The Plan for January and February

January and February we will be starting an 8-week strength cycle. We will be attempting to seriously increase strength levels in four lifts: Back Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and Shoulder Press. If you don’t have a belt and can’t fit in one at the gym; buy one. If you don’t know what to look for; see me.
We will be using linear progression to achieve these results. This means we will add weight to the work sets every workout. For most of you this means an increase of up to 160 pounds in the squat, 80 pounds in the deadlift and bench press, and 40 pounds in the shoulder press for work sets if you don’t miss any sessions. It is very important to not miss any sessions.

The program looks like this:
Monday and Friday — Back Squat 3 x 5; Bench Press 3 x 5 — add 10# every workout to squat + add 5# every workout to bench press
Wednesday — Deadlift 1 x 5; Shoulder Press 3 x 5 — add 10# every workout to deadlift + add 5# every workout to shoulder press

You have to come to the gym psyched to get the work in. I expect you to help your teammates and your teammates to help you. This is going to be hard but will pay off in the end. A quiet gym is no good. I want lots of yelling, stomping of feet and gnashing of teeth. You will have to work efficiently to get this done in an hour.
There will be prescribed assistance work on all days. Being that most of you are some sort of combat athlete the assistance exercises will be mostly bodyweight movements.

Weights lifted will be sets across. This means for all work sets the weight will remain the same. Everyone should start at low weights for all exercises. This will ensure a solid base is built and solid progress can be made for several weeks. If you eat and sleep like you are serious about your training you will get stronger. Eating seriously means you need a calorie surplus; which means you may put on some body fat. Aim for one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Build your meals around the protein and then eat other stuff until you aren’t hungry. Don’t be hungry ever. You will need the food to recover. Don’t worry about the bodyfat gained; we will deal with that when Spring approaches so you can still look great naked. Sleeping seriously means that you will get at least 8 hours a night most of the time and sometimes you will try to get more.

What about conditioning? If you currently participate in our Muay Thai, BJJ or Submission Grappling programming your conditioning will not suffer very much if at all. If you don’t; consider starting. If this option doesn’t work for you; I have several ideas that you can use outside the gym to get your conditioning fix.
I urge all of you to miss as few workouts as possible during this time. This is the second time I have written this. The workout program only works if you show up to do it. If you do miss one; call me and we will try to make it up.
It’s winter time and you are covered up anyway, might as well try to increase your surface area by growing your muscles.