Training block overview - Foundation - WK37-42/2025

The Foundations stream allows you to tailor your training to your preferred direction with optional Saturday sessions. You can focus on building your engine, working on your running, improving your weightlifting, getting stronger or just doing more competition workouts. For best results, it’s good to choose one focus on the optional sessions and stick with it for a full training block.

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 style

Running - Follow the optional run/bike sessions to work on your running under fatigue/interference

Competition/Sport bias - Follow optional competition workout sessions

- 4 main training sessions (60 to 75 minutes) + an optional session, another optional conditioning (aerobic base) OR active recovery day and a full rest day (on Sundays)

- three (3) main conditioning sessions (sport-specific Interval session, Mikko Triangle progression session and a weekly competition workout)

- Weekly skill work

- Weightlifting and strength work spread across four (4) training sessions.

- Optional session

You can choose your focus for these 6 weeks by selecting different optional conditioning sessions. Outside of the main progressions, you can work on your aerobic base or do more competition workouts.

- The run-bike-run sessions build towards a 1600m Run - 4000m Bike - 1600m Run test on the final week. The idea is to practice and develop your ability to run even splits, even with the bike in-between. Interval durations progress over the weeks.

- The weekly sports-specific intervals start as 0:30/0:15, 0:40/0:20 and 1:00/0:30 micro-intervals before switching to longer ones in the second half of the block. As always these sessions are intended to be executed at high intensity and should be challenging but repeatable.

- The longer conditioning progression builds around testing the Mikko Triangle (EMOM 40 for cals, 1) row, 2) ski, 3) air bike, 4) rest) on the final week. We’ll explore variations around this theme instead of just working in the EMOM format.

- The weekly competition workouts offer an opportunity to practice pushing yourself, develop your movement capacity under fatigue, and refine your pacing under intensity.

- Aerobic base session of longer duration, lower to moderate intensity that improves mitochondrial density and capillarization, which indirectly supports lactate clearance. This is available as an optional session on Wednesday and/or Saturday.

It’s important to note that each of these sessions should be done at prescribed intensities to stimulate the intended adaptations properly.

Learning and practising “Intensity control” (matching intensity/pace to session intent) is a key skill that will elevate the level of your training beyond merely “doing workouts.” It will allow you to make the most out of each session and ensure sufficient recovery from your training to continue to put in high-quality work.

The focus is on building the base with emphasis on specific work capacity and solid form on moderate weights. There will be few opportunities to lift heavier (especially on the snatch) but what we want is consistency.

Here are the progressions (from Wk1-Wk6) for the lifts:

- Alternating weeks of clusters (sets with short rests between the lifts) and “snakes-and-ladders” (building up each lift but going down every miss).

- Alternating weeks of 3-position CnJ and clusters (like with the snatch).

- Block power snatch + block snatch variations for technical development.

- Hang power clean progression for work capacity and sport-specific transfer.

- Front squat 6-4-2s and 5-3-1 w/ back-off sets, building to 2s and 3s in wk5 before testing 2-3RM in the final week.

The progressions in this block are focused on “general strength” in the 3-6 rep range for the main lifts, building towards 3-5RM lifts in the final week on push press, front squat, strict dip and chin up.

Most of the work should be “moderately hard”, challenging without missing lifts or needing to psyche yourself up excessively just to make it through.

Here are the progressions (from Wk1-Wk6) for main lifts in different movement patterns:

- Back squat top sets of H5, followed back-off sets and classic 5x5 progression (based on H5) on alternating weeks.

- Deadlifts alternate between higher rep romanian deadlifts and regular deadlift top set of H3/2 w/ back-off sets.

- Push press - building to 3RM in the final week, working in the 3-5 rep range in the main progression.

- Strict dip - building to 3-5RM in the final week. Building from 6-8 range to heavier / lower reps as the training block progresses. Row variations as assistance for upper back strength.

- Accessory circuits focused on postural strength (holds and carries) and shoulder health.

Deload and testing in Week 6 - scaling back volume across lifts and accessories to consolidate adaptations and to test the lifts from main progressions.

- Front squat 6-4-2s and 5-3-1 w/ back-off sets, building to 2s and 3s in wk5 before testing 2-3RM in the final week.

- Additional posterior chain work - Bulgarian split squats, box steps ups and a hip thrust progression.

- Accessory circuits to bulletproof joints and build support muscles

We’ll continue with barbell cycling and gymnastics capacity work, building from the previous training block.

With 60 to 75-minutes to train each day on Foundations, you’ll want to practise how to make the most out of every session. Developing efficient, repeatable routines at (and outside) the gym will help you establish good training habits that will carry you for a long time to come.

Make sure you review the session before you head to the gym (so you bring all the right gear with you). Follow the warm-ups on the programming or make up your own. Take at least 10-minutes to prep your body for the training. Do your best to be present in every part of training by approaching each session with the specific intent of becoming better in at least one movement/effort. (e.g. “Today I will focus on keeping the bar close on the snatch” or “Today I will push myself to keep the pace when the intervals get hard”).

Do a short cool-down at the end of each session, and note your results, what went well, and what you will improve on next time (and how you will specifically do this?).

For each conditioning piece, it’s important that you hit the intended intensity. If you go too hard on the 1st interval in a session, your intensity will drop too much later in the session. If you go too easy, your output and heart rate won’t get high enough to stimulate the intended adaptations.

For strength and skill work, we are looking to simply put in quality work from one session to the next. Aim to build each week from the last one, whether by increasing the reps or weights (depending on the progression). Focus on accumulating excellent repetitions to lay a solid technical foundation for future training.

Focus on establishing good daily habits that are sustainable for you. Make sure you’re getting in 3 good real food meals daily, then build any snacks and pre/peri/post-training nutrition choices around them.

To train hard, recover and make progress, you must ensure you’re eating enough. A good sign that you could eat more to fuel your training is that you often feel hungry. If you’re not sure where to start, a few rough reference points for daily intake (if you’re into macros) could be:

Protein - 2.2g per kg (1 gram per lb) BW

Fat - 25-30% of daily calories or 1g per kg (1g per lb) BW

Carbs - Remaining calories or 4+g per kg (1.8+g per lb) BW

Calories - 22 x BW (body weight) in kg (or 10 x BW in lbs) x (1.3 to 1.8 as “activity multiplier”)

Remember that if you don’t eat enough, you won’t recover and get the results you want.

The most important thing for your recovery will be to get enough (7.5-9 hours) sleep regularly. Your training (and results) will be better if you get more sleep. Aim to be in bed by 11 pm at the latest, and sleep in a cool, dark, and quiet room. If you can, get out for a short (10-minute) walk soon after sunrise (before 10 am is fine) and again around sunset. This will help set your circadian rhythm, making it easier to go to bed early.

All other recovery modalities will take a backseat to this. Implementing a 10- to 30-minute daily mobility routine, split between morning, training, and evening, will also likely pay off, both in the short and long term.