HEAVY AF VOL 8 Drop
Time to unleash your strength with our newest program—your next PR is waiting.
Hello, all my strong friends!
I want to start by welcoming anyone new reading my program breakdown for the first time, and secondly thanking any regulars for reading again and having some (even if it's only a little) interest in my ideas and the training plan we have made for you.
In this email, expect a thorough breakdown of my intentions with the program, an overview of our movements and training split, maybe some laughs depending on my mood, and finally a section at the end where I discuss areas of improvement and shiz I think you might be interested to read about.
THE PLAN: 4 WEEK MINICYCLES
Firstly, some notable ideas and changes over the next 8 weeks:
As most of you know, our programming follows 8-week progressions. Something to recognise is that within the 8-weeks we will be organizing some of our exercise variations - the warm-ups, some of the primary movements, and coach designated movements - into 4-week mini cycles. This will provide a reasonable duration for you guys to be exposed to movements and specific stimulus, progress and then we’ll change it up to prevent tedium and give more opportunities for coaches to be creative.
Through this cycle we will be spending 4-weeks performing exercises like Boris deadlifts, Zombie Squats and banded presses, as main movements. These are strategies to help with technique and load progression before switching to regular deadlifts, squats and non-banded work in the second half of the cycle weeks 5-8. (I’ll dive deeper into this later on)
You should also see this in our warm up movements and coach designated movements; you’ll see the same exercises for 4-weeks before a switch up. Try to find progress in these exercises week to week, that includes the warmup exercises. This can be in the form of heavier loading, increased range of motion, or technique progression. For example, if I give you a goblet squat in our warm-up, you might resist my nagging to grab a heavier kettlebell (because you’re a weenie), but the progress you find is in your squat depth or technique. The main thing is, plan to progress.
PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD < PROGRESSIVE OVER-STIMULUS
I imagine some of you rolling your eyes as I make this point, as I pretty much say this at the start of all my HAF classes. (But ya know if ya’ll friggin listened to me I wouldn’t feel the need to write it in).
Basically, when it comes to our primary movements I think we need to shift the emphasis as it pertains to our top-to-drop sets.. Too many people are failing reps or performing sloppy reps in their top sets on a weekly basis. We’ve fallen into a habit of focussing too much on the weight of our top sets and overlooking the drop sets. Some of ya’ll spend 15-18 minutes trying to squeeze out a heavier top set and then lose quality or miss out on drop sets. The drop sets are the main work!! The top sets are to help us determine the loading of the main work.
That’s not to say I don’t want you to push yourself, I do, but not while jeopardizing successful, pretty reps. Some of this comes from leaning too much into the concept of progressive over-load. The idea that we need to increase loading each week to progress. While in an ideal world we lift heavier every week, and just keep getting stronger forever, that’s not realistic. Life happens - you could argue with your friend or co-worker, lose your cat, or spill your coffee all over your lap, then arrive at the gym in a foul mood not ready to lift. That’s not to mention things like rest, fueling, hydration, stress or hormones that will all dictate how strong you feel on any given day. Through weeks 1-7 the numbers for your top sets don't matter that much! They just need to be challenging and performed with good form…
The percentages that I program allow for a progression in relative output. Each week we look to work a little harder than the previous week, relative to how you feel on the day, but that doesn’t necessarily mean heavier each week. Focus on technique, consistency in working hard and don’t sweat the numbers, the weights will auto regulate themselves and you WILL get stronger. Hence: Progressive over-stimulus rather than over-load.
Cool? Cool.
Ok lets talk training splits:
MONDAY
A] FRONT SQUAT or BACK SQUAT
B] LANDMINE MEADOWS ROW
Time to change up your squat variation. If you’ve been coming in for a while you’ll have performed the same bar position for the last 16 weeks! Sheeeeesh… It’s time for a switch up.
