July 24, 2021 – Invictus Athlete Program

Primary Training Session
Mobility, Activation & Warm-Up
Banded Scarecrow x 2-3 minutes depending on how tight you feel

Two sets of:
Rotational Med Ball Throws x 10 reps (right side)
Rotational Med Ball Throws x 10 reps (left side)
Rotational Kneeling Med Ball Throws x 10 reps (right side; 2:41 in video)
Rotational Kneeling Med Ball Throws x 10 reps (left side)
Max Overhead Med Ball Throws with heavy Med Ball x 5 reps (work to get as extended as possible)
Rest as needed

Movement Primer
Every 3 minutes, for 6 minutes (2 sets):
Single Leg Depth Drops x 5 reps each leg
*box set up below knee height

Followed by…

Every 3 minutes, for 6 minutes (2 sets):
Depth Drop into Split Stance x 5 reps each leg

A.
Every 2 minutes, for 20 minutes (10 sets):
Clean + Front Squat + Jerk

Build to approximately 90% of your 1-RM Clean & Jerk.

B.
For time:
1-Mile Run
150-Foot Handstand Walk
10 Squat Cleans (205/135 lbs)

Rest until the running clock reaches 15:00, and then…

Two rounds for time of:
500 Meter Row or Ski-Erg
100-Foot Handstand Walk
15 Shoulder to Overhead (155/105 lbs)

Rest until the running clock reaches 30:00, and then…

Three rounds for time of:
15/10 Calorie Assault Bike
50-Foot Handstand Walk
20 Ground to Overhead (75/55 lbs)

Handstand Walk alternatives:

For every 25-Foot of Handstand Walk, perform 15 nose-to-wall, back-to-wall, freestanding shoulder taps or 5 Wall Walks.

C.
Four rounds for quality of:
10 Double Kettlebell Front Squats (32/24 kg)
15 GHD Sit-Ups
100-Foot Sandbag Bearhug Carry (150/100 lbs)

Athlete Notes:
Today’s workout has it all. Monostructural, gymnastics, AND barbell. For the first portion, we want you to hit that mile hard, but not so fast that you’re gasping for air before you try to kick up into a handstand walk. A good pace would be slightly faster than your 4-5k pace. The goal should be to come in from the run and immediately begin the handstand walk. That said, we’d recommend throttling back just slightly for the last couple hundred meters of the run, in order to allow yourself to do so. When you get to the moderately heavy squat cleans, we want to see how quickly you can put your hands back on the barbell, or maybe you even try to touch and go a few knowing this is the final movement before you get a little bit of rest. Modifications for this first portion should be as follows… limit the run to 8 minutes so that you have some time to do the other work as well as get some rest before starting the next portion. For the barbell we recommend this be no more than around 60-70% of your squat clean to ensure that you are able to put your hands right back on as soon as it hits the floor, and it doesn’t become a staring contest with the barbell.

When you get to the second portion, we are switching things up a bit by rowing and doing shoulder to overhead with a lighter weight. For your rowing pace we would recommend something close to around what your 2k pace would be, or slightly faster. Again, we don’t want to go so fast that it takes us 20 seconds to kick up into a handstand walk, but we also don’t want to dog the row too much and lose precious time. When you get to the shoulder to overhead, your arms will definitely be a little blown up, but we want this to be a weight that you can cycle for all 15 reps in a row. Not saying that will happen for everyone, but that’s what we’re looking for here! If you look back to Monday’s workout, we talked about two strategies for this, push press, and power jerk. Since the reps are much lower, some of you may elect for the faster push press, just know that your legs are much stronger than your arms, so don’t be afraid to revert back to a power jerk if your shoulders start to go!

The final portion of this workout should almost be somewhat of a “sprint”. We want you to hit the assault bike hard, 15/10 calories should take no more than 45 seconds. Kick straight up into the handstand walk and work on your speed here! It’s only 50 feet at this point. When you get to this barbell we are testing a skill that we have seen come up somewhat often over the past few years. Cycling a “Randy” weight barbell. Snatches will be the fastest technique here, but some of you may elect to go with the clean and jerk. Whichever you choose, move that barbell like your life depended on it and see how fast you can rip around 75/55 pounds… while still adhering to movement standards of course!

Optional Additional Work Sessions
*Please choose to perform only those sessions that are most focused on your weaknesses, and only perform as much of the additional work as you can recover from successfully before your next training session.

Strongman Option
A.
Two sets for max reps of:
60 seconds of Stiff Leg Deadlift @ 25% of 1-RM Deadlift
Rest 60 seconds

B.
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 8 minutes of:
5 Sandbag Squats
50-Foot Walking Lunge
(Bearhug hold for both)

C.
Three sets of:
100-Foot Yoke Carry (Max Weight)
Immediately followed by. . .
20/15 Calories of Assault Bike
Immediately followed by. . .
Sandbag Carry (Max Distance)
(Grab a heavy sandbag (hopefully 50% of your deadlift) and carry it (in a bear hug) for a max distance. We are shooting/hoping for at least 100-Foot. You drop it, you’re done.)
Rest 3 minutes

Running Endurance Option
Every 4 minutes, for 40 minutes (10 sets) for times:
Run 200 Meters
Jog 100 Meters
Run 100 Meters

Match your pace from last week for the 200 meters (at least 5 seconds faster than your 400m splits for your 1600 meter PR), then jog 100 and pick it up again to give a good full effort sprint to the final 100 meters.

Rowing Endurance Option

Ten sets for max meters of:
60 seconds of Rowing
Rest 2 minutes

We will be re-testing your 500 meter row next week, so I would like for you to use the first few sets this week to try to lock in your desired pacing for that effort. If you feel good, hold that pace as long as possible over the course of these ten sets.