Gloomy indeed on this early morning as YHC joined the QSource devotional led by Sparky. But the sun came quickly and dried up the humid but manageable demeanor of the weather. Being my first Q at Adventure Park since starting F3 18 months ago, I decided to spend this one delivering a hard beatdown whilst attempting to model and explain some ways a Q can level up his workout leadership.
As a fitness professional, I don’t always love F3 workouts (then again, who does?). The qualms I mostly have are forgivable by the mere fact that they are matters of nuance. Regardless, the pax usually get good workouts in regardless of the rightness of the Weinke. However, there are a few tips I would advise current and prospective Qs to follow.
Often, we can observe a tug-of-war between the Q’s exercise decisions and the pax’s execution of those decisions. This often manifests in the following way: Desiring to be esteemed as a formidable leader by the fittest pax, a Q calls for a given number of repetitions. This number might be extra large in order to secure a hard workout. As a result, the majority of other pax tend to skimp on exercise form and cut repetitions, sets, or rounds, in an attempt to keep up with their peers or the perceived group pace. Observing this dynamic and the pace of the group over multiple workouts, the Q will often increase their suggested the quantity of work to again ensure everyone is challenged, and so on goes this false economy of work progress until ridiculous numbers for complex exercises are commonplace in tandem with poor form and secret rep-cutting. The reality is, if our objective is to foster acceleration in our fitness through physical adaptation to work-based stimuli, we must do so in a systematic fashion.
I seek to begin to amend this issue, and thus propose the following question as an objective:
How can a leader best construct AND lead a workout that maximizes adaptation and minimizes injury/excessive fatigue for ALL pax?
Follow along for reference.
Warmorama
Warmoramas are not workouts.
The warm-up consisted of 5-10 minutes of heart-rate increasing simple exercises targeting all body parts and movements.
We moseyed around 1/10th of a mile to circle up and complete:
- SSH IC
- Windmills IC
- Plank variations
Another short mosey and a circle-up saw something similar.
The Thang
Every CSAUP should always be a beatdown, but not every beatdown should be a CSAUP.
Too often, the dark cloud of expectation weighs over the prospective pax designing their Weinke. This cloud is dark because the expectation is a fallacy. A good Q is a good example of a good leader in that they assertively move the group towards the objective while creating space for each individual to exhibit their best effort, not compromising the standards of the group. To this point, Q’ing in an attempt to challenge the fittest pax is to fail the entire pax. Let this not be indictment upon existing Qs, but rather, motivation for improvement and inspiration for aspiring Qs.
Weinkes should be designed with the basic knowledge of fitness components and fatigue management. For example, it is asinine to expect the pax to perform any plyometric exercises with even a semblance of power at the end of a beatdown. Instead, power or strength-encouraging exercises should be placed towards the beginning of workouts. Similarly, a highly intense workout should not begin the beatdown, as it disallows the pax to perform well the rest of the workout. Both examples can severely increase the rate of injury.
Simply conceptualized, design your Weinke outline following the Power – Strength – Conditioning – Endurance continuum.
Lastly, while reps, sets, and rounds are often used as primary measurements of work, this quantitative approach is actually a pretty poor way to lead towards the above objectives.
Here was my Weinke for today:
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10 Minutes AMRAP:
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1. Perkins 5
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2. Power skips 10
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3. Plank or Crab 10 breaths
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Partners for 5 rounds
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P1 Lunges for distance while P2 Completes chin-ups, pull-ups, or rows
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Breathing Ladders
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Squats 1-fail; Bear crawl and come back down
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Yerkins 1-fail; Run and come back down
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Leg lifts 1-fail; Run and come back down
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2-Partner Dora 321
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SSH
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Mountain Climbers
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Burpees
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As you can see, we began with a workout intending to allow the pax to exert their most dynamic effort in power-purposed exercises. We then moved into more strength-based work, followed by breathing ladders that allowed the pax to perform only to their anaerobic threshold, using their own breathing as a modulator for pacing and recovery. We then finished with a true beatdown at higher repetitions using basic exercises that don’t include too much stress at one joint. It was hard.
COT/AAR
It was a pleasure to lead the AP pax this morning, as it is a group of highly fit men. My challenge to you, the reader, is to consider the issue I have attempted to begin to resolve, and even more importantly, consider the potential solutions modeled. The problem of poor exercise form and constant pursuit of high cardiovascular intensities is self-defeating as individuals seeking a higher level of TOTAL fitness and as a group of men seeking to spur each other on to growth in ALL areas.
TAPs for all men and their spoken and unspoken requests.
PATs for the healing of Recall’s friend and Ripken’s generosity, among others.
Don’t forget to check the Mumble Chatter Facebook page for upcoming races and fundraisers, in addition to joining the new Comz initiative through the GroupMe app.
Kotter out.