October 9, 2021 – Invictus Athlete Program

*Please see yesterdays post for notes on WZA Qualifier Workouts #3-5*

Primary Training Session
Muscle Activation
Two sets of:
100-Foot Pec-Activated Med-Ball Walks
Rest as needed

Followed by. . .

Skill-Based Movement Primer
Against a 2-minute running clock:
Max Distance Row @ 2000 meter PR Pace

Rest 60 seconds, and then…

Against a 2-minute running clock, complete as many reps as possible of:
6 Hang Squat Cleans (135/95lb.)
6 Bar-Facing Burpees (SPRINT SPEED)

Rest 60 seconds, and then…

Against a 2-minute running clock, complete as many reps as possible of:
Rope Climbs

Rest 3 minutes and repeat the entire 8 minutes again.

*Compare to September 11th. Goal is to beat your previous score!

A.
Five rounds for time of:
5 Burpee Bar Muscle-Ups
5 Hang Squat Cleans (185/125 lbs)
5 Box Jumps (40″/30″)
(no bounding – jump to the top, fully extend your hips, and then place your hands onto the top of the box before your feet hit the ground)

Compare results to August 21, 2021.

Rest exactly 5 minutes, and then…

For time:
4000 Meter Bike Erg or 2000 meter Row
20 Muscle-Ups
800 Meter Run
40 Strict Handstand Push-Ups
120 Drag Rope Double-Unders or 200 Double Unders
60 Toes-to-Bar

Compare results to August 21, 2021.

B.
Every 4 minutes, for 12 minutes (3 sets) for quality:
20 Front-Racked Kettlebell Reverse Lunges (24/16 kg)
60 Second Wall Sit with Front-Racked Kettlebells

Athlete Notes:
Today we’ve got our re-test of a two part workout. If you remember back to 8/21, the first portion of the workout is a mix of gymnastics, moderate-to-heavy barbell, and plyometrics. It is meant to fatigue your legs and elevate your heart rate. The goal on the hang squat cleans should be to do them unbroken, so please pick a challenging weight that allows for that. On the box jumps, please be careful, no one has time for bloody shins.

The purpose of this first portion is because we want you heading into the second workout, more of a “grind-style” workout, already pre-fatigued. We want to see how well you can push through these higher rep gymnastics movements when you’re not coming into them fresh. When you get to the second portion, check back to how you approached this the first time around. What went well for you? What could you have changed or improved upon? The best way to advance in this sport is to learn from both our successes and failures. If you did this workout as prescribed last time, how could you improve your time? If you had to modify in any way, how can you get a step closer to doing it as prescribed? Let us know your wins from this week and your take aways from this cycle!

Here are the notes from last time we hit this workout:

We would hit the 4000 meter bike or 2000 meter row at a pace slightly faster than your 10k bike or 5k row… something that is a little uncomfortable, but allows you to move directly from the monostructural station to the muscle ups. The muscle ups will be a challenge for a lot of you, so please pick a rep scheme that allows you to finish them in 5 or less sets. Up next we have the run. Given that you will already have a high heart rate going into this, we’d suggest trying to complete the 800 meters at close to, or slightly faster than, your 1 mile pace. When you get to the strict handstand push-ups, same rules apply as the muscle ups, try to get them done in 5 or less sets. Our last mono structural movement is the drag rope double-unders, which will be a huge challenge for some of you. With a normal jump rope we never tell anyone to plan to break, as tripping typically happens, which naturally means you’ve got a break built in. The drag rope is a different beast. We don’t want you being too conservative here, but we also don’t want you to crank out 50 in a row on the first set, and then proceed to trip every 5 reps after that. Know yourself and your abilities as an athlete, and chip away at these as best you can. Our last movement is the toes-to-bar, of which we want the same rules to apply as the other gymnastics movements. Since this is the finishing point of the workout and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, try your best to knock through these as quickly as possible, but set a goal to finish them in 5 or less sets!

Optional Additional Work Sessions
*Please choose to perform only those sessions that are most focused on your weaknesses, and only perform as much of the additional work as you can recover from successfully before your next training session.

Strongman Option
A.
Every minute, on the minute, for 6 minutes:
5 Overhead Sandbag Tosses (75/50 lbs)
5 Max Effort Broad Jumps

Broad Jumps: Jump as far as you can and on each jump try to beat the distance from the previous one.

B.
Three sets of:
Close-Grip Bench Press x 5 reps
Immediately followed by. . .
Bench Press x 5 reps
Immediately followed by. . .
Wide-Grip Bench Press x 5 reps
Immediately followed by. . .
100-Foot Hand-Over-Hand Rope Pulls
Rest 2 minutes

Find your max weight for 5 reps of close-grip bench press, followed immediately by 5 reps of bench press, followed immediately by 5 reps of wide-grip bench. If you can still keep going, switch back to regular grip and bang 5 more reps. Just keep going to muscle failure.

C.
Three sets of:
Pallof Press x 10 reps @ 2020
Rest 30-45 seconds
Side Plank x 45 seconds each side
Rest 30-45 seconds
Ab-Wheel Rollouts x 6 reps
(slow and controlled…the slower, the better)
Rest as needed

Running Endurance Option

Every 2 minutes, for 10 minutes (5 sets) for times:
Run 200 Meters @ 100% of your 400m PR pace

Rest until the running clock reaches 12:00, and then…

Every 2 minutes, for 10 minutes (5 sets) for times:
Run 100 Meters @ 100% of your 400m PR pace

Rest until the running clock reaches 24:00, and then…

Every 2 minutes, for 10 minutes (5 sets) for times:
Run 200 Meters @ 100% of your 400m PR pace

Rowing Endurance Option
Every 2 minutes, for 30 minutes (15 sets) for max meters:
30 seconds of Rowing

These should be SPRINT efforts with maximal output. Note your meters for each set, and then sum them for total meters rowed.