So you want to ditch the gear for a change and go raw for a bit. Guess what! You are going to need to need to get ready. Don’t jump right into a meet cycle. You aren’t ready yet and will most likely injure your self. Do an 8 week off season cycle to get ready to amp up for the meet cycle o you want to ditch the gear for a change and go raw for a bit. Guess what! You are going to need to need to get ready.
Don’t jump right into a meet cycle.
You aren’t ready yet and will most likely injure your self. Do an 8 week off season cycle to get ready to amp up for the meet cycle.
A couple things you will need to do:
Re-learn your groove in all lifts.
You will need reps. Lots of reps! You will need to re-teach your self how to do the big 3. It doesn’t take long but it does need to happen natural. You have trained your self to sit back be on you heels and touch low on the gut. These don’t equal big raw lifts. You will need to learn to use your pecks and quads again. Change your groove slowly to avoid injury.
Bring your core up.
The gear won’t be there to cover up any weak- nesses. For me this was the hardest part. My core was pathetic at first but I made it strength after months of hard work.
Get your shoulders ready for the beating to come.
All the full range work is going to beat you up at first. You will need a separate delt day. This will get bench moving fast. Think prehab and lots of it as well. Lacrosse ball work, traction, and mobility work is key.
Get you hips ready for the beating to come.
You won’t have the briefs and those small hip muscles will be mad at you. Prehab and lots of band work will help.
Bring up the following muscles that have been sleeping under the gear:
Your quads, glutes, pecks, and delts will need extra attention. You will need to hit these hard like you are pumping up for your first FLEX cover shot.
Conditioning work.
Your recovery will not be as well as it was with gear. Get in shape to combat this. A little goes a long way.
Recovery work.
You will need to do this 3 times per week. Lots of stretching, mobility and soft tissue work. ELITEFTS has a bunch of articles on this. Check out Mike Robertson stuff. He helped me out a lot.
Below is a sample weekly template including all of these things.
As you can see the priority here is building the supporting muscles that have most likely been neglected over the years. I sure know I neglected a lot of them. Do what you like exercise wise but be sure to put the work in. The key thing to notice is how much core, recovery, delt, hip, quad, and conditioning work is included. You don’t need to do this exact workout, but you do need to do these types of things at this level of activity or you will fall apart during your first raw meet cycle. The big 3 lifts aren’t the priority which is why I haven’t shared the big 3 work yet. Below is a smart and easy progression to re-groove the big three. Start light and slowly amp up towards the heavy stuff. Again the goal for this cycle is to condition your body and muscles for the real meet cycle to come. The big 3 work is secondary to that but still needs to be worked with purpose.
Remember: The little things matter and have the biggest impact on meet day.
Last words: Good luck!