At-Home Workouts for Everyone
Written by Nichole Kribs

Ever felt too busy to make it to the gym (#understatementoftheyear)? My guess is that we ALL have, at one point, felt like or literally have been too busy to make it to the gym. Sometimes our busy is our own perceived ‘busy’ and we are choosing not to prioritize the gym and other times we literally cannot make it to the gym. On the days when making it to the gym seems like a long shot, don’t give up altogether on the notion of exercising. There are plenty of things you can do around your house to get a quick sweat on.

Below are six of my favorite go-to home workouts when getting to the gym isn’t going to happen (these also make for great travel workouts):

Workout #1:
For max reps:
Eight rounds of:
Air Squats x 20 seconds
Rest x 10 seconds

Rest 2 minutes

Eight rounds of:
V-Ups x 20 seconds
Rest x 10 seconds

Rest 2 minutes

Eight rounds of:
Burpees x 20 seconds
Rest x 10 seconds

Rest 2 minutes

Eight rounds of:
Jumping Lunges x 20 seconds
Rest x 10 seconds

Rest 2 minutes

Eight rounds of:
Mountain Climbers x 20 seconds
Rest 10 seconds

Workout #2:
Six sets of:
Suicide Run x 6 yards, 12 yards, 18 yards, 24 yards, 30 yards
Burpees x 10 reps
Rest 90 seconds

Workout #3:
As many rounds and reps as possible in 15 minutes:
Air Squats x 20 reps
Sit-Ups x 15 reps
Push-Ups x 10 reps

Workout #4:
Every minute, on the minute, for 20 minutes, complete:
15 Double-Unders
4 Burpees

Workout #5:
Five rounds for max reps of:
45 Seconds Down-Ups
15 Seconds of Rest
45 Seconds Alt. Reverse Lunge
15 Seconds of Rest
45 Seconds Tuck-Ups
15 Seconds of Rest
45 Seconds of Air Squats
75 Seconds of Rest

Workout #6:
Run 3-5 miles

I hope this gives you some inspiration on those busy days. Getting a quick workout in will only help alleviate the stress associated with those busy days so don’t neglect the importance to MOVE!

Also Check Out…

What It Really Means When You Say You’re Too Busy

8 Ways To Start Your Day Off Stress Free

Creating The Habit Of Going To The Gym

The post At-Home Workouts for Everyone appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

Volume or Intensity?
Written by Invictus Athlete Josh Littauer

As a CrossFit coach, I have been approached several times recently by athletes with the question,“What else can I add in on top of my normal CrossFit class?” or “Can you make up extra stuff for me to do outside of the gym so I can get more work in?” These questions are raising an interesting topic that will take us back to the original intent of CrossFit.

The Current Trend – Desire to Increase Volume

There seems to be a trend happening in CrossFit boxes around the country and among many CrossFit athletes that an increase in volume will expedite the fitness process. This is true among competitive athletes who are trying to get the Regional or Games level, or your everyday members at your local affiliate. James Hobart, of CrossFit HQ’s seminar staff recently wrote a post on this subject that is full of great information 1. I will break down some of his thoughts and add a few of my own here.

When CrossFit started to become popular it was because of its potentially devastating effect on the body in such a short workout period while still causing tremendous health benefits. The simplicity of combinations of weightlifting, gymnastics and mono-structural movements was completely effective in developing a well-rounded fitness that worked across broad time and modal domains. The original prescription in a structured CrossFit class was a warm-up, short workout, and a cool down; perform five days a week and voila you have elite fitness.

Somewhere in the past few years we have adopted this idea that just a one-hour CrossFit class is not enough to create a full fitness program. So we added in additional volume in the form of an extra metcon, more weightlifting, more skill sessions, and before you know it your one hour of CrossFit has turned into two hours of a compilation of randomly designed workouts that may or may not actually be effective. Somewhere along the line we have forgotten the original intent of CrossFit.

