Ladders

    We all love a good old 5x5 lift setup. We realize it is a great way to build strength and strength endurance. It can be applied to almost any exercise too. But it does have it's shortcomings. What about when you cannot perform 5 clean reps with a given weight or movement? Should you just give up and reduce weight or return to progressions? Of course not! So you find you can press a heavy KB of a given weight and you want to get better at it, lifting a lighter one can help, but it won't have the same muscle memory effect that lifting that heavy KB will. Another example might be that you have finally gotten your muscle up and it's looking pretty cleantoo, you just can't do 5 full reps, 5 times yet. Of course you want to keep working your MU, it's one of those movements that you get alot better at just by doing the darn things after all. So a 5x5 won't work. Of course you can do a 2x5, a 3x5, or even a 4x5 if you wish and that is all well and good. But there is another option. Behold the Ladder concept. it is very simple, and allows you to preserve as much of your strength as possible throughout the ladder. It allows you to practice explosiveness and repetition all at the same time. Basically a ladder works like this, you perform 1 rep, then a short rest, then you perform 2 reps, then a short rest, then you perform 3 reps, and so on and so forth until you reach your goal number of reps. Upon reaching that goal you have completed that rung of the ladder, you then start back at 1 rep and work your way back up to your set number on the second rung, and the third, and so on until you have reached your goal number of rungs. Ladders are simple, and can be very boring and time consuming. But they build strength. Period. So if entertainment is what you want, go watch amovie or something. If you want strength, button down and do some ladders!




Ladders

Pre WOD:
1RM Weighted Pull Up

WOD:
3 Rep x 3 Rung Strict Press Ladder
3 Rep x 3 Rung Weighted Pull Up Ladder
Tire Flip and Slosh Pipe "Complex"
10 Tire Flips
30 Second Zercher Hold
6 Tire Flips
45 Second Zercher Hold
3 Tire Flips
1:00 Zercher Hold

    I am fully aware that this workout isn't exactly going to get your heart jumping out of your chest (with the exception of the tire flips). But it will tax your strength, and especially the endurance of that strength. Pick a weight that very much challenges you, to the point where finishing the reps in good form is almost impossible. And stop just short of failure. Work hard on focusing on the explosiveness of your movement too. When we think of explosiveness we thing of the hips and legs driving those movements. Well, nobody ever performed a 106lb weighted pullup rep without training their muscles to be explosive. You must imagine that you are pulling upward as hard as you can, and fast! No matter how slowly your body actually moves. Once you master that you will make many gains in all areas of your fitness. Oh, and if you didn't get your cardio fix today, go do a U.S.S.S. style 10 minute Snatch test for maximum number of reps, that should do it for you.