Beyond Strength

Two days of heavy lifting are back!

Extensive strength was the last block’s strength training focus. That means training your body to use your strength many times over an extended period. During this block, we’re focusing more on “max strength.” I used quotations because we won’t train maximal efforts in the gym, but the Strength A and Strength B workouts will improve your maximal strength. Why the switch?

The first reason is musculoskeletal health. If we did another block of work capacity training, your body would have likely been totally beaten to sh*t by mid-summer. We all need a break from high-volume training.

The second reason is to improve our overall strength and endurance, we have to focus on getting stronger again. The work capacity equation is relative strength + aerobic capacity + aerobic power. We hammered the aerobic bits last block but only maintained our relative strength. So, now we hammer strength and maintain our aerobic stuffs.

To hammer strength, we are cutting the fluff. That means no assistance training. Heavy strength and power training improve relative strength gains the most. So that’s where we are putting our energy during our Strength A and Strength B training sessions.

For this reason, we’re doing four rounds of power work and at least four rounds of strength work every week. It’s also why the strength RPE is @8 for all weeks. Cutting the fluff and extending the rest periods gives you enough time to recover so that you can put more intensity into your lifts…without beating yourself up. This is also why we are closing each Strength A and Strength B session with movement capacity training.

The C’s during this program are focused on increasing your active joint range of motion – aka movement capacity. We’re doing this to control the amount of intense volume. You’re getting plenty of intensity from the power training during the A’s and the strength training during the B’s. Plus you’ll be doing a high-volume session during Resilience. So, there’s no need to dump more gas on the fire.

We also need to take care of our bodies after three months of hard training. Movement capacity training is the care that our muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints need right now.

#itsbeyondstrength #loudouncounty #loudouncountyva #northernvirginia #igdc #instagood #strengthtraining

We love how @faithpierce fell in love with strength training. We’ll let her tell you how…

“Last spring after getting engaged, I had a moment of really not feeling much like myself. Not in the sense that being engaged made me feel off (that would be a red flag lol), but that after pandemic lockdowns, thrown off routines, and one too many "donut Thursdays" I just didn't feel great in my body. I had gained some weight and didn't feel good even in my own clothes. So I didn't love the idea of wedding dress shopping or walking down the aisle not feeling my best. Sounds a little vain, but it's the truth. Enter strength training and the search for a new routine.

More than the physical aspect of what strength training provides, it has given me such a mental boost. The feeling when finishing a workout that seemed daunting an hour beforehand, hitting a milestone, or doing something I never thought I could do (hello pushups) is a million times better than the initial goal of losing weight. Feeling good about myself isn't just physical - it's mental too. Another perk is the awesome community and feeling part of something. The cherry on top, feeling good wearing my wedding dress in September.”

There ya have it. Faith kicks ass.

#itsbeyondstrength #loudouncounty #loudouncountyva

“A 60:00 row⁉️ Who’s going to do that⁉️”

That’s the response most folks have when they see our Black Level conditioning test…

Well, these folks did. That’s who.

They stepped up and leaned in to the challenge. And they learned a lot about themselves in the process.

Congrats Brad, Jon, and Tiff (pictured left to right) for getting after it.

And an extra big congrats to Jon for absolutely crushing the goal of covering at least 15,000m in the 60:00.

Who’s going to step up on August 2nd?

#itsbeyondstrength #loudouncounty #loudoundcountyva #northernvirginia #igdc #instagood #humanperformance #strengthandconditioning

Friday: Resilience 💪

A handful of you have peaked ahead at this month’s Resilience workout and hit me with some comments like, “Well, that looks like it’s going to suck.”

Trust me. Resilience this time around is not nearly as stressful as the Wednesday and Friday workouts from the previous training block. It ain’t that bad.

We are doing a variation of Dr. Michael Yessis’s 1×20 program. Yes, you’re doing one set of 20 reps with a bunch of different movements—18 to be exact.

This setup maintains some of the extensive strength gains we made during the last training block while also giving us lots of practice with movements that we use throughout our strength programming.

And you get to pump those bis and tris. 😉

#itsbeyondstrength #loudouncounty #loudouncountyva #northernvirginia #igdc #instagood

The main goal of Endurance Class never changes. It is to improve your aerobic capacity. We do, however, rotate the means for achieving the goal. This month we’re doing a lot of movement capacity training, some low-threshold plyometric training, and medicine ball throws.

There’s a single thread that runs through all of the training modalities we chose for Endurance class during this phase – none of them involve a machine! We spent a ton of time on machines during the previous training block, and the entire Vigor workout during this phase is on machines. So, we need a gaht dang break from the machines. We need to train our bodies to continue to move well while also improving our aerobic capacity.

We’ve included movement capacity training in our Endurance to build on the restorative work included in the Strength A and Strength B workouts.

Low-threshold plyos and medicine ball throws get your heart rate up so that you can maintain it in the aerobic capacity training zone, and they maintain the gains you got from doing aerobic plyometrics during the last block.

We’re doing four circuits so that your body moves in a lot of different ways and in different directions. And also to add in some variety. It’s the spice of life, you know.