Intensity is King, NOT Volume

So here is my thought. Intensity is King and will rule over the servant of Volume any day. Greg Glassman, founder of CrossFit has said, “Be impressed with intensity not volume.” In its original intent CrossFit was made to be short in duration and high in intensity. Many times it is easy to get into a mentality of, “more is better” or “maybe if I add volume I’ll expedite the fitness process”. James Hobart says in his article, “Volume is not the cure-all; effective coaching is.” If an athlete is going to a normal CrossFit class and there is a well-rounded program in place, then that is sufficient for making continual progress. Even if slow, progress will be there; remember intensity is King. A single effective dose of CrossFit a day is enough to obtain and sustain lifetime fitness.

Different Needs for Different Athletes

As a coach it is important to understand an athlete’s goals with their training and work towards achieving those individual goals with each athlete. On the topic of additional volume, there are two cases that occur most often. The first is the athlete that wants to be competitive in CrossFit. The second is the athlete who has experienced some weight loss but progress has slowed. In both cases one of the biggest factors in deciding if more volume is appropriate is mechanical consistency in the athlete’s movement. The athlete should be able to move well, consistently at a high intensity, and be able to make improvement in movement with verbal cues from a coach.

For the athlete who is seeking to be competitive, an appropriate amount of skill work added to a normal prescription of high intensity CrossFit will suffice for making progress towards the desired goals. As for the second case, it is common that when an athlete sees quick progress in CrossFit and loses weight, but then progress becomes slower as they approach a much lower body weight that athlete will try to add volume as a way to continue the large amounts of weight loss. Again, intensity is King. To see continual progress in CrossFit, just doing more CrossFit is not the solution.

Understanding Power Output

A classic example could be a workout like Fran. A simple couplet of thrusters and pull-ups that is potentially devastating for the athlete that pushes deep into their anaerobic threshold. The transverse would be something like running a 5k, longer duration and much slower pace than the typical Fran. These two represent opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes volume and intensity. Fran would be relatively low volume, yet high intensity. While a 5k would be higher volume, but much lower intensity. Now is there place for longer workouts with a lower intensity threshold, yes; however these workouts should not be the staple of a CrossFit program.

Many people will assume more is better. Even so much as saying that the longer CrossFit workouts are actually “better” than the shorter ones. This is not the case, and in most CrossFit programs rarely will you see a workout that lasts longer than 30 minutes. Why? Because as the time period increases the intensity decreases. To simplify it, we can look at intensity in terms of total power output. Power output is equal to force multiplied by the distance divided by total time (P=(f*d)/t). In this case, if the time it takes to accomplish a similar task is longer than the effect it has is a much lower power output. Lower power output = lower intensity.

Developing Lifetime Fitness

In many cases, an athlete who tries to add more volume over the course of time will end up doing more harm than good. Remember we are talking about lifetime fitness, not quick gains. In a lifetime of fitness it is not necessary to sacrifice a dose of high intensity for more volume for the sake of just doing more. A complete CrossFit program that is effectively programmed to be completed in an hour class will suffice for developing a lifetime of health and fitness. For an everyday athlete, a single dose of high intensity CrossFit is sufficient; Intensity is King over Volume.

References:
http://journal.crossfit.com/2016/03/a-deft-dose-of-volume.tpl

Also Check Out…

Begin With The End In Mind

More Bang For Your Buck

Say No To LSD

The post Volume or Intensity? appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

Volume or Intensity?
Written by Invictus Athlete Josh Littauer

As a CrossFit coach, I have been approached several times recently by athletes with the question,“What else can I add in on top of my normal CrossFit class?” or “Can you make up extra stuff for me to do outside of the gym so I can get more work in?” These questions are raising an interesting topic that will take us back to the original intent of CrossFit.

The Current Trend – Desire to Increase Volume

There seems to be a trend happening in CrossFit boxes around the country and among many CrossFit athletes that an increase in volume will expedite the fitness process. This is true among competitive athletes who are trying to get the Regional or Games level, or your everyday members at your local affiliate. James Hobart, of CrossFit HQ’s seminar staff recently wrote a post on this subject that is full of great information 1. I will break down some of his thoughts and add a few of my own here.

When CrossFit started to become popular it was because of its potentially devastating effect on the body in such a short workout period while still causing tremendous health benefits. The simplicity of combinations of weightlifting, gymnastics and mono-structural movements was completely effective in developing a well-rounded fitness that worked across broad time and modal domains. The original prescription in a structured CrossFit class was a warm-up, short workout, and a cool down; perform five days a week and voila you have elite fitness.

