First Contact 0.10 Strength Endurance (upper)
PreFatigue:
Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM) x 10
+30-second Plank,
Rest Remainder of the minute
*Every minute add one rep to the Gorilla Row
The intent for a PreFatigue going into a Strength Endurance session is to send plenty of blood flow to the targeted areas for the session. With today’s session being the general upper body area, we’re going to attack multiple areas at once very quickly. So for this, start a timer, and right away complete 1 gorilla row then immediately into a plank position for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds have passed, rest until the top of the next minute, at which you’ll complete 2 gorilla rows and then another 30-second plank. Rest until the beginning of that 3rd minute where you’ll complete 3 gorilla rows and another 30-second plank. Follow this trend, until on the tenth minute, you’ve completed 10 gorilla rows and a final 30-second plank.
Mobility:
1x5 Shoulder CARs
1 90-second Shoulder CAR per side
Following that PreFatigue piece, go right into completing some standing Shoulder CARs. Because your shoulders will already be worked, you’ll likely need to alternate sides every repetition, but go until you’ve completed 5 on each side at an appropriate pace that allows you to feel and assess where your shoulder is at for the day. Then you will complete 1 90-second shoulder CAR on each side. This one rep will feel like a lifetime but is so effective you only need one rep to get what you need out of it. Going for this duration gives you true insight to areas in your shoulder’s range of motion that you have, or don’t have, control in.
Work:
4 Rounds:
20 Total Alternating DB Piston Bench Presses
+
Cable/Banded Lat Pull Downs till Failure
Rest 3 minutes per round
An extremely effective way to affect muscle/tissue growth is to do repetitions until failure. So in this case, we have a couplet of two movements. One has a prescribed rep count and the other is till failure, so sensation-based. Think of the bench press movement as a PreFatigue for the Lat Pull Downs. For each round, you will do 20 total alternating piston bench presses — pressing one arm at a time — at a weight that’s moderately difficult, but doable. Then with your shoulders, chest, and arms feeling stressed, complete as many reps of lat pull-downs as you need to reach failure. The weight here should be light enough that you can complete 10 or more reps but heavy enough that you can’t complete more than 20 reps. If you complete less than 10 reps in the first round it’s too heavy and if you can easily complete more than 20 reps it’s too light.
As always, rest is crucial, especially in strength endurance sessions so make sure to get around 3-4 minutes of rest before starting the next round.
Finisher:
20-10-10-20
Banded Curls
To finish this session, we have a quick “pump out” piece. The work portion will have your muscles feeling exhausted, this finisher will have your muscles feeling “swollen” once completed. Grab a lighter band as you are about to go for 120 repetitions as unbroken as possible. Set the band up on a pull-up bar rig, squat rack, or something sturdy, and perform 20 banded face pulls right into 20 banded curls. Then you’ll move right into, without letting go of the band, 10 face pulls + 10 curls, two times in a row, and then finally you’ll finish off with 20 more banded face pulls and 20 more banded curls. By the end, simply holding the band should feel like a task and you should be barely able to lift your arms or shoulders up. That’s how you know you’ve done it right.
