New training starts Monday, April 1! Each training cycle of Persist builds on itself week to week. Take a look to see what’s coming in each track. Or try the Track Quiz to find your perfect track.
New This Cycle:
- Movement tips videos coming to select workouts for coaching on your setup or execution
- Track overview video can be found on the Sunday workouts to orient you to the bigger themes
- Coaching notes will show you how the progression is changing throughout the 6-week cycle
A Note From Marcus
The first quarter of 2024 is coming to a close and this Monday we kick off the second quarter. I love to think about my year in chunks. What have you accomplished since the start of the year that you are proud of? What have you been inconsistent with that you want to change headed into April?
The weather out here in California is starting to get really nice and it always lifts my energy and mood. If you are in the same boat wherever you are in the world, then I propose that we take that good energy and mood and channel it into our physical health through consistency in training these next several months.
I suggest picking a program track that resonates with what you get most excited about with training. Then, select a number of days per week that you feel confident you can commit to. From there, try to do just that. No need to do MORE. As the weeks and months go by you can always add more if you feel inspired.
Training is here to be supportive to a great life. Training doesn’t have to be your life.
PERFORM 5x/Week
This cycle in PERFORM is a conditioning heavy. Each day you’ll find a mix of tough strength and skill work in the conditioning. You’ll also see some challenging loads and gymnastics skills sprinkled throughout the week.
Wednesday, in particular, has three conditioning sections back to back to back. Each will showcase a different time domain and pace.
Expect to see conditioning Two Sprint sections each week. We call this anaerobic style sprinting. You’ll have one in the Friday hot start and the POWER 30 conditioning workout on Wednesday. Both with push your anaerobic threshold.
POWER 30
Part 1
For Time @ Tough Effort
20/16 Cal Bike
60 Double Unders or 120 Single Unders
20 DB Hang Power Clean 50/35 or 35/20lb
20 Toes to Bar or Hanging Knee Tucks
20/16 Cal Bike
*7min Cap
Part 2
(longer Aerobic Conditioning – for Section C) Beginning at 10mins on the clock
Every 5mins x 4 Sets Complete the following
20 Alternating DB Hang Snatch 50/35 or 35/20lb 10-12 DB Deadlifts 50/35 or 35/20lb
6-10 DB Burpees 50/35 or 35/20lb
10-15 Calorie Bike
*rest the remainder of the time before the next 5min period
You’ll also get a chance to explore skill work in the context of strength intensity on Fridays. You will see strict HSPU, Muscle Ups, and even Rope Climbs if you have access to them in your Friday strength section.
The big lifts that you will focus on in the Strength Intensity and Speed Strength sections this cycle will be the Back Squat, Bench Press, Front Rack Lunges and Split Squats, and Deadlift two ways. For your Olympic Lifting work you will have complexes to progress with each week in the Snatch and the combination Clean + Jerk.
PUMP Condition 3x/Week
The Pump 3x/week programs are all written with Full Body Splits. You’ll hit all the major movement patterns on each day of training. You will see a Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, and Core exercise, with a mixture of unilateral work and bilateral work throughout the week. This doesn’t mean that you will necessarily have a chest exercise every day, but rather a pushing exercise that will target the chest, shoulders, triceps, or combination of all three.
The big lifts this cycle focus on the Incline Bench, Deadlift, and Cyclist Squat. Expect to progress these every week.
We will also introduce variations alternating every other week in these Strength Intensity sections. For example, Cyclist Front Squats one week and Cyclist Back Squats the next. These added variations offer you a chance to widen your movement ability and get a touch of variety to keep you engaged, but are similar enough each week to allow you to progress nicely.
Incline Bench Press @ 21X1
Every 3:00 x 4 working sets
Warm-Up Set – 10 reps – Easy
Working Set 1 – 10 – RPE 7
Working Set 2 – 10 – same weight
Working Set 3 – 10 – same weight
Working Set 4 – AMRAP with no pauses @ 20X0 Tempo – same weight.
6min AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible)
1000/800m Bike Buy In
-then in the time remaining-
2-4-6-8-10….
Alternating KB Gorilla Row (R+L=1) 53/35 or 35/26 KB Plank Pull Through 53/35 or 35/26
rest 2 minutes then repeat for a second 6-minute AMRAP
We have 3 unique styles of conditioning workouts for you that will span from Fast Paced Intervals to slower extended pacing. The goal is to give you a variety of different styles of conditioning so that you train different qualities of your cardiovascular system and muscle endurance, and feel engaged in something different each day.
On your off days I encourage you to get in about 30mins of movement in the form of a walk or light cardio movement. We give you suggestions and mobility routines on the off days that you are welcome to follow. But they are optional.
