I’m going to follow on from my last post reviewing theGymnastic Bodies courses and look at part of the course I struggle with an how
I have overcome it/ am currently over coming it.
Something I didn’t explain in my last post was the
structure of the training and the method behind it. In foundations each section
of a workout is separated into two parts – The strength component e.g. a push
up and its integrated mobility component. These are done like a super set with
no rest. The idea here is to force the trainee to work on mobility and to test whether
they have adequate mobility to continue with the program. Early in each section
the reps are quite high (60, 20, 15, 10) depending on the exercise, once these
are mastered more difficult exercises move into a lower rep range (10’s and 5’s).
The idea behind this is to prepare the joints for the more difficult work. As I
said in the last post this strength endurance range is something I really
struggle with. Below I’ll outline three different methods I am currently using
to get passed the strength endurance phase. The idea for this kind of approach I
got from Legendarystrength.com
Extra strength work
This method seems to help me the most in being able to
meet the rep requirements of the strength endurance phase. For instance when working
on push ups I added bench dips into my workout week. Push ups were on Monday so
on Thursday I added sets of bench dips. These were slightly more strength biased,
and lower reps (but not too much lower). This allowed me to work a higher strength
level, slightly lower rep range to round out my strength and feel stronger when
doing my push ups. On another occasion I used a 70kg bench press for sets of
ten, which also helped increase my push up strength endurance. The goal is to
find a slightly harder exercise for slightly less reps to work on in a second
workout each week. I wanted the exercise selection to be similar, but not the
same, i.e. not weighted push ups. I think this helps to round out my strength,
but I suggest experimenting to find what works best for you.
More volume
This method works well for me, those not quite as well as
the extra strength work. I added extra volume in two ways. One is that straight
after my prescribed number of reps and sets, I would add one more max set.
Often I can only manage an extra 5 or so reps, but it all counts. I find this
can assist me in adding 1 more rep to my last work set next week. It’s not much
but slow progress is progress.
The other way I add more volume is at the end of my
workout after all my planned exercises is to add 3-4 sets or 10-15 reps of whatever
exercise I’m struggling with. So currently that means 3-4 sets 10-15 reps of
extra decline ring rows. Again this just adds to my total extra volume within a
range I can recover from.
Keep doing the basics
This last method doesn’t help with passing a section, but
it forces me to maintain it. If I stopped doing the higher rep sets I quickly lose
that level of strength endurance so when I have passed a particularly hard
section (push ups) I keep it in my weekly workout as a staple. For me that
means doing the top rep level of push ups, plus some extra volume every Thursday.
This maintains my strength endurance and likely assists my work on my difficult
exercises (at the very least is doesn’t harm it).
I have found these methods really helpful with getting
over strength endurance roadblocks in the Gymnastic Bodies foundation course
but you can also used these ideas in your own training to get a little extra strength
endurance work and a little extra volume.
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