Squaddies - Your experience as an athlete is at the forefront of everything we do. We are continually working to improve the Squad to give you the optimal training experience.
Your feedback in the first few months of the program was insightful, and many of you asked for a simplified workout structure, so you could more easily execute the training sessions as intended.
Based on your feedback, Matt Dixon and Matt Hurley spent some time imagining how we might evolve the programming to better fit your needs. After much deliberation, we are proud to announce that we are going to be implementing some simple, yet important shifts to workout structure that will help you more easily execute your training program as intended.
Our Challenge:
To design a Baseline Training Plan that is a dynamic, ever-evolving, and is suitable for athletes with a wide range of athletic abilities and time availability that does not dilute the training experience.
When working on this challenge we kept two thoughts top of mind.
- We want to simplify the workout structure without losing the quality of the workout.
- We want to eliminate the mental overhead and guesswork of scaling the workouts to meet athletes needs.
Our Solution:
Evolve the formatting of the work-out sessions. Our changes to the workouts are highlighted below.
- Predictable Warm-Ups: We will rotate through four different warm-ups and pre-mains -- allowing you to become familiar and not having to ‘learn’ an entire session each time to get ready to train. When you scan the session before your pool swim, for example, your mind will know the warm-up and pre-main and can then focus on the meat and potatoes of the main set.
- Refined Scaling: We will now Include two Main Set options for most outdoor bikes, outdoor runs, and all swim sessions: Time-Rich and Time-Starved. You won’t have to make guesswork of the scaling any longer as you can now simply pick which option suits your situation that day.
- Simplify the Simple: Some workouts simply don’t need massive structure or minute by minute prescription. Instead of outlining outdoor rides with full warm up, pre-main set, and main set, you may see a more clean prescription of ‘Ride 3 hours Endurance but integrate 6 x 5 min Z4 with 4 min recovery Z1 between’. You now can flex to best align with your terrain, riding access, and more.
- A single weekend ride: While you have been clear that you love the indoor and outdoor option on the weekend, many seem to get confused seeing two rides prescribed on a day. To counter -- we will create one ride with two options included -- an indoor and outdoor ride. The indoor ride will still be structured and have the option to connect to your devices.
- Be more memorable. You will see more named sessions to help you easily remember them and draw attention to the session when repeated. These are KEY sessions meant to challenge you and draw out comparisons from one time to another.
Why did we make these changes?
- We are always thinking about the optimal experience for our athletes. We want you to confidently understand the training session in front of you so you can execute it without any hindering questions.
- We want you to focus on the meat and potatoes (main set) of the sessions - the main set of the session is meant to move the fitness needle. The warm up and pre-main sets are meant to prime the systems and get you ready for the work of the main set, so simplifying those components will not affect your road to improved performance.
Am I Time-Rich or Time-Starved?
When looking at the new workout design you will notice two different categories designations, Time-Rich and Time-Starved. The definitions below will help you choose the right workout based on your time available and ability. If you have any questions about which category to choose for your training please reach out to us.
Note: You may fall into the time-rich category in some disciplines and time-starved in others.
Time-Rich: You would choose to follow this option if any of the following are true:
- You are stronger in this discipline and have time to complete the main set in the allotted time or as your schedule allows.
- You require a key session that is central to building resilience for an upcoming event - and you have time to execute.
Time-Starved: You would choose to follow this option if any of the following are true:
- You have less time available to complete the workout than what the time-rich version would take you.
- You are more socially paced in this discipline.
- You are ramping fitness after a layoff (time away, sickness, injury)
- You are treating this session as a supporting session and seek less stress.