If you’re new to HAF: when deciding between front or back squats, generally speaking front squats will bias more range of motion, will help to improve your overall squat technique, and tend to place demands more toward your quads and upper body. Alternatively, a back squat is more loadable, a little more accessible and biases your glutes and hammies. So if you want to build great squat technique and want your quads poppin’, pick the front squat. If you want to work on ya back rack, and to throw some weight around, pick the back squat. (I specifically use the word “bias” because both squat variations have all the above benefits, just more favourably depending on which you pick.
“Keep your squats low & your standards high”… I had this in the last email. Still no origin, but the point still stands. Sit yo’ ass down and build on a deep squat.
Your secondary lift on Mondays will be a single arm Meadows Row. These are performed with the landmines and are a great tool for building the upper back.
When doing this exercise, force requires counterforce, so as you pull the landmine from the ground toward you, I want you actively pushing your opposite elbow into your knee. More force means more load, more load means more mechanical tension which means more gainzzz. Additionally, for this exercise let's wear wrist straps. This will ensure our grip isn’t an issue, so we can load up the barbell and grow yo’ back.
Finally, you’ll have some upper body accessory work and some frontal core to wrap up the first training day of the week.
WEDNESDAY
A] BB PUSH PRESS
B] FFE SPLIT SQUAT
For the first four weeks of this program we will be performing a banded Push Press. We’ll anchor some light bands onto the racks, placing emphasis on the top end position of the press. For my half rep’ers out there this will help achieve a more consistent range of motion above the head once we remove the band to finish out weeks 5-8. This movement was a huge success with our Saturday crew this past cycle, overhead PR’s left right and center, so we thought the Wednesday crew deserved a little love as well.
Your secondary main lift on Wednesdays will be Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (FFESS). As the name describes, this variation has your front leg elevated on a plate while the back leg is on the ground.
This is a great secondary lift for some of my athletes who are limited in squat depth or have a very glute dominant/forward leaning squat. The elevated front foot places a higher degree of flexion on the hips and knees while creating an upright torso position. Overall, expect improvement in knee and hip stability for our squats and improved strength and hypertrophy in the quads.
Finally, we will continue throwing around medicine balls. We’ll be performing some more upper body accessory work and some sagittal core to wrap up a spicy Wednesday.
FRIDAY
A] SUMO OR CONVENTIONAL DEADLIFTS
B] DB BENCH PRESS
For the first four weeks of this program we will be performing Boris Deadlifts. A Boris Deadlift is a variation used in powerlifting to teach people to push through the ground in the initial phase of the lift. It involves performing a half rep to the knees before lowering the bar back down and then driving again to complete a full rep. Credit to #deadliftgoals Coach Eric B, for recommending this lift.
A common deadlift mistake is performing a pulling motion with the back extensors vs a driving/pushing motion through the legs and quads. The half rep performed through the initial phase of motion in a Boris deadlift can help isolate the downward force we are looking for. We will incorporate this variation for the first 4 weeks, building some really good habits, before switching to normal reps. This can be performed with conventional or sumo deadlifts. It’s important to say here, this will be a technique-focused 4 weeks. Don’t lift with your ego. Maybe some of you hear echoes from pause deadlifts in the last cycle. Load is not the priority, you should not expect to lift the same weight in this variation as you would in a typical deadlift. If you feel targetted.. I am indeed talking directly to you.
The secondary lift on Friday will be a banded Dumbbell Chest Press. We’ll use bands again to challenge the lockout position of the press and place a higher demand on the triceps. This will also be a great bridge between dumbbells for those people that for example crush the 30’s but maybe need a 32.5lbs dumbbell instead of a 35. Following this, we will remove the band to finish out weeks 5-8.
We will broad jump on Fridays along with some lower body accessory work and some transverse core to wrap up your training before the weekend.