PUMP CONDITION 5x/Week
For the training split, there will be two Upper body days on Monday and Saturday. These will be Push and Pull focused to hit the big muscles of the upper body. Then on Tuesday and Friday you will see lower body days. These will include squatting and hinging. We call this a Regional Body Part Split.
For Wednesday, expect a day that will focus on your arms and core. This middle day of the week is a great day to break up the big lifts with some smaller movements and slightly varied strength and conditioning formats.
The big lifts we will progress in Strength Intensity this cycle are Incline Bench, Front Rack Split Squats/Lunges, Deadlifts/RDL, and Barbell Rows.
You’ll see movements in the Strength Intensity and Strength Balance sections alternate every other week to build strength and improve your muscle mass; for example, Front Rack Split Squats one week and Back Rack the next. This gives you a chance to widen your movement ability, get a touch of variety to keep you engaged, but also keep things similar enough each week to allow you to progress nicely.
Back Rack Split Squat
Every 90 sec x 6 working sets (3/side)
Warm-Up Set – 10 reps/side @30X0 Tempo – Easy Working Set 1 – 8 reps/side @30X0 – RPE 7 Working Set 2 – 8 reps/side @30X0 – use the same weight as set 1
Working Set 3 – AMRAP/side @10X0 – use the same weight as set 1
(*Aim for 10+ Reps)
There is also a heavy Unilateral training theme going on this cycle. You will see this showing up with single leg and single arm work, but also a lot of dumbbell strength work throughout the strength balance sections of this cycle. These are great opportunities to strengthen your joints and overall movement abilities.
Based on your feedback, you’ll also see more variety in the Conditioning sections of training.
For this cycle when you see Interval style conditioning with work and rest, I would like you to bring higher levels of effort. This can be a cycle which you push yourself to explore the edges of your cardiovascular fitness.
Example
3 Sets x 3 min AMRAP
300m/240m Row
12 DB Suitcase Squat 50/35lb or 35/20lb
12 DB Suitcase Walk Lunge 50/35lb or 35/20lb
-in remaining time:
Alternating Dumbbell Power Snatch 50/35lb or 35/20lb
-rest 2mins between sets
On your Thursday Rest Day I encourage you to get in about 30mins of movement in the form of a walk or light cardio movement. There is an optional gym session idea for movement and mobility flow if you are looking for ideas. Sunday is a great day to give your body a full rest if you hit all 5 sessions in a week.
Pump Lift 3x/Week
Both of the Pump 3x/week programs are all written with Full Body Splits – but Pump Lift replaces muscle-focused conditioning work with additional time for lifting. You will see a Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, and Core exercise, with a mixture of unilateral work and bilateral work throughout the week.
This doesn’t mean that you will necessarily have a chest exercise every day, but rather a pushing exercise that will target the chest, shoulders, triceps, or combination of all three. You can also use the Pump Condition track any time you feel like a little extra conditioning.
The big lifts this cycle are the Back Rack Split Squat, Deadlift, and Barbell Rows. These will make up the Strength Intensity 1 sections of training. You will also have additional primary strength movements in Strength Intensity 2 sections of training. We will do Split Stance RDLs, Strict Pull Ups, and Incline Bench Press.
Since these sections show up at the beginning of the training session when you have the most energy, I want you to prioritize progressing all of these lifts each week. This is where you build your best strength and muscle.
The last two sections of training each day are Strength Balance and Finishers. Effort is never a bad thing to push; however, in Pump Lift you may feel some fatigue by this point in the session. So we design these movements to be a little lower overall strain.
Ideally you can focus on some smaller muscle groups, really work on your range of motion to promote joint health, and focus more on the PUMP than on maximal load and tension.
I’m particularly excited about the Friday Strength Balance section that is packed with SHOULDER work. I just finished doing this in my last training cycle to test for you all and it felt amazing.
On your off days I encourage you to get in about 30mins of movement in the form of a walk or light cardio. We give you suggestions and mobility routines on the off days that you are welcome to follow. But they are optional.
3 Working Sets
Incline DB Lateral Raise @ 30X0 Tempo x 10 reps
rest 30 sec
Incline Rear Delt Swing @ 30X0 x 10 reps
rest 30 sec
Deficit Pushup; BW reps to failure @30X0
rest 60-90 sec before going back to 1.
Pump Lift 5x/Week
The upcoming training split will be two Upper body days on Monday and Saturday. These will be Push and Pull focused to hit the big muscles of the upper body. Then on Tuesday and Friday you will see Lower body days. These will include squatting and hinging. We call this a Regional Body Part Split. For Wednesday, expect a day that will focus on your arms, shoulders, and core. This middle day of the week is a great day to break up the big lifts with some smaller muscle groups. Some of the accessory muscles of the arms, shoulder and core deserve some additional isolation on Wednesday.
