Quick question: So someone got some SFH Pure Protein last week (Thursday, Friday, or Saturday) and I forgot to write it down…care to fess up?! Thanks in advance!

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Ok gang, we are moving to the meat of the testing week with our first big strength piece – the 1RM Front Squat. We will be approaching the test much differently than we have in the past in terms of warm-up to the 1RM. In the interest of keeping you guys informed ahead of time, and all-around intelligent fitness peeps, below is the outline of what we will be doing, how, and most importantly the ‘why:’
I tested out this method a couple weeks back on myself and feel that its much better suited to getting people ready for the rigors of a proper 1 rep max.

The whole idea is that we want everything in the body to be “turned on” so to speak – muscles, joints, etc, but most importantly we want the central nervous system (CNS) to be firing on all cylinders. A full clean has a great way of doing that. So, we will be taking you all through a clean progression warm-up from 50% to about 90%. If you normally go from the hang position, same rules apply here.

First things first – each person will need to have a general idea of what their 1RM clean is – this could have been something that you did as just a clean or as a clean and jerk, doesn’t matter. Go with whichever is higher. Your performance history can be seen on the WODIFY monitors.

Here is the general template for clean warm-ups you can go off of. I must stress that these are %’s of your 1RM clean, NOT your front squat.

50% x 3

60% x 3

70% x 2

80% x 2

90% x 1 (2 sets of this)

Between each set, you should be resting about 90s. These are not supposed to be touch and go (TNG) reps. Stand up with clean, drop, and reset. Don’t worry if you miss, it’s not a big deal.

Once you hit the last 90% clean, you will strip the bar to something you can get into rack (duh), then load up for your first set of front squats. If you want to go for a double on the first set, thats fine. But from there on out – ONLY SINGLES!

Here is the general template for going for a 1RM front squat from this point forward. Note that these %’s are based off your current 1RM that you’ve been working off of for the past 10 weeks.

95% x 1 (a double is ok here)

105% x 1 (should be easy)

110% x 1 (if this is a miss, move down a few % points, not below your 105% though, and go again)

If you made the 110%, you will continue to go up (3-5%). EVERYONE should fail at least once. Otherwise you have no idea of what your 1RM is!

Rest in between the front squat attempts is a MINIMUM of 3min.

Before you start any of your barbell work, we will take everyone through an abdominal bracing sequence during warm-ups. Most of you know this and utilize it well, but many of you don’t. This activates ALL of the muscles that make-up the midline and makes supporting weight much easier AND SAFER!

I’m sure it goes without saying that an incredibly upright posture bolstered by tall elbows throughout the ROM is paramount to a successful lift. We will continue to harp on this.

And lastly, “almost” or “it was right there” is not a new PR!!!! If you think you’ll have doubts on your depth, bust out your own smart phone and let someone video you. Then have a coach tell you if its good to go or not.

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A. Weightlifting:

Front Squat – 30min to 1RM

B. MWOD:

Rest between your sets!

C. WOD:

Time Trial –

Run 1 mile

Row 2k

*Depends on the rain!

Testing Week Day 2…9/23/14

A NEW YOU STARTS HERE