SATURDAY
A] BARBELL CLEAN COMPLEX
B] BARBELL ZOMBIE SQUATS
Saturday crew I got you! On Saturdays our 11am crew are performing a clean complex consisting of a Barbell Squat Clean to a Barbell Hang Clean. We’ll work on this for the first 10 minutes of the main block utilizing our constrained max outs. Then for the second 10 minutes, we’ll perform an EMOM for the remainder of the time taking out the hang clean portion of the complex, performing only squat cleans with the top weight we performed our constrained max outs with.
If you don’t know what a constrained max out is - they’re a loading strategy used in weightlifting where athletes start by performing their barbell movement at a very manageable weight and must complete their movement smoothly to move up in weight. If they miss reps or complete a sloppy rep they MUST drop back down to their last successful set before going up again. It's a fun game that allows us to complete lots of volume at challenging weight -while keeping technique a priority.
Secondaries on Saturdays will be *Pause Rep* BB Zombie Squats. Zombie squats are a front squat variation where you extend your arms straight out in front of you, resembling a “zombie” posture. They serve to encourage an upright torso and proper bar placement, reinforcing good front squat mechanics, greater core engagement and upper back activation to teach bar path awareness – They force you to keep the bar centered over your midfoot, preventing forward lean. Following 4 weeks of Zombies, we’ll switch to Zercher Squats to maintain anterior loading but increase loading potential.
I love Zerchers. I may or may not have put these in the program for myself. The Zercher squat is a unique squat variation where the barbell is held in the crooks of your elbows, rather than on your back or shoulders. This positioning offers similar benefits to a zombie squat in that it is a front-loaded position that forces your core to work harder to maintain an upright torso. However it is more loadable and strengthens the upper back, traps, and erectors, which carry over to deadlifts and other lifts. No surprise the guy who benches nearly as much as he squats likes a squat variation that works the upper body.
Finally, you’ll be performing some upper and lower body accessory movements to finish out Saturdays.
Feel ready, and informed?
SOME KEY POINTS TO IMPROVE YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY:
OKKKKK….here are some topics I think will be helpful:
LIFTING BELTS
Some of you are yanking on that belt loop so hard your eyes are going to pop out. A lifting belt is used to provide support to the core and lower back during heavy lifts, such as squats and deadlifts. But use them properly:
Position the belt around the waist, just above the hip bones and below the ribcage. Tighten the belt enough to provide support but not so much that it restricts breathing or movement. You should be able to take a deep breath and brace the core against the belt. Before lifting, take a deep breath into the belly (not the chest). Push your core outward against the belt, that’s where the support comes. It ain't a corset.
LOWER PERCENTAGES EARLY IN THE PROGRAM
Through the early stages of this program, we will be starting at some lower percentages of our drop sets. I encourage you to focus on speed, time under tension, and technique while the percentages are lower. We want to push the focus away from the load at the start of our build-up. Make sure you follow the percentages, even if the weight feels “too easy”.
ATHALON GAMES & HYBRID RACING
I get a lot of questions pertaining to optimal training routines leading to races and events. If you have something in the calendar you are working toward, over an extended period you should delegate your focus differently depending on how far you are from whatever event you are competing in.
The further you are from an event the more general your training should be, the closer you are, the more specific your training should be. For example, you might be competing in the most hype doubles event Chicago has ever seen on April 27th (only a few spots left)... That’s about 10 weeks away.
Lets say you want to come to The Garage Chicago 4 days per week: an example of your training might be
2 HEAVY AF classes
1 HYBRID class
1 HOT AF / FLOW X / STRONG X class
You could do that for 4-5 weeks, then as the competition gets closer, you go to 1 HEAVY AF class a week, 2 HYBRIDS, 1 HOT AF / FLOW X / STRONG X class. This would be progressing from training general qualities to training specific qualities required for your event. The same would work for HYROX, going from general to specific.
Hopefully this is helpful for some of you! Lets continue to crush and be the Best Gym in Chicago.
Love ya’ll, peace out.
Coach Ashley Stephen
Director of Training
The Garage Chicago Gym