Somewhere in the past few years we have adopted this idea that just a one-hour CrossFit class is not enough to create a full fitness program. So we added in additional volume in the form of an extra metcon, more weightlifting, more skill sessions, and before you know it your one hour of CrossFit has turned into two hours of a compilation of randomly designed workouts that may or may not actually be effective. Somewhere along the line we have forgotten the original intent of CrossFit.

Intensity is King, NOT Volume

So here is my thought. Intensity is King and will rule over the servant of Volume any day. Greg Glassman, founder of CrossFit has said, “Be impressed with intensity not volume.” In its original intent CrossFit was made to be short in duration and high in intensity. Many times it is easy to get into a mentality of, “more is better” or “maybe if I add volume I’ll expedite the fitness process”. James Hobart says in his article, “Volume is not the cure-all; effective coaching is.” If an athlete is going to a normal CrossFit class and there is a well-rounded program in place, then that is sufficient for making continual progress. Even if slow, progress will be there; remember intensity is King. A single effective dose of CrossFit a day is enough to obtain and sustain lifetime fitness.

Different Needs for Different Athletes

As a coach it is important to understand an athlete’s goals with their training and work towards achieving those individual goals with each athlete. On the topic of additional volume, there are two cases that occur most often. The first is the athlete that wants to be competitive in CrossFit. The second is the athlete who has experienced some weight loss but progress has slowed. In both cases one of the biggest factors in deciding if more volume is appropriate is mechanical consistency in the athlete’s movement. The athlete should be able to move well, consistently at a high intensity, and be able to make improvement in movement with verbal cues from a coach.

For the athlete who is seeking to be competitive, an appropriate amount of skill work added to a normal prescription of high intensity CrossFit will suffice for making progress towards the desired goals. As for the second case, it is common that when an athlete sees quick progress in CrossFit and loses weight, but then progress becomes slower as they approach a much lower body weight that athlete will try to add volume as a way to continue the large amounts of weight loss. Again, intensity is King. To see continual progress in CrossFit, just doing more CrossFit is not the solution.

Understanding Power Output

A classic example could be a workout like Fran. A simple couplet of thrusters and pull-ups that is potentially devastating for the athlete that pushes deep into their anaerobic threshold. The transverse would be something like running a 5k, longer duration and much slower pace than the typical Fran. These two represent opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes volume and intensity. Fran would be relatively low volume, yet high intensity. While a 5k would be higher volume, but much lower intensity. Now is there place for longer workouts with a lower intensity threshold, yes; however these workouts should not be the staple of a CrossFit program.

Many people will assume more is better. Even so much as saying that the longer CrossFit workouts are actually “better” than the shorter ones. This is not the case, and in most CrossFit programs rarely will you see a workout that lasts longer than 30 minutes. Why? Because as the time period increases the intensity decreases. To simplify it, we can look at intensity in terms of total power output. Power output is equal to force multiplied by the distance divided by total time (P=(f*d)/t). In this case, if the time it takes to accomplish a similar task is longer than the effect it has is a much lower power output. Lower power output = lower intensity.

Developing Lifetime Fitness

In many cases, an athlete who tries to add more volume over the course of time will end up doing more harm than good. Remember we are talking about lifetime fitness, not quick gains. In a lifetime of fitness it is not necessary to sacrifice a dose of high intensity for more volume for the sake of just doing more. A complete CrossFit program that is effectively programmed to be completed in an hour class will suffice for developing a lifetime of health and fitness. For an everyday athlete, a single dose of high intensity CrossFit is sufficient; Intensity is King over Volume.

References:
http://journal.crossfit.com/2016/03/a-deft-dose-of-volume.tpl

Also Check Out…

Begin With The End In Mind

More Bang For Your Buck

Say No To LSD

The post Volume or Intensity? appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

The Open Is Over – What’s Next?
Written by Nichole DeHart

The Open has come to a close, which means that every athlete will be on a new path. Some of you will be moving on to Regionals, training either individually or with your team, and others will be taking some time to set their goals for the remainder of 2017 and the 2018 season. Regardless of whether you’re moving on or not, we have a program suited for your needs. As always, we’re inspired by athletes and motivated to help them achieve their goals, so we will be offering the following four programs:

Regionals Training Program (Individuals) and Invictus Early Off-Season Program

Our Invictus Athlete program has always been committed to helping individuals achieve their goals. In that same spirit, we are going to offer programs for both those who are moving on to Regionals as individuals, and those who are starting their off-season.

