how to become a dragon

The Chinese Calendar Says that 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. We have been waiting for this for a long time.

2024’s Strength Periodization (the annual plan) can be best characterized as “aggressive”.

We got in the lab and we cooked up something that will destroy every muscle in your body every four weeks for the next fifty-two weeks. A big question is why? Let's talk about it. 

We have some really strong Strength members, that is a paradox of training. There is an adage in S&C “it is not easier, you are just stronger”.

You are putting the work in, you are grinding each day, week, month, and year. Your body adapts by increasing the strength of the muscle and connective tissue that facilitate lifting heavy ass weights. Your confidence increases. What once was hard, is now easier.

You forced our hand, we needed to battle back with the only weapon we have: The Dragon Based Program!

Here is how we are going to handle the hardest year of Strength to date: by creating capacity and structural balance. This block is going to be riddled with smaller, more isolated movement patterns. We are going to create strength in muscular and connective tissue around key joints of the shoulder/hip, scapula/knee, and core (muscles-fascia-connective between ribs and pelvis). We are going to make these areas so robust, they will be able to handle the hardest Strength program to date. 

We also want to increase capacity by increasing two areas: volume and density. Volume is reps per set. We traditionally stay with either 5 reps or 10 reps. We adjust the tempo to create familiarity with that rep scheme and therefore the load you should use. We are going to break from that, by changing the rep scheme a lot more. We are going to establish a base for 2024 by increasing reps to 15! That is a lot of reps, which increases the work (force x distance), which leads to better cardiovascular fitness and fitness of the muscular-connective tissue at the joints. 

The other aspect of how we are going to increase capacity is density. Density is the relative volume and rest. If we do a lot more work in a 60-minute session, density is higher. We want muscular endurance blocks to have higher density to amplify the effect of longer duration/higher rep sets. We are not increasing the length of the session, we are increasing the total volume in that 60-minute period, so, therefore, density increases as well. 

I cannot stress this enough: you're facing a beast of a 2024 Strength Program.

We are going to use KPIs (neutral grip pullup/neutral grip pullup hold and bodyweight bench/pushup) to establish your baseline strength. We have a body composition challenge to see where your fat and muscle composition levels are at.

We are going to have more volume and density than we have ever had in a Strength program, to prepare us for the gauntlet you are about to face. 

My advice, load up on Creatine, Aminos, Protein, and Collagen during December Deals. These are not stocking stuffers or Secret Santa ideas –

These are the sustenance to make it through the Year of the Dragon!