Most people shouldn’t be doing this program. It’s very high volume, and the workouts are very intense. If you’ve been with us for parts one and two, you’ll know that this program is an even mix of heavy lifting, sprinting, and metabolic conditioning. In this final five week cycle, you should be setting new PR’s in your lifts, and in your running as well. Keep reading for more.
Program Overview
The 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness is a total of 15 weeks in length, broken down into 5 week cycles. As you might imagine, each cycle builds upon each other. This means that you need to do part one, and part two, before you should attempt part three.
Most athletes will find that the lifting volume in part three is high, and the intensity relative to your one rep max is even higher. You will also find that doing the full fifteen week program will give your body enough time to actually make significant progress.
Who is This Program Designed For?
- Tactical athletes who need muscle mass, strength, and running ability
- Functional Fitness Athletes who have a deficit in conditioning
- Athletes that need to drop some body fat without ruining their fitness
- Off season team sports athletes: Soccer, Football, Rugby, Hockey, Lacrosse, etc
Obviously, this isn’t the complete list, and if I’m completely honest, I built this program to fix some wholes in my personal fitness. I generally tend to lift more than I work on my conditioning, and rather predictably, my running and general conditioning has suffered.
Having worked my way through this program, I can say that my lifting is definitely strong, and my running has improved greatly, which is awesome, because I’ve found strong carry over into my WOD performances. The biggest thing I’ve noticed isn’t that I’m going faster in WODs, it’s that I won’t die off as fast as I used to. I can hold my pace throughout the WOD much better.
Without further ado, let’s get into the specifics for part three of the 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional fitness!
The 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness (Week 11)
In part three, we’ve rotated the exercise selection so that we can continue to make progress. Previously, we had been squatting three times per week, and we will continue with heavy back squats, but I’ve added in some extra deadlifting for this cycle.
Similarly, I’ve continued on with the optional 2nd sessions. I’ve found that I prefer to do this work in one session for the most part. Remember that I don’t particularly care if you split the work up. I just want you to get the work done! If you like to do a long gym session, once a day, then go for it! If you like multiple small sessions, knock yourself out.
The 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness (Week 12)
In week 12, we start to push up the intensity relative to your one rep max. You’ll start to see that we are creeping close to your old one rep max. You should feel that these weights are heavy, but they shouldn’t be hard, grinding reps.
The running workouts are also longer than they previously were. This is for a couple of reasons. First, you shouldn’t go max intensity with your sprinting and lifting at the same time. Your body isn’t likely to recover well when you are asking that much from it.
Secondly, this type of interval work, and aerobic capacity work, allows you to build an engine that will greatly benefit you for your WODs. You are still running fast, but we’re focusing more on aerobic capacity than we have in part one, and in part two.
If you like this program and want a more detailed step by step program to build muscle and increase work capacity then check this out!
The 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness (Week 13)
This week is getting hard, and in fact, it’s the second hardest week of the program. The runs are getting long, and the lifts are near maximal for every session. Make sure that you are paying attention to your mobility and warming up thoroughly, so you can maximize each training day.
Astute observers, or those who’ve reading my book, “Programming Your Fitness,” will understand why I’ve lowered the WOD volume this week. WODs are probably the most taxing portion of each workout as you’re both lifting weights, and using your energy systems hard. Consequently they take a lot to recover from.
Most of the WODs this week are less than 10min in length. This allows you to gain the benefit from the high intensity work, without incurring a huge recovery debt. See, there’s some method to my madness!
The 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness (Week 14)
Welcome to week 14, otherwise known as hell! Here are some of the things you’ll be doing this week: working up to your old one rep maxes, running for an hour, and most likely putting angry comments in the comments section. Hold on, this week is the hardest in the entire series, and next week will be our deload.
It’s ok if you’re feeling a little beat up this week. The best thing to do is play it smart. If you need to modify a workout, or scale something then do so. Remember, fitness is built on consistency, not doing everything exactly as I’ve written it.
I can do each of these workouts as written and I’ve certainly modified sessions. Some days my shoulder or leg might be a little tweaked, so I’ll change the movement or cut down the sets if I need to. This has allowed me to stay on track with the overall program goal, and avoid injuries that would more significantly impact my training.
The 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness (Week 15)
This is our deload, and I imagine most of you won’t be tempted to do a little extra work. If there are some sickos out there that are thinking that, just go ahead and resist the urge. This is the week where your body makes the physical changes to recover from the previous four weeks of hard training.
This doesn’t mean you won’t be lifting heavy at all. It means that the program volume is reduced by about one third. By the end of this week, you should be raring to set some PRs.
I recommend taking a day or two of full rest after your last training session and then trying a few PR’s. Personally, I will probably pick some benchmark WODs, and a few running distances like an 800m or mile time trial, to see just how much my fitness has improved. You should choose whatever benchmarks you want, whether they are, running, lifting, or maybe a hero WOD.
Nutrition
You can’t train hard and have garbage nutrition. Luckily for you, I have a few tools that can help you get your nutrition right. First, I recommend reading my Ultimate Nutrition Guide, to ensure that you have a solid grounding in the basics.
Next, you should download my nutrition calculator. It’s a handy tool that will help calculate your body fat, daily caloric expenditure, and give you some solid recommendations on caloric intake and macro splits. These recommendations are good starting points, but you will have to experiment a little to see what works best for you.
If you like fitness programs and want to get our 3 free training guides, then click here to join the Tier Three Team. It’s totally free, and thousands have already received their strength programming, fat loss, and their bonus guide.
Recovery
Recovery doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, my best recovery tips is to take 10min of very easy walking, rowing, or assault biking, at the end of each session. This helps clear metabolic waste products from your muscle tissue, and jump starts the recovery process. Most other recovery methods like, cryo therapy, massage, and others have less of a benefit than you might think. Check out this article for more information on scientific recovery methods.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve finished the full fifteen weeks, then you should be proud of yourself. This is a hard program! Now is the time to reflect on where you want to go from here. For many athletes, I would recommend a hypertrophy program, as it’s one of the best things you can do for overall functional fitness performance. Check out my 8 Week Functional Hypertrophy program below, and you’ll be building muscle in no time. Now get out there and get training!
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