If you earned the opportunity to compete at Regionals as an individual, congratulations! You should view this is a great accomplishment. We advise you to use the next few days to relax and reinvigorate. The first Regionals are 7 weeks away. Considering that you have been grinding for at least 5 weeks without many breaks, you need to take a couple of days to deload and clear your mind. Year after year we have to convince athletes that it’s ok to take a couple of days to backoff on training before we start hammering it hard in preparation for Regionals…and every year someone regrets not taking the advice. Do yourself a favor and don’t rush the process of Regionals preparation. It will be at least 6 weeks of intense training, so you want to go into it eager to train and 100% healthy. For remainder of the week, continue to follow the Invictus Athlete or Competition blog and be ok with the fact that the workouts aren’t overly strenuous. Our official 2017 Regionals Prep Program will begin on Monday, April 3, through our Invictus Athlete program.

Official Off-Season Program

For the vast majority of athletes who competed in the Open, the off-season is beginning. That means it’s time to set some goals and rebuild the foundation of our health and fitness so that we can build upon it over the course of the next year. The very beginning of that process is taking some time off to get your mind and body healthy. We will be on a transition program this week and our official off-season program will begin on Monday, April 3, through our Invictus Athlete Program.

Regionals Team Training Program

Many of you have the opportunity to compete at Regionals on a team. We want you and your team to feel as prepared as possible heading into your Regional. The program will follow the format of double sessions with one session being individual-based and then the second session being team-based. This is a great option for anyone planning to go team and needs to continue working on developing themselves as well as working in a team environment. Subscription to this program will provide access for 8 individuals per team. Our official 2017 Regionals Team Prep Program will begin on Monday, April 3. For more information, please click here.

Masters Qualifiers Prep Program

For those of you who are moving on to the Masters Qualifiers, we have more work to do! Your Masters Qualifier Prep Program has begun! The Masters Qualifier Prep Program will ramp up into and through the qualifiers with specific workouts and progressions designed to help you peak for the four days of competition. In addition to the program, we are providing participating athletes with extensive strategy notes that we have previously reserved only for our private clients, and visualizations from Heidi Fearon. Our goal is simple…we want to get as many of our Masters as possible to the CrossFit Games, so we’re providing our full complement of tools into the program. We encourage all Masters athletes, even if you don’t qualify for the Online Qualifiers, to join our prep program. It is a great opportunity to see how you stack up against your fellow Masters and will continue to give you a push in training until we transition to our Off-Season cycle post the Online Qualifiers. Our official 2017 Masters Qualifiers Prep Program has begun!

Like our Invictus Athlete program, we will be starting our early off-season program on Monday, April 3. Until then, enjoy a little down time and get ready to hit it hard toward achieving your new performance goals.

Of course, you also have the option of moving to San Diego and joining us in person! That’s our favorite option, and one we strongly urge you to consider…it’s hard to beat the weather in San Diego year round, and you’ll have some pretty fun training partners.

If you have any questions regarding your options for programs to follow now that the Open is behind us, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@invictusathlete.com.

Also Check Out…

How To Get Your First Muscle-Up

The Math Equation That Can Help Us Prevent Injuries

T-Spine Mobility Tools

The post The Open Is Over – What’s Next? appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

The Open Is Over – What’s Next?
Written by Nichole DeHart

The Open has come to a close, which means that every athlete will be on a new path. Some of you will be moving on to Regionals, training either individually or with your team, and others will be taking some time to set their goals for the remainder of 2017 and the 2018 season. Regardless of whether you’re moving on or not, we have a program suited for your needs. As always, we’re inspired by athletes and motivated to help them achieve their goals, so we will be offering the following four programs:

Regionals Training Program (Individuals) and Invictus Early Off-Season Program

Our Invictus Athlete program has always been committed to helping individuals achieve their goals. In that same spirit, we are going to offer programs for both those who are moving on to Regionals as individuals, and those who are starting their off-season.

