- 5-10 minutes of low intensity cardio (walking, light cycling, etc.).
- 2-3 dynamic exercises that apply to the specific muscles being worked that day (leg swings, banded facepulls, cat/cow, 90/90 hip mobility)
- Optional: using a roller on stiff/tight muscles
- Please avoid static stretching unless necessary
Your Program Information
Warmups
Warmup sets vs working sets
- The first two exercises will have 2-3 warm up sets (RIR 5-8)
- The 3rd and 4th exercises can have 1 warm up set
- Working sets will be completed with the RIR stated in the program- those sets should be challenging
Cardio Notes
We will not assign cardio for everyone because each person will have unique needs and secondary goals on top of progressing with strength. We are happy to discuss your individual cardio needs and make recommendations. If you enjoy cardio that you are already doing, please continue with our blessing. The only scenario where cardio could conflict if you were doing such a high volume, it was creating interference with your strength progress and recovery. But again, this would mean you are doing a fairly extreme amount. If you have questions, please ask and it will make for excellent group discussion in the Facebook group.
How to decide what weights to use
RIR- repetitions in reserve
In this program you will be choosing weights for each exercise in regard to the difficulty and the amount of reps. There is a set range of repetitions that are to be completed for each exercise. The weight used will be determined by how many repetitions you can complete with a certain number of repetitions in reserve (RIR). This means if you complete 10 repetitions and the goal is to get to an RIR of 2 or 3, it will be of the difficulty that you could have completed no more than 2 or 3 additional repetitions before failure.
Everyone will choose their own weight based on their best guess on how much weight you can use for each exercise, for the assigned reps in reserve.
We are also focusing on strict form failure, not failure if you did a few cheat, shallow range of motion, or messy reps. We want to keep you safe, so focus on doing the number of reps in reserve with good form. Constantly smashing against failure produces more fatigue and injury risk than it gives us training benefit. If you recover better, you can train harder and get even better results.
You do not have to be perfect here, just do your best estimate of the right weight. We are here to help so please ask in the Facebook group, you won’t be the only person with the same questions, so share and support each other through this. If you haven’t worked out in a while, please ease in with your early weights and allow yourself to progress through the weeks of the program. The goal isn’t to use the heaviest weight possible in week 1 or 2. Instead we want to build in room to progress and try not to crush yourself with soreness in week 1.
Nutrition Notes
Our primary focus with this program is to develop strength, accountability, and support for consistent workouts. Nutrition while technically beyond the scope of our plan, is something we’re happy to engage with and support within our scope(neither of us are Registered Dieticians). We are going to direct you to pose questions within the Facebook group, so we can foster group discussions that everyone can benefit from.
Meanwhile it’s worth mentioning a few basics:
- Most people will benefit from eating more lean protein
- Try to include a source of protein with every meal
- The goal is to approach or reach 1 gram of protein, per lean pound of your body mass, per day (we get here by subtracting an approximate body fat percentage)
- Often working out automatically encourages better nutrition, but when it does not, then ask questions
- Try to identify where your trouble spots are. Are you a snacker? Is there too much convenient high calorie food in the house? Are you prone to bored eating? Do things fall apart on weekends? Do you find you automatically eat snacks when watching TV? Have you had a history of yo-yo dieting?
- Some of this gets complex and we would always recommend talking to a qualified professional, especially when entering disordered eating behaviour.
- We feel there is no one size fits all approach. Some of you will thrive on focusing on small habits, some will like macro and calorie tracking, and some do well with mindfulness practice. We definitely don’t endorse one dietary ideology and we approach popular diets with extreme caution.
Our Recommendations
Water Intake
0.5 – 1 oz / 1lbs body mass
Protein Intake
1 gram / 1lbs lean mass
Vegetables
1 – 2 cups per meal
Appendix A – Definitions
Reps: repetitions of each exercise (See sets for example).
Sets: rounds of each exercise. Ex. 10 reps for 4 sets means you will complete 10 repetitions of the exercise and complete that 4 rounds for a total of 40 repetitions.
RIR: Repetitions in reserved. The number of reps you could have completed after a set is done. (Ex. 10 reps were done and you could have done 4 more= 4 RIR)
RPE: Rate of perceived Exertion. Rated on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the maximal effort where no more could have been preformed, 9 meaning there could have been 1 more preformed, 8 where 2 more reps could have been performed etc.,)
Actual RPE: Your perceived exertion after completing the last working set.
Actual RIR: the repetitions in reserve that you estimate after completing a set.
Progressive overload: gradually increasing the number of sets, reps, or weight lifted over time (for our purposes: to increase strength).
BB: Barbell
DB: Dumbbell
OH: Overhead
Warmup: the exercises completed before the workout to increase body temperature and blood flow. To get the body ready for exercise.
AMRAP: As many reps as possible