HOW TO TELL IF A PROGRAM WORKS?
KPI stands for key performance indicator, a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific objective. KPIs are assessments that provide targets for us to shoot for, milestones to gauge progress, and insights that help us make better decisions with our training. 

Every goal you want to achieve - adding muscle, losing weight, improving mobility, establishing a routine - it comes down to your consistency following the program.

We have developed 8 KPI tests that allow us to quantifiably determine if you are getting better or worse with your training. Your results will show if your program works. 

THE KPI TESTS:

1. TRAP BAR DEADLIFTS - Test your strength with a 3RM 
2. MAX PUSH-UPS - GOAL: Men: 100 Push-ups / Women: 60 Push-ups in 2-minutes with APFT Standards
3. BENCH PRESS - Test your strength with a 3RM
4. FARMER'S CARRY FOR TIME - 40% bodyweight each hand. Standards: Men: 60 seconds / Women: 30 seconds
5. BACK SQUATS - Option A) Test your strength with a 3RM // Option B) Complete as many quality reps of Goblet Squats at 50% bodyweight in one unbroken set.
6. MAX CHIN-UPS - If you can't do a chin-up, you'll do a dead arm hang where you hold onto the pull-up bar for as many seconds as you can.
7. KETTLEBELL STRENGTH & ENDURANCE - Complete the following: 10x10 SA Swings per side (5 minutes) and 5x1 per side Turkish Get-up (10 minutes)
8. THE KETTLEBELL MILE - 20-30% Bodyweight for time

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Testing is not training. KPI test are competitions against previous self, treat your competition days as competition and your training days as training.

More specifically, training days are where you put strength (and whatever qualities you're working on) into your fitness bank. Competitions - which can be actual races or events like KPI testing, etc - are the occasions where you are SPENDING what you've saved in the bank. 

People often mix up these two and make regular training too difficult (by adding in more of something into a training session, or not following prescribed weight, etc); and also by not pushing hard enough during competition.

Give yourself the recovery your body needs so you can get the best resutls possible when you test.

Welcome to the summer time, hypertrophy and body recomposition focused months. We're shifting gears, increasing the volume and intensity of our strength training programming to elicit metabolic and hypertrophic effects on your body. We'll be building on top of the programming we completed in June and challenging you in different ways all with the focus of getting you to be as efficient as possible with your energy expenditure.

​It may just be the fastest way to get ripped without getting skinny. The 6-12-25 method, popularized by Charles Poliquin, facilitates massive lactate spikes, facilitating GH production. That means fat loss while sparing muscle mass.

​What does accumulation mean and what is the goal of an accumulation training block?

Accumulation is just getting as much volume as we can. The difference from intensification is we’re deliberately trying to work body composition, such as improving our fat-mass to muscle-mass ratio, to get more muscle. It’s okay to say that we want to look better, as well as perform better. This accumulation block will build muscle mass and set a foundation for the heavier lifts to come.

This accumulation phase will transition nicely into our later intensification phase where we’re going to be in better condition to handle higher weights more frequently. We will also have greater tensile strength of our joints and ligaments to handle these higher intensities and these heavier loads. We’re going to push through a threshold that we potentially didn’t have before, especially when we’re doing multiple sets of intensities above 80% when your legs are feeling a little tired. 

Let’s dive in a bit deeper on what an Accumulation Block actually is.

There are a couple of central themes behind Accumulation Blocks: Functional Hypertrophy, Hypertrophy, and Muscular Endurance.
This block’s focus is Muscular Endurance. We’re  looking to tax some of the fatigue resistance muscle fibers. Also known as type 1 muscle fibers.

It may just be the fastest way to get ripped without getting skinny. The 6-12-25 method, popularized by Charles Poliquin, facilitates massive lactate spikes, facilitating GH production. That means fat loss while sparing muscle mass.

The 6-12-25 method is where you do three exercises in a row for the same muscle group using minimal rest between those exercises.

​First Exercise: Use a heavier weight for 6 reps. Rest 10 seconds, then do the second exercise.
Second Exercise: Use a moderate weight for 12 reps. Rest 10 seconds, then do the third exercise.
Third Exercise: Use a lighter weight for 25 reps. Rest a few minutes and repeat.

6 REPS: On the first exercise, you do 6 reps, but it's not a true 6RM (rep max) weight. It should be more like a 8-10RM load. Heavy, yes, but not taken to failure.

12 REPS: Most people think of 8-12 reps as hypertrophy work, but it's potentiated by the first relatively heavy exercise in this scenario. That's why you'll experience higher levels of metabolic stress, which decreases your ability to push loading the way you would if this was a stand-alone exercise. But don't worry. The trainability will actually be higher, and because you're using lighter than normal loads, your movement proficiency will be improved.

25 REPS: Strength-endurance requires repeated bursts of high-intensity efforts. It's a maximal force of power production, and you usually hear about it in relation to sports. In our case, it's important because it's coming at the tail-end of this giant set. This means potentiation and metabolic stress are higher, but so is the onset of fatigue, which means you'll likely be using a much lighter load than normal. Some may see this as a detriment but think of it as something that improves the aerobic abilities of fast-twitch muscle fibers.