If you earned the opportunity to compete at Regionals as an individual, congratulations! You should view this is a great accomplishment. We advise you to use the next few days to relax and reinvigorate. The first Regionals are 7 weeks away. Considering that you have been grinding for at least 5 weeks without many breaks, you need to take a couple of days to deload and clear your mind. Year after year we have to convince athletes that it’s ok to take a couple of days to backoff on training before we start hammering it hard in preparation for Regionals…and every year someone regrets not taking the advice. Do yourself a favor and don’t rush the process of Regionals preparation. It will be at least 6 weeks of intense training, so you want to go into it eager to train and 100% healthy. For remainder of the week, continue to follow the Invictus Athlete or Competition blog and be ok with the fact that the workouts aren’t overly strenuous. Our official 2017 Regionals Prep Program will begin on Monday, April 3, through our Invictus Athlete program.

Official Off-Season Program

For the vast majority of athletes who competed in the Open, the off-season is beginning. That means it’s time to set some goals and rebuild the foundation of our health and fitness so that we can build upon it over the course of the next year. The very beginning of that process is taking some time off to get your mind and body healthy. We will be on a transition program this week and our official off-season program will begin on Monday, April 3, through our Invictus Athlete Program.

Regionals Team Training Program

Many of you have the opportunity to compete at Regionals on a team. We want you and your team to feel as prepared as possible heading into your Regional. The program will follow the format of double sessions with one session being individual-based and then the second session being team-based. This is a great option for anyone planning to go team and needs to continue working on developing themselves as well as working in a team environment. Subscription to this program will provide access for 8 individuals per team. Our official 2017 Regionals Team Prep Program will begin on Monday, April 3. For more information, please click here.

Masters Qualifiers Prep Program

For those of you who are moving on to the Masters Qualifiers, we have more work to do! Your Masters Qualifier Prep Program has begun! The Masters Qualifier Prep Program will ramp up into and through the qualifiers with specific workouts and progressions designed to help you peak for the four days of competition. In addition to the program, we are providing participating athletes with extensive strategy notes that we have previously reserved only for our private clients, and visualizations from Heidi Fearon. Our goal is simple…we want to get as many of our Masters as possible to the CrossFit Games, so we’re providing our full complement of tools into the program. We encourage all Masters athletes, even if you don’t qualify for the Online Qualifiers, to join our prep program. It is a great opportunity to see how you stack up against your fellow Masters and will continue to give you a push in training until we transition to our Off-Season cycle post the Online Qualifiers. Our official 2017 Masters Qualifiers Prep Program has begun!

Like our Invictus Athlete program, we will be starting our early off-season program on Monday, April 3. Until then, enjoy a little down time and get ready to hit it hard toward achieving your new performance goals.

Of course, you also have the option of moving to San Diego and joining us in person! That’s our favorite option, and one we strongly urge you to consider…it’s hard to beat the weather in San Diego year round, and you’ll have some pretty fun training partners.

If you have any questions regarding your options for programs to follow now that the Open is behind us, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@invictusathlete.com.

Also Check Out…

How To Get Your First Muscle-Up

The Math Equation That Can Help Us Prevent Injuries

T-Spine Mobility Tools

The post The Open Is Over – What’s Next? appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

Athlete 101: Trust The Process
Written by Tino Marini

If you have been part of our community then you will have undoubtedly heard the title of this article stated over and over again. The question is, do you just read it, or do you actually believe it? Trust the process!

You Have to Believe

One of the key components in an athlete’s success is that they trust the program they follow and/or the direction their coach is giving them. No matter how good the program or coach is, if an athlete doesn’t believe in what he is doing, he will not make progress. It seems that one of the biggest stumbling blocks in being a successful athlete is the tendency to overthink the process and second guess everything they are doing. At Invictus, we are strong believers that an athlete’s job is to be an athlete, and a coach’s job is to be a coach.

