We are moving onto our second 6-week pre-season training block.

You have already put in a solid amount of work for the coming season:

Strength-wise, we’ve built up to heavy fours (4s) on the strict press and chin-up, triple (3) on the deadlift, doubles (2s) on the front squat (optional) and the snatch.

Conditioning-wise, We’ve worked in a sport-specific context with “high lactate intervals” (VO2max) and 4-6min VO2max intervals and competition workouts.

In the optional sessions, the focus has been on building your bike capacity as a foundation for general and leg endurance. We’ve explored Bossi intervals (VO2max), Wingate (anaerobic capacity), over/unders (lactate threshold), and FTP intervals (threshold), as well as built aerobic volume in the base training session.

Skills-wise, we’ve worked on barbell cycling and muscle ups (strict and kipping) and kept touches on many other movements.

Now that we are six (6) weeks into our pre-season training, check in with yourself: “What progress have you made in the past six (6) weeks? " and “What opportunities do you have ahead of you now?”

We’ll continue to build on the same themes over this pre-season block to put you in a strong position to have a successful season in 2025 (whatever you decide to do).

The information below also covers Saturday’s optional training sessions.

We will continue to focus on increasing our consistency with heavy weights, 80-90%. This will help you raise your bottom level. Being consistent with numbers close to your 1RM often gets overlooked, but it’s very important in our sport. This will help you when there is a heavy barbell in a workout, a snatch or c&j complex or when you have to lift heavy under fatigue.

What is the number you can ALWAYS hit? Let’s increase it!

We’ll do 4-weeks of snatch high pull + snatch on Mondays, building up across the weeks. The emphasis here is finishing the pull and being aggressive in pulling yourself under the bar. We’ll build to a heavy single on week 5, before deload on the final week.

Thursdays are steady percentage clean and jerk complexes (1-2 of each / set), this time progressing in intensity (%s) through the block.

In this training block, we’ll work on 3-5 rep range for your back squat, strict press, chin up and deadlift, build to a heavy triple (H3) back squat (WK6), and heavy single (1RM) on strict press and chin-up.

All progressions (main and accessory) fall into two (2) categories: 1) Linear ( = you’ll aim to do more reps OR heavier weights each week), 2) RIR-based top set + back-off sets/reps.

Make sure you’re pushing yourself (so you make progress) while still staying with the RIR guidelines (they’re part of the progression).

In the main sessions, we have a weekly competition workout and a mixed interval session. These intervals will be a blend of sports-specific movements and monostructural work. Our main focus on these is building your aerobic capacity. Some nice variations here:

Skill work continues on a similar path to the last block. We’ll primarily focus on building your capacity in the most common competition movements.

We’ll have 3-5 elements each week: 1) Barbell cycling, 2) Gymnastics capacity, 3) Movement micro-doses ( = making sure we keep exposure to movements that otherwise might not have shown up in training within the week), 4) AMRAP 2s (from test week) repeats (not every week).

We’ll keep some elements in 2-3 week focus blocks before rotating movements to give you time to make progress in those.

If you want to continue building your work capacity (especially on the bike), have a hard time recovering between sessions/intervals/workouts, or just feel like your conditioning is holding you back, then now is a good time to focus on improving.

You’ll have two (2) Bike sessions a week to choose from (pick based on your testing results) to build up your MAP5 (VO2max) or FTP20 (threshold) capacity.

We’ll use BikeErg as our main tool to build up your conditioning and leg endurance (you can replace it with an air bike IF you don’t have a BikeErg available). If you don’t have a BikeErg or want to prioritise a different machine, you can do any of these sessions on SkiErg, Rower or Air bike.

We have some more intervals to explore in this block (upcoming ones highlighted):

MAP5 Bike intervals - Focused on improving your 5-minute power (or really your 4-8 minute output, both on and off the bike, as well as your aerobic capacity). We’ll have different interval structures such as:

FTP20 Bike intervals - Focused on improving your 20-minute power (or really your threshold capacity on and off the bike).

Both bike intervals use the Bike power profile results for individualised interval targets. Of course, there is also guidance for how to approach the sessions if you didn’t do the testing.

Mixed intervals (main sessions) - These will blend sports-specific movements and monostructural work. Our main focus on these is building your aerobic capacity. Some nice variations here:

There is also a weekly (more challenging) competition workout or an aerobic base session to choose from.

If weightlifting is holding you back and you struggle with heavier weights in workouts then it’s time to build your lifts up.

This block will focus on:

Strength work will build towards heavy 4 (H4) and double (H2). We’ll start the block with 3-weeks of 1 ¼ front squats to strengthen your positions and drive from the bottom. There is a weekly circuit with single-leg work to keep you balanced.

If weights feel heavy in workouts or you know you need to get your base strength levels up for the season then this is the choice for you.

The main focus is on a front squat progression leading to heavy 4 (H4) and double (H2).

For upper body push/pull, we’ll explore two (2) different KB overhead pressing and chest-supported row variations. The session wraps up with a lower body accessory circuit (like the weightlifting session) and (from week 3), optional bodybuilding.

If you enjoy or need to work more on competition/sport-specific workouts, these optional sessions will be a good choice for you. These will be the same sessions as our competitor, and advanced competitor plans will be doing, so be prepared for high-skill and heavier weights (but as always, with movement options to ensure you get the right stimulus).

For best results, choose one “category” of optional sessions and stick with it for the full six (6) weeks.

Weightlifting bias - Follow optional WL sessions

Strength bias - Follow optional STR sessions

Conditioning bias - You can mix different optional conditioning sessions from week to week OR focus on a single session progression. You can choose to bias your conditioning more by adding the aerobic base session on Wednesdays and then choosing a different conditioning piece on Saturdays (for example).

Competition/Sport bias - Follow optional competition workout sessions

If you have the time and can recover, you could do two separate sessions on Saturdays (aim for 3+ hours of rest between sessions in this case).