Week 2 Summer Shred!
In case you missed the cycle description last week, during this cycle, we'll cover some familiar exercises in a different way. The main two concepts this cycle will be tempo and Rate of Perceived Exertion, or RPE.
Almost all strength portions will be done at a pre-planned tempo, which will force you to check your ego at the door. The weights may seem light compared to your usual maxes, but no less daunting. Using tempo will allow us to upgrade our muscular strength gains at the same time as building strength in our ligaments and tendons, which grow at a much slower rate than our muscles. This has the added benefit of decreased risk of injury. Also, tempo allows us to really focus on our form due to time and submax loads.
The tempo works hand in hand with RPE, so let's discuss. In simple terms, your RPE refers to how hard you think you’re pushing yourself during exercise. It’s subjective, which means that you decide how hard you feel you’re working during physical activity. For example, if you're doing a set of 5 at an RPE of 7, your set should feel difficult, but not killer. A set of 5 at RPE 10 would be the max set you could do for 5. If it's easier to think of in percentages, you should be fine, but the benefit of RPE is it allows for days when you don't feel 100% to ease off, or days when you feel great, to kick it up a notch.
Here are this week’s workouts in the same format you’ll see on the tv screen in class!
Let’s have a STRONG week!