This doesn’t mean that an athlete can’t ask questions, give feedback and make suggestions on what seems to be working and not working. It just means that the athlete shouldn’t have to think about the finer details of a program like progressions, energy systems, loading and volume. Too often we see athletes stress out because they aren’t seeing enough pulling or enough conditioning or the volume is too low, in their opinion. As soon as this happens they either stop putting the effort into their sessions because they think “what is the point in this” or they add in a bunch of unnecessary volume. If they think “what is the point in this” then intensity drops and progress will undoubtedly suffer. If they add in a bunch of volume, then they likely become overtrained and injured. Both are not ideal scenarios.

The Problem with Program Hopping

There are a lot of people who hop from program to program. They never really commit to a full program cycle. They do some of one program and add it to another workout they have seen a Games athlete do on Instagram. Before they know it, the Open has come back around and they are still the same athlete as they were the year before since they have just been “working out” for a year instead of working on weaknesses and building their strengths.

What you SHOULD Focus On

Our advice is to start by finding a program or coach who has produced good athletes. A good coach will always be judged by the athletes they produce and work with on a day-to-day basis. It’s pretty easy to write out a progression and send it to someone and hope that it works. The real test is to see if it works with the athletes you work with face to face, day to day.

Another extremely important aspect is communication. Whether it is individual or group programming, there must be a feedback loop. If the athlete or athletes don’t post results or communicate, how does the coach know if the program is working? It’s an extremely important element that people forget. Some think that just doing the program will make them better, but what happens when you can’t hit the numbers or percentages posted and you don’t communicate that? Well in a good progression you will likely increase in load the next week, but if an athlete or group of athletes are struggling, this needs to be communicated in order for the coach to adjust accordingly.

The Invictus Athlete Team puts a lot of effort into looking at results, replying to posts and reviewing video as we understand the importance of communication and accountability. It also shows that we care about the community and understand that in order to help athletes progress we need to build a relationship and community.

Becoming a great athlete isn’t as easy as following a program. There are so many factors that play into programming and a coaching relationship, but the most important for us is that you trust the process. That will only come from finding the right program and the right coaches that are best for you to surround yourself with.

If you need a coach to design a program specifically for you, hold you accountable and help you find your potential, email us at info@invictusathlete.com. 

Also Check Out…

How to Maximize Your Potential As a CrossFit Masters Athlete

Kenny Ochoa: Trusting the Process and Having a Plan

What Is Your Main Event?

The post Athlete 101: Trust The Process appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

Increasing Strength Without Increasing Load
Written By Bryce Smith

In last week’s blog post titled: Tendons Take Time – Understanding How We Adapt to Progressive Overload, we talked about reasons you may like or need to employ methods other than adding weight to the bar to increase strength to prevent injury and break through plateaus. These methods should mostly be used for the three main lifts – the squat, the deadlift and the bench press but could be used for other strength-based movements as well.

Method 1: Lengthen the Eccentric Phase
Add a two second time domain in the descent of the movement, and focus on accelerating on the way up as if you were trying to make the load hit the ceiling. This tempo looks like this: 20X1

Method 2: Elongate the Eccentric
This method is very similar to the above method, but elongates the time of the eccentric loading phase. This can be used as a progression as the body adapts to more time under tension. Lengthen the time domain of the eccentric loading by lower on a five count and then once again accelerating on the way up. Try not to focus so much on the count and more on a super slow and controlled descent as counting may lead to diminished focus and more margin for error. If you can, have a training partner, or coach count for you. This tempo looks like this: 50X1

Method 3: Include a Static Hold
Keep the slow and controlled descent, but add a three second pause in the hole of the squat. Yes, you are stopping on the bottom of the squat, but try to stay active while down there, and then focus on pressing the floor away and accelerating straight up without relying on a ballistic or additional bounce to get the load up. This tempo looks like this: 53X1

Method 4: Add a Pause or Three
Pauses during the various moments of the eccentric or lowering phase of the lift. Take three , two second pauses during the upper third of the lift, middle third, and the bottom of the repetition. You can also play with a pause in the middle, and at the bottom. And of course, on the way up, try to move the weight as fast as possible to stimulate those hard to reach type ii muscle fibers that we want to wake up and come to the party. Either way, you are developing control in a potential sticking point which will help you blast through those sticking points when it comes time to add more weight to the bar.

