August 2022
Past, Present and Future Updates
What has happened at the Iron Lodge; what currently is taking place; and what I am looking forward to:
Past few months:
• In-House members are currently in the “Paint” Program. Members are working with lighter weights than they are used to. The effort is STILL there in the form of concentration. I want members to be in control of the weights and master the form of each movement. I often use the analogy of controlling the load by painting every muscle fiber in the movement like a paint brush on a canvas, hitting every fiber of cloth. It doesn’t mean every rep is going to be extremely slow. But on the other hand, none of the reps should be fast and out of control. When in doubt we are going lighter and pausing at various points of the range of motion (ROM). I also have programmed in a power day to work on explosiveness.
In-House members are using a “training max” this cycle instead of a true 1 rep max. The Training Max is 90% of member’s “right now true” 1RM. People familiar with the Wendler 5-3-1 Program will recognize this. Members went for a new true 1 RM at the start and week 5 into the program and I am proud to say everyone improved. We will not test out again until the end of the 15-week program. We still had a de-load week in week 10 & will have another one week 14, but no test week until after 8 weeks of continuous training.
• In addition to the In-House members “painting”, our 2 high level swimmers have returned to continue their training. An individualized in-depth program has been created for them and they are currently in week 4. Check out my blog if you would like information on their past
program and I will be posting a future blog post on their current program.
Present Happenings:
• We are currently in the 12th week of this 15-week program. Week 15 is the test week to re-determine how everyone is progressing with both overall strength and aerobic conditioning.
Future Plans:
• I have just returned from the Perform Better 3-day Functional Movement Summit that was in Providence this past weekend. There is always good take-aways from these events and I have some great ideas I can’t wait to incorporate into the next program for the In-house members.
• I also realized I should be doing a better job of communicating my message and posting things to the world outside of the In-house members of The Iron Lodge. So look forward to more social media presence (fingers crossed).
• I also will be putting a greater focus on remote coaching. As you may or may not know my space and available time is limited at the Iron Lodge so one way to address this and help more people get stronger is through online coaching. Right now, I am thinking of a hybrid program of meeting 1-2x month in person to review form etc. and the rest of the program would be done away from the Iron Lodge. A safe program with proper progressions and accountability will be the focus of this remote coaching. “Spread the word”! If you or someone you know is interested please send them to the website.
• Remodeling at the Iron Lodge. We are always looking for better ways to serve our in-house members and are looking into some re-modeling to better do this…. Stand by…
Get Stronger
Coach Needham
Past few months:
• In-House members are currently in the “Paint” Program. Members are working with lighter weights than they are used to. The effort is STILL there in the form of concentration. I want members to be in control of the weights and master the form of each movement. I often use the analogy of controlling the load by painting every muscle fiber in the movement like a paint brush on a canvas, hitting every fiber of cloth. It doesn’t mean every rep is going to be extremely slow. But on the other hand, none of the reps should be fast and out of control. When in doubt we are going lighter and pausing at various points of the range of motion (ROM). I also have programmed in a power day to work on explosiveness.
In-House members are using a “training max” this cycle instead of a true 1 rep max. The Training Max is 90% of member’s “right now true” 1RM. People familiar with the Wendler 5-3-1 Program will recognize this. Members went for a new true 1 RM at the start and week 5 into the program and I am proud to say everyone improved. We will not test out again until the end of the 15-week program. We still had a de-load week in week 10 & will have another one week 14, but no test week until after 8 weeks of continuous training.
• In addition to the In-House members “painting”, our 2 high level swimmers have returned to continue their training. An individualized in-depth program has been created for them and they are currently in week 4. Check out my blog if you would like information on their past
program and I will be posting a future blog post on their current program.
Present Happenings:
• We are currently in the 12th week of this 15-week program. Week 15 is the test week to re-determine how everyone is progressing with both overall strength and aerobic conditioning.
Future Plans:
• I have just returned from the Perform Better 3-day Functional Movement Summit that was in Providence this past weekend. There is always good take-aways from these events and I have some great ideas I can’t wait to incorporate into the next program for the In-house members.
• I also realized I should be doing a better job of communicating my message and posting things to the world outside of the In-house members of The Iron Lodge. So look forward to more social media presence (fingers crossed).
• I also will be putting a greater focus on remote coaching. As you may or may not know my space and available time is limited at the Iron Lodge so one way to address this and help more people get stronger is through online coaching. Right now, I am thinking of a hybrid program of meeting 1-2x month in person to review form etc. and the rest of the program would be done away from the Iron Lodge. A safe program with proper progressions and accountability will be the focus of this remote coaching. “Spread the word”! If you or someone you know is interested please send them to the website.
• Remodeling at the Iron Lodge. We are always looking for better ways to serve our in-house members and are looking into some re-modeling to better do this…. Stand by…
Get Stronger
Coach Needham