#itsbeyondstrength #loudouncounty #loudouncountyva #northernvirginia #instagood #igdc #plyometrics #strengthandconditioning

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Greg “Thunderstache” Garber.

May the Thunderstache live forever.

That is all.

#loudouncounty #itsbeyondstrength #loudouncountyva #loudouncountypersonaltraining #humanperformance #mustache #imustacheyouaquestion

Want a round house kick from Ben when he’s wearing this bad boy?

Fuggetaboutit!

100% verifiably true story: the song Kung Fu Fighting by Bus Stop was written to immortalize Ben’s exploits as a third grade freedom fighter in suburban Kalamazoo, Michigan.

#itsbeyondstrength #kungfufighting #loudouncounty

Effort over Excuses.
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We’re all able to create an excuse to not do something, particularly if that something is challenging or uncomfortable.
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We all have days, myself included, where we don’t want to train or we don’t want to show up and do the work we said we would do.
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But your effort needs to be greater than your excuses if you wish to succeed at anything in life.
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Effort moves the needle forward.
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Some days your effort will be greater, other days it will be less, and that’s okay. Even just a little effort is better than none at all and it keeps the needle moving.
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Don’t become the sum total of your excuses.
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Be the sum total of your effort.
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Shout out to my guys @itsbeyondstrength for the great shirt and friendly reminder.
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#Repost @_adamwillis with @make_repost
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Dr. Zinsser coaches us all to stay confident and open with a phrase: let’s see how great I can do this.

“Let’s see” implies that we’re open to whatever happens.

“How great” sets a high bar for us to aim at.

“I can do this” sends us into action.

The statement engrosses us curiously in the process. We do the thing as best we can.

That’s it.

We’re satisfied with ourselves because we confidently threw ourselves into the unknown.

And no matter the outcome, we’re better for it.

#itsbeyondstrength #loudouncounty #loudouncountyva #northernvirginia #igdc #instagood

You know that you want to pass the 2,000m row test or broad jump over 8 feet. That’s great. Aiming with certainty is important because it aligns your actions. But you can’t be certain that you’ll achieve the aim. That’s also great. Why? Because you have an opportunity to confidently plunge yourself into the unknown.

It’s only good, however, if you keep yourself open. What I mean is that you have to be willing to try as hard as you can to achieve your goal while being open to whatever happens on the other side of your effort. You might fall short of your goal. But you also might far exceed your expectations. The only way to know is to focus on the doing and let the outcome be the outcome.

Satisfaction, then, is knowing that you did something. That good, bad, or indifferent you actually put in the effort to f**king find out, and you were open to whatever happened.

#itsbeyondstrength #loudouncounty #loudouncountyva #northernvirginia #igdc #instagood

"I love that training is just me competing against myself."

Brad pushes himself in the gym to make what he does outside the gym easier. Each year he goes to Colorado to hunt elk.

That means steep climbs in rough terrain...with weight on his back.

"Training allows me to see cool spots that I otherwise wouldn't get to see in the mountains of Virginia and Colorado. Treks that used to be daunting are now easy."

But it's not just about hunting and the outdoors. Brad is a real person with a real job.

"Training is also a quick reset from work and life stress."

Brad also loves the environment and what training does for his mindset.

"Literally every member of Beyond Strength is positive and I love to come in to be around positive people that are all trying to make themselves better. And knowing that I am putting in hard work keeps my mindset right while doing difficult things."

While Brad is a strong man, he's not in the gym to just hoist weights. He trains to live a life full of rich experiences.

Brad is Beyond Strength.

#loudouncounty #loudouncountyva #bestofloudoun #itsbeyondstrength

“IS BEYOND STRENGTH LIKE CROSSFIT?”

No. And yes.

High level CrossFit Games athletes don’t even do CrossFit classes. They get assessed, go through testing, and then plan their training with said data. We do too.

BUT, CrossFit has been AMAZING for the fitness industry.

… it got more women interested in weightlifting than anyone could have imagined back in just 2009, which has led to us teetering on having MORE women in the gym than men

… it got people excited about the process of training and reaching milestones in the gym, which kept them excited to keep showing up (and that’s the biggest battle!)

… and it kind of kicked off the boutique fitness movement, getting folks out of the big box gyms and into smaller, community-based environments, albeit with a bit more edge.

So, if you like CrossFit, you’ll love Beyond Strength… but it’s different.

They do random workouts, where we follow a science-backed annual plan that’s broken into four training blocks and testing weeks per year. And the data from those testing weeks drives our decisions as to how we’ll approach your next training block.

They train with high intensity every day, where we use the science of the neural-metabolic continuum to intelligently spread training stressors across the week so you can gain maximum benefit (results) and feel great to boot.

They’re a one-size-fits all program, where we provide a custom-tailored path for YOU.

They utilize some suspect exercise prescriptions that, frankly, should never be performed under high levels of fatigue, where we provide exercise prescriptions that put you in the best position to be successful, always.

They pack boatloads of people in their classes, where we cap classes at 9 people so as to keep the quality of training and coaching high.

So no, this isn’t like CrossFit, but it’s for people who would like CrossFit, but know better. 😉

#itsbeyondstrength