Persist Training Cycle.
Derek Saffold • September 22, 2025
Hey R3VIVE Athletes,
Our next programming cycle runs from September 15th to November 7th. It's an 8-week cycle that will continue to see strength progression carrying from what we did last cycle in Functional fitness. While Pump will begin working unilateral strength progressions.
Functional Fitness:
This cycle will continue our progression from the skill and lifts from last cycle, while trying to integrate them into more of our conditioning. We will do this by focusing on different portions of the lifts during our strength portion then performing smaller sets of gymnastic skills in our conditioning. You will also see conditioning that is purely focused on our aerobic capacity and working mainly on monostructural elements, such as running, rowing and biking.
Build:
This A-B week cycle is designed to build foundational strength through consistent progression, with a strong focus on Back Squats and Strict Presses, including variations for balanced weekly training.
Conditioning will have some longer aerobic pieces and begin to include more skills like strict Toes-to-Bar, and Pull-ups from last cycle. See the chart below for details.
BUILD
| Strength/Skill | Conditioning | |
|---|---|---|
| MONDAY | A Week -Strict Gymnastic B Week - Strict Press | A Week - Gymnastic Skill B Week - Dumbbell Cycling |
| TUESDAY | A Week - Horizontal upper body strength work B Week - Front Squats | A Week - Short repeat intervals B-Week - AMRAPs and Chippers |
| WEDNESDAY | A Week - Week: Back Squat or RDL work B Week - Focus on upper body bodybuilding | A-Week - Simple Functional fitness workouts B-Week - Gymnastics Biased metcons |
| THURSDAY | Longer metcons while incorporating unilateral, core, and rotational strength. | A-Week - The Triangle Progressions B-Week - Bodyweight/Running conditioning |
| FRIDAY | A Week -Back Squats or Deadlifts B Week - Varied lower body strength work | Benchmark Progressions or Higher intensity workouts. |
Perform:
Continuing our A-B week progressions, this will continue to build on our olympic lifts and focus less on limiters during metcons. You'll see a focus on Basic strength lifts and olympic lifting.
The cycle will allow us to focus on specific fitness aspects while maintaining exercise variety. We'll emphasize Olympic lifts, gymnastic endurance, and bar strength.
Conditioning will hit a mixture of longer aerobic work focused on monostructural elements, Moderate time domain work with gymnastics built in, and Shorter power style work. Refer to the chart below for details.
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PERFORM
| Strength/Skill | Conditioning | |
|---|---|---|
| MONDAY | A-Week: Skill work B-Week: Push Jerk Strength | A-Week: Skill-Based metcons. B-Week: Barbell Cycling intervals |
| TUESDAY | A-Week: Horizontal upper body strength work B-Week: Various styles of Cleans | A-Week: Short repeat intervals. B-Week: AMRAPs and Chippers |
| WEDNESDAY | A-Week: Snatch progression B-Week: Upper body pulling strength | A-Week: Simple Functional fitness workouts. B-Week: Gymnastics Biased metcons |
| THURSDAY | Longer metcons while incorporating unilateral, core, and rotational strength. | A-Week: The Triangle Progressions. B-Week: Bodyweight/Running conditioning |
| FRIDAY | A-Week: Back Squats or Deadlifts B-Week: Snatch progressions | Benchmark Progressions or Higher intensity workouts. |
Pump:
Our pump Cycle will focus on Unilateral Strength. This will allow us to not alloy continue building strength and muscle but also focus on creating more balance between different sides of our bodies. Each session will start with some heavy Single side work, before hitting bi-lateral exercises and accessory pieces for the day.
PUMP
| Strength Intensity | Strength Balance | |
|---|---|---|
| MONDAY | A-Week: Dual DB Strict press B-Week: Arnold Presses | A-Week: Push-up+ Tricep extensions + Front/lat raises B-Week: Dips +Plank Up downs |
| TUESDAY | A-Week: Incline Chest Supported Rows B-Week: Single arm KB supinated Rows | A-Week: Strict pull-ups + Tall kneeling halo’s B-Week: Commando pull-up + Bicep Curls + Row body saw’s |
| WEDNESDAY | A-Week: Contralateral Lateral Lunge B-Week: Barbell Split Stance RDL | A-Week: Glute Bridge Walk Out + Goblet Reverse lunge +Sumo Deadlift High Pulls B-Week: Alt Curtsey Step down + Gliding Hamstring Curl |
| THURDAY | A-Week: Incline Chest Supported Rows B-Week: Single arm KB supinated Rows | A-Week: Strict pull-ups + Tall kneeling halo’s B-Week: Commando pull-up + Bicep Curls + Row body saw’s |
| FRIDAY | A Week - Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat B Week - Front Foot Elevated Split Squat | A Week - Goblet Cyclist Squat + Pike leg Lift overs. B Week - Goblet Squat hold + Goblet Tall kneel to stand + Goblet Squat. |
What is the March of Dimes? The March of Dimes is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of mothers and babies, with a focus on preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. Learn more about the March of Dimes here. Why is it important to us? We are excited to host a workout in support of the March of Dimes and the South Shore Hospital NICU team. My sister-in-law, Amanda Dougherty, and my nephew, Owen Dougherty, received a lot of care during Owen's premature and traumatic birth. Amanda and her family will be walking on the SSH NICU/SCN team in the March for Babies walk on May 9th, and we would love to support her by donating to the cause and helping other families in need. When's the charity class? We would love for everyone to come join us, no matter your fitness level, in support of this great cause. The class will be hosted on Sunday, April 12th, at 11 am. T-shirts will also be available for purchase as a preorder up until March 27th. All proceeds from registration of this event and profits from all shirts purchased will be donated to the SSH NICU/SCN team under Amanda Dougherty. Donate and Jump into Class If you would like to donate more, you can go directly to Amanda’s page and donate here.
Strength expression is our ability to show or utilize the strength we have. We call it expression because in the world of lifting, CrossFit, functional fitness, or training, our ability to show that strength varies. Even though our potential strength is the same, we are not always able to fully express it the way we want. Whether that is hitting a max back squat, doing heavy thrusters in a CrossFit style workout, or hitting that heavy clean complex when olympic lifting, we will not always be able to hit our maxes, this is because of factors outside of just our strength itself.
Ever walk into the gym and not sure what to do? We put together a program to help eliminate that feeling and give you confidence and the accountability to reach your goals. Introducing EL3VATE where we want to EL3VATE your strength, habits, and mindset!