Method 5: Lengthen the Concentric Phase
Now that we added a tempo on the eccentric (lowering) phase of the lift, why not add a tempo on the concentric (up) phase of the lifts as well? So now we will come down in a controlled fashion, and then pause in the lower third of the movement, middle third of the movement, and top of the movement. Spending more time in these positions and forcing our bodies to remain active in what are usual passing points allows us to familiarize with those shapes and how the load feels during certain points of the lift.

The more familiar we are with all of the positions of the lifts, the more prepared we will be to handle more weight or more volume. At the end of the day, we want the body to be prepared to handle our challenging training sessions and continually get stronger without placing the tendons or ligaments at risk with too much load before we are ready.

Give these tempo variations a shot and let us know how it goes in the comments section. These are some suggested tempos, but feel free to be innovative based on your needs and let us know how it goes. Stay patient and repeat the mantra that good things take time. For more on why we like tempo training, check out this blog post by CJ Martin.

The post Increasing Strength Without Increasing Load appeared first on Invictus Fitness.

Tendons Take Time – Understanding How We Adapt to Progressive Overload
Written By Bryce Smith

To get stronger using progressive overload, it is really quite simple. Task the body to do things that it previously couldn’t do by either adding more weight, or performing more reps, or minimizing the rest intervals and forcing the anaerobic energy systems to learn to adapt faster and buffer lactic acid faster. However, this eventually will lead to a plateau. Basic progressive overload says to add maybe ten pounds a week to your squat. So week one you squat with 135, week two with 145 and so on. This would mean that you add 520 pounds to your squat in a year. Sorry, but that ain’t gonna happen. Muscle will get strong very fast, but eventually, tendons and ligaments will get angry and say that they have had enough. How can we prevent this from happening?

Progressive overload is gradually making your muscles work harder. Here is a simple linear progression that is more gradual than ten pounds a week, but will also eventually lead to a halting point (1):
Week 1:  5 x 3 @ 135 lbs
Week 2:  5 x 4 @ 135 lbs
Week 3:  5 x 5 @ 135 lbs
Week 4:  5 x 3 @ 145 lbs
Week 5:  5 x 4 @ 145 lbs
Week 6:  5 x 5 @ 145 lbs
And so on…

The problem is most people really want to quantify their increases with more weight and more reps as mentioned above. That is a very external focus that highlights the tools that create the impact on the muscles rather than the muscles themselves (1). In order to allow the ligaments and tendons to strengthen, and for athletes to stay healthy, maybe we can find ways to make the muscles work utilizing the same weight, or less weight. If we can make the muscles work harder, we are overloading them, and they can continue to get stronger. By adding a tempo, and using the weight longer and increasing the time under tension with pause reps, we can continue with progressive overload while keeping the body safe.

Most people are so eager to add weight to the bar before the body is ready. After a few sessions, every session becomes more harmful on the body than helpful until you hit a plateau. When people hit a plateau, they usually compare to the numbers they were once hitting, and continue pushing harder and putting their bodies in compromised positions which leads to injuries. From a physiological standpoint, both the muscles and the central nervous system will adapt rapidly initially, but tendons are very slow to adapt (1).

Initially, you will see rapid progress and huge increases in strength gains and believe that Bryce guy who wrote that one article didn’t know what he was talking about. But eventually, tendon strength, and the tendons protective mechanisms will take over limiting your ability to lift a certain load (1). If you continue to focus on lifting more load, you will continue punching yourself in the face, because it takes time for the tendons and ligaments to get strong and tell the protective mechanisms to chill out. That’s both the best and the most frustrating part about training. You must be patient and seek creative ways to provide a stimulus on the body and sometimes that means backing off on the load and playing with tempo to enhance time under tension while the tendons and ligaments go to Gainsville.

Getting very good at a certain weight will help to diminish the body’s protective instincts once the tendons and ligaments are strong enough to master a certain load. Stay safe and learn to love the constant challenges. There is no end game, and you wouldn’t want there to be one anyway. For five specific ideas for how to apply this, check out next week’s post titled: Increasing Strength Without Increasing Load.

References:
1) Thibaudeau, Christian. “The Best Way to Keep Getting Stronger.” T-nation.com. N.p., 10 June 2015. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.

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