WORKOUT

This work­out serves as Day 3 of our Pow­er­ful with Tasha 10-Day Chal­lenge but can be used as a stand­alone work­out anytime!

Focus & Ben­e­fits: Devel­op­ing upper body strength in con­junc­tion with pow­er train­ing is key to main­tain­ing bal­ance and con­trol­ling momen­tum dur­ing increas­ing­ly dynam­ic, com­plex move­ment pat­terns. Con­sid­er the run­ner who has weak/​undertrained upper and mid­dle back mus­cles. As train­ing dis­tances increase and/​or run­ning speeds increase, the run­ner will not be able to com­bat mus­cu­lar fatigue to main­tain a mobi­ly effi­cient pos­ture because these upper body mus­cles aren’t equipped to with­stand increas­es in ener­gy demands. In this work­out, we alter­nate between strength and pow­er-for­ward seg­ments to not only build upper body strength but to also help pre­pare the body for main­tain­ing force pro­duc­tion (strength) with speed across time (pow­er).

Equip­ment: You’ll need your mod­er­ate­ly heavy and heavy weights rel­a­tive to what you typ­i­cal­ly lift dur­ing chal­leng­ing upper body strength work­outs; how­ev­er, due to the work­out for­mat, exer­cise sequenc­ing, and inclu­sion of pow­er-dri­ven moves, these weight selec­tions might dif­fer from your stan­dard ​“heavy” choic­es. Pre­view the exer­cis­es in the con­di­tion­ing fin­ish­er as the upper body mus­cles tend to tire quick­ly dur­ing these moves and lighter weight selec­tions could be nec­es­sary. Bring along a mat as well for the exer­cis­es com­plet­ed on the floor.

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: Because we’re com­plet­ing three rounds of each EMOM super­set, start con­ser­v­a­tive­ly and build to your heav­ier weight loads for the final round of each set. You don’t have to use your max­i­mum weights (one to four rep range) for this final round, but should rather also con­sid­er your per­ceived exer­tion when select­ing your weights. You should feel chal­lenged and as if it’s ques­tion­ably guar­an­teed as to whether you can com­plete these reps or not. As always, pri­or­i­tize main­tain­ing proper/​safe form!

Also note that each EMOM is a minute-and-a-half, not the typ­i­cal one-minute inter­val. The extra 30 sec­onds is essen­tial for you to not only com­plete the tar­get­ed reps of the two exer­cis­es but also to receive enough rest between rounds to ensure repeat­ed ​“heavy” lift­ing attempts. If pos­si­ble, bump up your weight selec­tions instead of increas­ing your reps to increase the dif­fi­cul­ty of the work­out (if you have a small range of weight selec­tions, increas­ing the tar­get reps might be necessary).

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This work­out is rat­ed as a lev­el 4 because of the structure/​formatting as well as the inclu­sion of a few quick-paced, pow­er burnout rounds. These burnout rounds require coor­di­na­tion and kines­thet­ic aware­ness (knowl­edge of where and how your body moves through space and time); there­fore, omit­ting the explo­sive ele­ment (when appro­pri­ate) of these exer­cis­es can help decrease work­out difficulty.

Clos­ing Notes: As always, take your time mas­ter­ing each move­ment pat­tern before increas­ing your weights and move­ment speed. And remem­ber that rep­e­ti­tion and con­sis­ten­cy are key to body/​mind adap­ta­tions to new stim­uli! Repeat­ing this work­out in the future will help you feel increas­ing­ly com­fort­able with any unfa­mil­iar exer­cis­es and move­ment patterns.

WORK­OUT
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exer­cise, no rest between exer­cis­es (6:00)
‑Arm Cir­cles (forward/​back)
‑Mac Raises
‑French Door + Mil­i­tary Over­head Press
‑Hinge: Alli­ga­tor Reverse Fly (diag­o­nal)
‑Dead­lift + High Pull
‑Inch­worm + Shoul­der Taps
‑Blastoff Plank
‑Push-Ups
‑Low Squat: Tor­so Rotations
‑Ski­er Swing + Calf Raise
‑Jump Rope (exag­ger­ate arm circles)
‑Seal Jump­ing Jacks

***30 sec off***

My Weights – Mod­er­ate­ly Heavy/​Heavy (not a rec­om­men­da­tion, just a reference):
‑Range: 12 lbs.* (5.4 kg) to 30 lbs. (13.6 kg)
(*”lighter” weight selec­tion for the finisher)

EMOM For­mat: 1:30 per round, 3 rounds. Com­plete the list­ed num­ber of reps of exer­cise 1 then exer­cise 2 for each round.
Burnout For­mat: 30 sec on / 30 sec off / 1 round*
(*Burnout #3: 1 Ex / 3 rounds)

EMOM Super­set #1: Reps Per Round = ⁸⁄₆ / 4 (4:30)
‑Arnold Presses
‑Rotat­ing Rows (Supinat­ed-to-Neu­tral Grip)

***30 sec off***

Pow­er Burnout Round #1: (2:30)
‑High Pulls (option: heels remain in con­tact with ground)
‑Push Presses
‑High Pulls (option: heels remain in con­tact with ground)

***30 sec off***

EMOM Super­set #2: Reps Per Round = ⁸⁄₆ / 4 (4:30)
‑Biceps Curls
‑Over­head Tri­ceps Exten­sion (option: use 1 weight)

***30 sec off***

Pow­er Burnout Round #2: (2:30)
‑SA Snatch­es – R
‑Hang Cleans
‑SA Snatch­es – L

***Water Break***

EMOM Super­set #3: Reps Per Round = ⁸⁄₆ / 4 (4:30)
‑Chest Presses
‑Lat Pullover (option: use 1 weight)

***30 sec off***

Pow­er Burnout Round #3: (2:30)
‑Push-Up: Eccen­tric Push-Up (quick ​“up”) + Alt. Shoul­der Tap (option: push-ups from knees)

***30 sec off***

Con­di­tion­ing Fin­ish­er Com­plex – AMRAP: 4 reps total per exer­cise / Com­plete 4 Weight­ed Squat Thrusts at the end of each round (option: body­weight) (3:00)
‑Front Rais­es (neu­tral grip)
‑Reverse Flies
‑Lat­er­al Raises
‑Tri­ceps Kickbacks

Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 5:00)
‑Arm Cir­cles (forward/​back)
‑Over­head Tri­ceps Extension/​Lats Stretch – R
‑Over­head Tri­ceps Extension/​Lats Stretch – L
‑Traps/​Neck Stretch – R
‑Traps/​Neck Stretch – L
-(Inch­worm to Mat) Down-Dog + Feet Pedals
‑Scor­pi­on Stretch – R (option: kneel­ing against wall)
‑Scor­pi­on Stretch – L (option: kneel­ing against wall)
‑Child’s Pose + Reach Thru – R
‑Child’s Pose + Reach Thru – L