SESSION NOTES: Squat Strength and Stamina (967)
Every three minutes for five rounds: 30s max unbroken front rack lunges at 75%. Target is >10 reps.
Programming Science:
This session trains lower body strength and stamina with moderate weights for moderate repetitions.
The short set length means that the rest between reps is minimised, ensuring that the muscles remain under tension for the entire 30 seconds.
The time between sets is enough for 90% recovery, though each set should be slightly more difficult than the set before.
This session isn’t the most effective method of getting strong, nor is it the best way to build localised muscular stamina, however, it is highly effective at achieving a mix of both in one session as a form of concurrent training. Percentages are programmed rather than weights to ensure the correct stimulus, that both muscle stamina and muscle strength are trained equally.
The load and rep scheme in this session is effective to increase cross-sectional area in the muscles (increasing muscle size, which also increases strength).
Health and Body Composition Benefits:
Resistance training (using your muscles to lift heavy weights, either external weights or yourself) makes you stronger. Strength is one of the greatest predictors of both your lifespan (how long you live) and your healthspan (how long you live in a healthy state).
Resistance training like this will also improve your flexibility (by going through a full range of motion), posture and coordination. It will also build stability around your joints and spine to give you a healthy musculo-skeletal system and reduce joint and back pain.
The session will minimise losses in bone mineral density and will improve your balance. Strength and balance are the two strongest predictors of falls later in life, so this is an effective way to train fall prevention, and insure your independence into old age.
As a result of this style of session, you will experience changes in blood chemistry, including favourable effects on cholesterol, blood glucose, triglyceride and lipid levels.
This session increases your lean muscle mass and muscle fibre size. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, so increasing it will maximise how much energy your body burns at rest. This makes it an effective session to reach healthy levels of body fat, both visceral fat (around the organs) and subcutaneous fat (under your skin). After this session, your body will go through a prolonged state of ‘EPOC’ (excess post- exercise oxygen consumption), meaning you’ll continue burning energy long after you finish training – further aiding healthy body composition.
Performance Benefits:
The heavy levels of resistance in this session, and the time under tension, is designed to increase your strength – increasing both your one rep max, and your ability to lift submaximal weights. By being stronger, you can lift more weight, and you will be able to lift submaximal weights faster and for higher reps because they’ll be at a lower percentage of your max.
As strength is an element of power, getting stronger will also improve your ability to move faster – beneficial for more power-based, explosive movements (like Olympic lifting).
This session will also improve the efficiency of your fast-twitch muscle fibres (those responsible for lifting heavy and fast), and will improve your neuromuscular efficiency (your ability to turn on a very high percentage of your muscle fibres).
The moderate reps and loads will also help to increase muscle size, and to train fatigue resistance.
Strategy:
The aim in this session is to move as fast as possible in every set, not resting at all between repetitions.
How it Should Feel:
Each set in this session should be completed at a max effort. The weight should be just light enough, and the work interval just short enough that you can maintain speed throughout the 30 seconds.
The weight should feel heavy but top should should feel maintainable. The second half of each set will feel difficult but speed should not drop.
Scaling Guidelines:
The preference with scaling for this is to keep the range of motion and reduce weight. Modify around injuries with exercises as close as possible to the stimulus of the movement you’re modifying.
Common Mistakes:
The most common mistake in this session is not attacking with 100% speed. Aim to match or exceed 10 repetitions each set.