The big lifts we will progress in Strength Intensity 1 sections of training this cycle are Incline Bench. Back Rack Split Squat, Deadlift, and Barbell Rows. Track your weights closely in this section and aim to build them every week. Either for more total weight or for more reps.
In the Strength Intensity 2 sections, you’ll see Cyclist Squats, Hamstring Isolation Work, Strict Pull Ups or Pull Downs, and Overhead pressing with dumbbells. You should still have a decent amount of energy for this section and I encourage you to aim to progress every week just like the Intensity 1 section.
The last two sections of training each day are call Strength balance and Finishers. Effort is never a bad thing to push; however, you may be fatigued when you arrive at this point in the session. So we design these movements to be a little lower overall strain. Ideally you can focus on some smaller muscle groups, really work on your range of motion to promote joint health, and focus more on the PUMP in these section than on maximal load and tension.
Example
2-3 Working Sets
10 Glute Bridge Dumbbell Bench Fly @ 30X0 Tempo
- directly into- 10 Dumbbell Upright Row @ 30X0 Tempo
- rest 60-90sec and reset
I’m particularly excited about the Wednesday Strength Balance section. It is packed with SHOULDER work that I just finished doing in my last training cycle to test for you all and it felt amazing.
On your Thursday Rest Day I encourage you to get in about 30mins of movement i the form of a walk or lightly cardio movement. There is an optional gym session idea for movement and mobility flow if you are looking for ideas. Sunday is a great day to give your body a full rest if you hit all 5 sessions in a week.
Pillars 4x/Week
Training split: Monday upper body with pushing bias, Tuesday lower body with squatting bias, Thursday upper body with pulling bias, and finally Friday with lower body hinging bias. You will have two days to hit each of the major muscle groups with a 2x Upper and 2x Lower body split. This approach has worked well for our testers and past cycles of training.
Our aim is to get you in and out of the gym in an hour if you so desire. Stay longer and spend more time doing additional warm up sets and taking your time if you would like. But for those of you tight on time we have tested to ensure you can get it all done efficiently.
Strength intensity is a focused section to bring your best strength effort. It is most important that you track your weekly weights in this section and do your very best each week to progress them. Some movement highlights that we are focusing on this cycle are Incline Bench Pressing, Split Squats, barbell Rows, and Deadlifts.
You are also invited to bring a lot of effort to the Strength Balance sections of training. But if you are somewhat fatigued from the first lift of the day, these sections are designed to explore more movements in the way of superset, range of motion, and provide you a chance to strengthen your joints with exercises that are generally not as taxing on the body.
Example: 3 Working sets
Alternating DB Bench Press x 12 reps (6/side) @20X0 Tempo
directly into
DB Tripod Row; 8 reps each side @ 20X0
rest 90 sec before going back to 1.
We are aiming to provide you with more variety in the conditioning sections this cycle based on feedback from our athletes. For this cycle you’ll see several Interval style conditioning workouts. On days that have work and rest like this, focus on bringing higher levels of effort. This can be a cycle in which you push yourself to explore the edges of your cardiovascular fitness.
On your off days I encourage you to get in about 30mins of movement in the form of a walk or lightl cardio movement. We give you suggestions and mobility routines on the off days that you are welcome to follow. But they are optional.
Minimalist 4x/week
Minimalist training split will be Monday upper body with pushing bias, Tuesday lower body with squatting bias, Thursday upper body with pulling bias, and finally Friday with lower body hinging bias. This means you will have two days to hit each of the major muscle groups with a 2x Upper and 2x Lower body split. This approach has worked well for our testers and past cycles of training.
Our aim is to get you in and out of the gym in an hour if you so desire. Stay longer and spend more time doing additional warm up sets and taking your time if you would like. But for those of you tight on time we have tested to ensure you can get it all done efficiently.
Strength intensity is a focused section to bring your best effort. Attempt to progress these lifts every week if you can. For Minimalist athletes, you may have to get creative when it comes to progressing your workouts each week. If you cannot make things harder with access to heavier weights, then try one of the following solutions:
- Do more reps than are prescribed
- Do additional sets to what is prescribed
- Move at a slower tempo than what is prescribed
Example:
3 Working sets
Alternating DB Bench Press x 12 reps (6/side) @20X0 Tempo
directly into
DB Tripod Row; 8 reps per side @ 20X0
rest 90 sec before going back to 1.
We are aiming to provide you with more variety in the conditioning sections this cycle based on feedback from our athletes. For this cycle you’ll see several Interval style conditioning workouts. On days that have work and rest like this, focus on bringing higher levels of effort. This can be a cycle in which you push yourself to explore the edges of your cardiovascular fitness.
On your off days I encourage you to get in about 30mins of movement in the form of a walk or lightl cardio movement. We give you suggestions and mobility routines on the off days that you are welcome to follow. But they are optional.
NEW CYCLE STARTS MON. April 1!
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