PHASE 2 - Strength
March 23rd, 2026 - June 14th, 2026

Our First Phase of year we worked on positional strength with lots of tempo work, isometric holds, single leg/arm work, and general capacity building.  While we did have 3x Max Strength Days a week, they were primarily higher repetitions to help with tendon/ligament strength and building that capacity for hard work.  

For Phase Two, we will be focused on developing all things strength.  We are going to take the increased work capacity we have and build the weights we move both on the barbell and in our gymnastics movements.  

Adding ‘weight’ on the barbell is easy enough, you simply add more weight to the bar and use movements that allow for greater loads.  You also reduce the amount of repetitions per set.  If you are doing sets of 20 reps, or doing a set of 3 reps, the 3 rep set can be heavier and will spur greater strength gains.  The 20 reps will spur greater gains in capacity.  We already have great capacity after Phase 1.  We need more strength.  

Adding ‘weight’ in gymnastics is not as straightforward.  For our Gymnastics Day we have been working on pull ups and dips with a focus on isometric holds and some tempo work.  Certainly you can do weighted dips and weighted pull ups, but in general, you want to increase the range of motion or decrease the mechanical advantage of the movement.  Muscle Ups would be an example of increasing the range of motion for both the dips and pull ups.  Handstand Push Ups would be a decrease of mechanical advantage compared to a push up.  The push up requires you to press from chest to arms length roughly 60% of your bodyweight.  The HSPU requires you to push nearly 100% of your bodyweight from top of head to arms length.  The push up actually has a slightly higher range of motion for the arms to press compared to the HSPU, but the load is far greater for the upper body. 

With the added focus on increased strength, we also have our Memorial Day Murph workout coming up… well, on Memorial Day.  Murph is our traditional workout borrowed from Lt. Michael Murphy who died in combat in Afghanistan in 2005.  The workout consists of running 1 mile, performing 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats, and finishing with a mile.  You may divide the pull ups, push ups and air squats however you would like, but the workout must start and finish with a mile run.  A 20lb weighted vest is optional.

This means we will need to work on our running, and will need to make sure our basic bodyweight movements of pull ups, push ups, and air squats are up to snuff so we can perform extremely high repetitions of them.  This creates a little bit of a tension in the program.  As illustrated above, strength is developed by taxing the body with heavy weights and less repetitions.  Running distance and performing high repetitions are just the opposite.  They require lots of reps performed with “lighter” weights.  

With that said, much of what we did with Phase 1 was to build those higher repetitions, and we can craft workouts where it is front loaded with heavy loads and consists of light back down sets to maintain a higher volume of work.  This compromise position will help us both develop our strength and to maintain, if not improve, our ability to perform high repetitions of lighter loads. 

PHASE 2
Week (A)

• MONDAY: Power

  • PRIMARY-

    • Clean and Jerk

  • SECONDARY-

    • Clean Extensions

• TUESDAY: Strength

  • PRIMARY-

    • Back Squat

  • SECONDARY-

    • Shoulder Press

• WEDNESDAY: Gymnastics

  • PRIMARY-

    • Handstands

  • SECONDARY-

    • Pull Ups

• THURSDAY: Strength

  • PRIMARY-

    • Deadlift

  • SECONDARY-

    • Bench Press

• FRIDAY: Strength & Power

  • PRIMARY-

    • Front Squat

  • SECONDARY-

    • Power Snatch

• SATURDAY: Gymnastics

  • PRIMARY-

    • Ring Muscle Ups

  • SECONDARY-

    • Pistols

Week (B)

• MONDAY: Strength

  • PRIMARY-

    • Back Squat

  • SECONDARY-

    • Shoulder Press

• TUESDAY: Gymnastics

  • PRIMARY-

    • Handstands

  • SECONDARY-

    • Pull Ups

• WEDNESDAY: Strength

  • PRIMARY-

    • Deadlift

  • SECONDARY-

    • Bench Press

• THURSDAY: Strength & Power

  • PRIMARY-

    • Front Squat

  • SECONDARY-

    • Power Clean

• FRIDAY: Gymnastics

  • PRIMARY-

    • Ring Muscle Ups

  • SECONDARY-

    • Pistols

• SATURDAY: Power

  • PRIMARY-

    • Snatch

  • SECONDARY-

    • Trap Bar Jumps