ON THE STORM, and TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT (which we squeezed in 11/1 – you’re welcome!). This month we will be focusing on revisiting some of our toughest Gut-Check workouts from 2024. In the EMOM program, Gut-Check workouts were programmed each week on Saturday. These workouts were designed to be long, challenging, grind-style efforts. Now, we have a chance to revisit some of the toughest Gut-Check workouts of 2024…buckle up!

EMOM will forever continue to be your program of ‘NO EXCUSES’ – Short on time? EMOM. Don’t have lots of equipment? EMOM. Want to keep things simple and just move? EMOM. The EMOM program is designed so that your momentum never gets to zero. Are the workouts simple? Yes..they are supposed to be. Are the workouts easy? Hell no…and we wouldn’t want them to be. EMOM is simple – show up and get after it.