New Strength Cycle: It’s Time to Build Endurance

Aug 25

Strength training is a big part of what we do in our WOD classes at The Union. Whether you’re brand new to lifting, have been training with us for years, or just want to feel stronger in everyday life, our strength programming is designed to build on itself and give your body different challenges throughout the year.

And right now, we’re getting ready to change things up.

We’ve spent the last several weeks getting STRONG.

Our current strength cycle took us through higher-volume lifting, heavier weights and eventually our 3RM testing week. Now it’s time to take all that strength we’ve built and teach our bodies to use it for longer. Starting Monday, August 24, we’re kicking off our next WOD strength cycle, and this one is all about muscular endurance.

And if you’re new to The Union or haven’t been following our current strength cycle, you can absolutely jump in. You don’t need to have completed the last cycle to benefit from this one. We’ll help you find the right movements and weights for where you are right now.

What Does That Mean?

Instead of focusing on producing a lot of force for just a few reps, we’re shifting toward higher reps and more total work.

But don’t mistake higher reps for easy.

We still want you to progressively increase your weights throughout this cycle. The difference is that now we’re asking your body to produce force over and over again as fatigue builds.

That’s strength endurance.

As the weeks progress, the goal is to handle more work AND gradually increase your load while maintaining good form.

That ability to stay strong when you’re tired carries over to just about everything we do in the gym, and it also gives us a great base to build from when we move into our next strength cycle.

And yes, you are still going to lift heavy things. There are just going to be a lot more reps involved.

Here’s What We’re Working On

We’ll spend three weeks with each group of lifts before moving into the next progression.

Weeks 1–3

Monday: Paused Bench Press / DB Paused Floor Press
Tuesday: Reverse Lunges
Wednesday: Z-Press
Friday: B-Stance Deadlifts

We’re starting with movements that require more control and include some single-side work that we haven’t focused on as much during our current cycle.

Our general progression will be:

Week 1: 3 × 12
Week 2: 3 × 15
Week 3: 4 × 12

Our single-leg movements will follow a slightly different rep scheme so nobody has to perform 900 lunges before breakfast.

Weeks 4–6

Then we’ll progress into:

Monday: Close-Grip Bench Press
Tuesday: Front Squat
Wednesday: Strict Press
Friday: Romanian Deadlift

We’ll continue working in higher rep ranges while gradually increasing the amount of work and weight you can handle.

Weeks 7–9

Finally, we’ll bring back some familiar faces:

Monday: Bench Press
Tuesday: Back Squat
Wednesday: Push Press
Friday: Deadlift

But don’t expect this to suddenly turn into another max-strength cycle. We’ll still be working on strength endurance, higher reps and quality movement, while continuing to challenge you to increase your load when you can.

How Heavy Should You Go?

This part is important.

Higher reps do NOT mean we want you grabbing the lightest weight possible and cruising through your sets.

We still want the weight to challenge you.

At the beginning of each three-week block, choose a weight that allows you to complete the prescribed reps with good form and approximately 2–3 good reps left in the tank.

From there, we want you to progress.

As your body adapts to the higher volume, look for opportunities to increase your weight while still completing every rep with good form.

The last few reps should require some work. That’s the point. We just don’t want technique falling apart to get them done.

So yes, keep track of your weights. We’re going to want those numbers.

Make a Plan to Show Up

One of the best things you can do during this cycle is plan ahead and be consistent.

Each three-week block is designed to build on the week before it. You’ll start with a movement and establish a manageable weight, then we’ll increase the reps and total work while you work toward handling more load.

That means the more consistently you show up, the more you’ll actually get to see and feel your progress.

If you come on Monday in Week 1, try to come back Monday in Weeks 2 and 3. Same thing with Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

You don’t have to make every single lifting day every single week, but pick the days you can realistically commit to and try to stick with them.

And if you’ve been thinking about adding another WOD day to your normal week, this is a great cycle to do it.

So take a look at your schedule, pick your days and get them on the calendar.

Three weeks goes pretty quickly. Give yourself the chance to see what happens when you actually follow the progression from beginning to end.

Why Are We Doing This?

Because being strong is great.

Being able to stay strong when you’re tired is even more useful.

Whether you’re doing WODs, running, playing a sport, training for an event or simply trying to improve your overall fitness, your ability to repeatedly produce force matters.

This cycle will challenge your muscles to handle more work, improve your muscular endurance and continue building strength while giving us a different stimulus from the heavier, lower-rep work we’ve been doing.

It also sets us up nicely for whatever comes next.

When we eventually move back toward lower reps and heavier weights, we’ll be coming into that cycle with a bigger base of work underneath us.

And Yes…HYROX Is Coming

You may notice some additional running and HYROX-style movements making their way into conditioning as we move through September and October.

That’s intentional, but this isn’t a HYROX-only training cycle.

Most of you aren’t racing HYROX, and you don’t need to be.

The same ability to keep producing force and moving well under fatigue that helps someone during a HYROX race also helps everyone become better conditioned and more capable in the gym.

We do have our HYROX Simulation onSunday, November 1, so you’ll see some of that influence in the programming as we get closer.

The Big Picture

We built strength. Now we’re building the ability to sustain that strength.

Over the next several weeks, challenge yourself. Don’t automatically reach for the weight you know you can do comfortably. Use those first sets to figure out where you should be, keep track of your numbers and increase your load when you’re ready.

We’re still building strength.

This time, we’re building the endurance to keep using it when fatigue sets in.

New cycle starts Monday, August 24.

Let’s get to work.

Molly Badger

Hi there. I'm Molly, and I'm a dabbler. I'm one of those people who is constantly moving, buzzing between teaching and practicing Ashtanga and creating whole food messes in my tiny kitchen. I'm a recently converted health and fitness nut lucky enough to be raising two young crazies with my favorite history buff and other half.. I like to think of myself as a creative mind with a zeal for life (it sounds much better than messy, scatterbrained, and five minutes late), which I'm attempting to document in this lovely little corner of cyberspace. The last year of my life has changed me, I think and hope, for the far far better. I took a leap into the healthy and active unknown and left a career in pastry to pursue more wholesome and nourishing goals. A move which then led me to the beauty of the steady, joy-filled yoga path. These are the things that make me. The things I want to share with the ones I love. And so here we are. In the midst of this wild ride there are two things that keep my ever-spinning world grounded. We breathe. And we eat.