Workout of the Week #41

Welcome to Workout of the Week, number 41. Now we have a five-day-a-week “Surf Up the Curve” workout.

What is Surf Up the Curve? In Workout of the Week number 19, we had a “Serve the Curve.” In Workout of the Week 31, we had a “Surf Down the Curve.” Now we’re surfing up the curve. Essentially, we are targeting all areas of the force-velocity curve.

The training goal is to maximize power by targeting all areas of the force-velocity curve.

The training variables: 0 to 97.5% of the one-rep max. Yeah, that’s a large range, I know. But then if we look at our curve and the different areas of the curve, we have our plyometric effort at 0 to 5% of the one-rep max, the ballistic effort at 10 to 30% of the one-rep max, our dynamic effort at 60 to 70% of the one-rep max, and maximum effort at 92.5 to 97.5% of the one-rep max.

The repetition ranges: for plyometric and ballistic, 4 to 6; for the dynamic effort, 3 to 4; and for the maximum effort, singles—one repetition.

The exertion: light exertion for the plyometric effort and the ballistic effort, medium exertion for the dynamic effort, and near maximum exertion for the maximum effort.

So, effort. We’ve explained effort. If we look at the curve, we see the maximum effort, dynamic effort, ballistic effort, and plyometric effort. Again, here we have the efforts.

Let’s have a look at the exercises. It’s based on fundamental movements: hinging, squatting, pushing, and pulling.

The exercise order: Last time we looked at surfing down the curve, so we did maximum effort, dynamic effort, ballistic effort, plyometric effort. But now we take our curve and flip it around, and then we do plyometric effort first, ballistic effort second, dynamic effort third, and the maximum effort last. So essentially, we are surfing up the curve. Here we have it again: 1, 2, 3, and 4. So the first exercise will be a plyometric effort, second exercise a ballistic effort, third exercise a dynamic effort, and fourth exercise a maximum effort.

More training variables: The training frequency is five days a week, and it’s a station training. The training split is a movement split, so we do a hinge, we do a squat, we do a push, we do a pull, and Workout Number Five is going to be a single-leg squat variation.

So how does it look? Here’s our workout. We’ll jump right into it.

Here we are. You have downloaded this program, hopefully—this workout PDF. You see an overview, and you can see here we train five days a week. One day is dedicated to the hinge pattern, one day to the squat pattern, one day to the push pattern, one day to the pull pattern, and one day to the single-leg squat pattern.

Let’s have a look at Workout Number One, the hinge pattern. Again, you see on the left side the exercise order: 1, 2, 3, and 4. So we start with our medicine ball scoop, which is the plyometric effort. We go to the kettlebell swings, which is the ballistic effort. Then we do the deadlift band-resisted, and then we do the regular deadlift.

For our reps, sets, and intensities, here we have three sets of four at 2% of the one-rep max for the plyometric effort, three sets of four at 20% for the ballistic effort, three sets of three at 60% for the dynamic effort, and three sets of three at 85% for the maximum effort. You can see here also, it’s a station training. Station training means you finish all your sets at a given exercise before you move to the next exercise. So the inter-set rest is four minutes after the completion of each set.

If we go to Workout Number Two, the push pattern, we see our power drop for the plyometric effort, the bench throw for the ballistic effort, the bench press band-resisted for the dynamic effort, and the regular bench press for the maximum effort. Again, we see our same set, rep, and intensity structure as in Workout Number One: three sets of four at 2%, three sets of four at 20%, three sets of three at 60%, and three sets of three at 85%.

Let’s move to Workout Number Three, where we look at the squat pattern. The plyometric effort: countermovement box jump. The ballistic effort: jump squats with a barbell. The dynamic effort: we do box squats. The maximum effort: we do back squats. Here we see again our set, rep, intensity scheme as in the previous workouts.

We go to Workout Number Four. So I guess you get the gist by now. Number one: plyometric effort. Number two: ballistic effort. Number three: dynamic effort. Number four: maximum effort.

For the pulling pattern, that’s a medicine ball slam, that’s a clapping pull-up (you’d do it most likely with bands), then you have the pull-ups band-resisted, and then you do the regular pull-ups. You could also look at the horizontal pull pattern—that would be then targeted around a rowing variation anyway.

We go to our last workout, the single-leg squat pattern. Here we have single-leg countermovement box jumps for the plyometric effort, dumbbell Bulgarian split squat jumps for the ballistic effort, the Bulgarian split squat band-resisted for the dynamic effort, and the Bulgarian split squat for the maximum effort.

When you download that PDF, you get the glossary explaining the terms, you can read about myself, you can read what other people have to say about me from my athletes, from former colleagues of mine, and last but certainly not least, you get a chance to join the membership. Inside the membership, you get the full four-week periodized program.

So let’s move back and finish that presentation. What are the next steps?

You download that PDF. You join the membership. What’s the membership? I just outlined it. In the membership, you get the full four-week periodized program. Considering we are at Workout of the Week 41, you get another 40 four-week programs—so 160 weeks of training.

And you like and subscribe. You can grab all the workouts here. You can watch the previous workout, and you can subscribe if you haven’t already.

I’ll see you next week with the next Workout of the Week.