The Foundations stream allows you to bias your training in the direction of your choice with the Saturdays optional sessions. You could (for example) focus on building your engine, getting stronger or developing your gymnastics. For best results, it’s good to choose one “category” of optional sessions and stick with it for a full 4-weeks.

Weightlifting bias - Follow optional WL sessions

Strength bias - Follow optional STR sessions

Strong(wo)man bias - Follow the optional Strong(wo)man sessions

Conditioning bias - You can mix different optional conditioning sessions from week to week OR focus on single session style

Skill bias - Follow optional skill sessions

Competition/Sport bias - Follow optional competition workout sessions OR mix them with optional skill sessions on alternating weeks (for example)

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

Monday

Snatch primer focus on transition under the bar and complexes focused on improving the positions and pull off the floor. Heavier back squats followed by higher rep back off sets, overhead pressing and strict pull ups/chin ups.

Tuesday

Higher rep deadlift (or sumo deadlift). Longer, mixed-modality high-intensity intervals.

Wednesday

Active recovery / Rest day

Thursday

Snatch balance + OHS to work speed under the bar and the receiving position. Clean and jerk complex with emphasis on front squats.

Skill work and strength accessory circuit.

Friday

Skill work and competition workout. Push yourself here!

Saturday

Optional sessions. These sessions are your opportunity to bias/target your training to your specific needs. If you have time and can recover from it, you might even do two sessions of different optional work on Saturdays.

You can find details about each option below.

Sunday

Rest day

Competition workout

Another competition workout for the week. These ones tend to have more complex movements / heavier weights than the main session of the week.

Skill

Long skill/base conditioning session with emphasis on basic gymnastics and barbell cycling. Focus on accumulating excellent repetitions and staying disciplined with the lower intensity between movements.

Gymnastics

Opportunity to work on gymnastics strength, range of motion and skills to develop your foundations for sports-specific gymnastics.

Conditioning (Aero)

Easier, lower intensity conditioning with few options to build your aerobic base. If possible, do the long run here on at least some of the weeks to be ready for run based intervals in higher intensity conditioning sessions in the next 4-week block.

Conditioning (Short intervals)

Monostructural high-intensity intervals that will push you and develop your capacity to sustain higher outputs in workouts.

Weightlifting

Alternating weeks: 1) Snatch from blocks to develop speed/force production and snatch push press + OHS complex to strengthen snatch grip overhead and snatch receiving positions. 2) Jerk drills to improve the dip/drive mechanics and BTN split jerks to build confidence and to work on the bar path.

Each main part is followed by Power cleans/snatches to develop speed/force production for the main lifts, as well as, front squats together with strict dips

Strength

You can choose to bias upper or lower body strength here (by choosing the lift in part A). The rest of the session complements the other strength training of the week with strict dips, DB rows, stiff-legged deadlifts and lunges.

Strongman

Work on your strength with odd object/strong(wo)man movements. You’ll explore various carries and odd lifts. Some sessions will require specialist equipment. There is also a strength-focused conditioning piece at the end of each session.

With 60 to 75-minutes to train each day on Foundations, you’ll want to practice 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 end of each session, take a note of your results, what went well and what will you improve on next time (and how will you specifically do this?).

For strength and skill sessions, 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 each day, then build any snacks and pre/peri/post-training nutrition choices around them.

To train hard, recover and make progress, you need to make sure 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 can sleep more. Aim to be in bed before 11pm latest, and sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room. If you can, get out for a short (10-minute) walk soon after sunrise (before 10am is fine) and again around sunset. This will help set your circadian rhythm so it’ll be easier to go to bed early.

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