It has been a month since we’ve reopened. Compared to when a person has taken an extended lay-off, it was a time for a re-boot for everyone at the studio. Some people did take advantage of the virtual workouts we made available, but those workouts had their limitations (limited equipment, space).
Once I re-opened, I had to take the approach of a schoolteacher working with students after summer vacation. To take a step forward, I had to accept that we would also take 2 steps backwards. It’s foolish to think that we could turn on the lights and pick up where we left off. Loads, workout frequency, and heart rate intensities had to be monitored. Everyone was treated like it was their first day.
It can be a bit of a whirlwind your first day at the studio. As a newcomer, you experience a tremendous amount of new information. We have a certain way that we perform our warm-up. We assign specific corrective exercises for each person. The tempo of the workout is dictated using a timer. You’re learning exercises, a format, and meeting new people. The cool thing is that I usually observe a predictable improvement in weeks 3-4. Kettlebell swings start to look more precise. Heart rate recoveries improve. Training loads go up. There is a consistent improvement across the board in skill, conditioning, and strength.
We just finished a red week. Assuming you don’t train at our studio, the term red week may be oblivious to you. When I opened 5 years ago, I wanted to incorporate some type of periodization for members of the studio. Periodization is defined as a long-term cyclic structure of training and practice to maximize performance for a specific date. I made 35 days (5 weeks) our specific or end date. Your workouts would peak every 5 weeks. Peaking every 5 weeks also provides a timetable to track training improvements. We have 3 different signs that identify the training intensity for the week. Orange is for moderate or ordinary intensity. This is a usual scheme of uniformly increasing loading. Red is for the peak week. Red weeks have 2 components. To shock or stimulate the body and to push for a new “High bar”. Green is the de-loading or restorative week.
We keep a simplistic approach to our tracking. An example is you pushed 125 pounds on the sled for 100 ft. (length of turf) 3 months ago, now you push 170 pounds. It bothers me that many of my fellow trainers and coaches train people without setting any specific goals. I acknowledge that some people will improve faster than others, but everyone should be making positive in-roads.
The challenge I had was that I have some members that train once a week, some twice, and others 4 + days a week. How was I going to create a calendar that could be adopted universally? I assign each week an intensity level. There is a gradual ramping up over 2 weeks, peaking week 3, followed by 1 week of moderate/ordinary intensity and then a de-loading week for recovery. That would allow it to be the same for everyone based upon percentages. That is whether someone trains once or four times a week. If they come in once a week, they peak in their 3rd workout. If someone trains 4 days a week or 20 times in a month, they peak in workouts 9 through 12. It’s the same 20 percent ratio for everyone. If they are coming more frequently, they are going to be able to handle the increased training volume. On the other side of the coin, they will also get more recovery time also.
After reviewing heart rate levels and training loads, I am pleased with the improvements people have made in the last month. Having a systematic approach has helped to get our people back to where they belong. That’s a benefit of having a coach, you just have to show up. It’s good to be back.