Workout of the Week 84

Welcome to Workout of the Week, number 84. This time we have a three-day-a-week anatomical adaptation with strength maintenance.

So what’s the training goal? Anatomical adaptation. Some people also term it structural strength. And then we want to maintain strength. I’ve outlined that in previous videos. The anatomical adaptation is a very useful thing to do at the beginning of the season. But for some sports, they really need to have high strength levels and maintain these high strength levels. So for them to do two, three, or four weeks of only anatomical adaptation, their deficit in strength or their loss in strength would be too much. Therefore, we combine the anatomical adaptation with the strength maintenance.

So training variables: Anatomical adaptation—we train with 40% to 70% of the one-rep max. And the strength maintenance with 87.5% to 92.5% of the one-rep max. The rep ranges: 12 to 20 for the anatomical adaptation, and 1 to 3 for the strength maintenance. Exertion: medium for the anatomical adaptation; hard for the strength maintenance. The effort is a repeated effort for the anatomical adaptation workouts and a maximum effort for the strength maintenance.

If we look at the exercises, it’s based on fundamental movements. But then also for the anatomical adaptation, we have compound, multi-joint movements, multi-planar—so working in all three planes—combined movements. You’ll see that in a minute once we jump into the workout. And we have bilateral and unilateral movements. And as I said, the strength maintenance: we focus on fundamental movements—so squat, hinge, push, and pull. Very simple. The exercise order: we go from most complex to least complex.

If we look at more training variables, we train three times a week. That’s the training frequency. The organization is a station training but includes some complexes. It’s a full body split.

So how does it look? Here we are, and we’ll jump right into it.

Here we are inside our three-day full body anatomical adaptation with strength maintenance. Download the PDF. You get an overview of the program, the workout. And then you can see here we have Workout One, Two, and Three on non-consecutive days. The first one is the strength maintenance, and then we have the anatomical adaptation in Workouts Two and Three.

So how does it look? Here’s Workout Number One. We do the strength maintenance. I think you can see the complexes here. Yeah, 1A-1B, 2A-2B, 3A-3B. So these exercises are complexed. We work with three sets of three at 85% of the one-rep max. The set, rep, and intensity structure stays the same for all exercises. Yeah, it’s an RPE of 7. And then you can see here you have two minutes of rest after the first exercise and then four minutes of rest after the second exercise. Yeah, so that’s the complex. You do a back squat, two minutes of rest. You do the bench row, four minutes of rest. And then you complete the complex two more rounds.

So then we go to our anatomical adaptation. Here we have combined movements, as I outlined. So we have the muscle snatch and the overhead squat. Yeah, so you do one muscle snatch followed by one overhead squat. Yeah, these are two repetitions. And then you do this four times. Then we combine that with a chin-up to handstand or the typewriter. You can use bands if you need to.

And then we have the next complex: dumbbell forward lunge to dumbbell shoulder press. Yeah, so you have the dumbbells on your shoulders. You lunge forward and you press, and then you go back into the start position. Yeah. And we combine this with a dumbbell RDL to a dumbbell bent-over row. Yeah, so you have the dumbbells in your hands. You bend forward in the RDL movement. You hold that position. You do a row. You complete the row, and you get back into the start position. Yeah, so that combines the RDL and the bent-over row.

And then we have the dumbbell bench press alternating, and we combine that with a medicine ball step-up to rotation. Yeah, you have the medicine ball held in front of you. You step up and you rotate. If you step up with your left leg, you rotate towards the left side. And you can see here the set, rep, intensity structure changes a bit depending on the exercise. And you can also see here, for example in 2A-2B, you can see where the intensity is based off. Yeah, if it’s two combined exercises, it’s based on one of the two. And then we do three sets for all exercises.

And if we go to Workout Number Three, we see a similar structure. So this time we do the muscle clean in combination with the front squat. Here you see it’s not a complex—it’s done as a standalone exercise. And then we have a complex of a dumbbell squat to shoulder press in combination with an inverted row. Yeah, so we combine the squat movement to a vertical push movement, and then we combine it with a horizontal pull for the upper body.

And then we have our dumbbell single-leg RDL to dumbbell forward lunge and return. Yeah, so you have the dumbbells in your hands. You do an RDL on one side. Go back into the start position. Lunge forward and back into the start position. And then we have a push-up to star hold. Also here, set, reps, intensity structure changes depending on the exercise. And three sets of all exercises.

That concludes the workout. So you get the glossary if you download that PDF, where you can read the terms. Then you can read a bit about myself. You can read what athletes and former athletes have to say about me, my former colleagues and mentees. And last but certainly not least, you can sign up for the membership. Inside the membership, you get the four-week periodized program. This was just the first week. Inside the membership, you get the four-week program which has progressions included.

So let’s go back and finish this presentation. What are the next steps?

Number one: you download that PDF.

Then you join the membership, access the four-week periodized program. You like and subscribe. You can grab all previous workouts here. You can watch the previous workout. And if you haven’t already, you can subscribe.