The MovementLink workout program, mixed with the MovementLink Lifestyle, is designed to be a 1-stop-shop to make us feel good, look good, and get the most out of life. In this article, we are going to take a high level view of our workout program and then dive into how we prescribe workouts in a way that maximized customization and personalization for you and your goals. We have a much more in depth online course that gets into extreme detail on how we design our workout program, that you can find here: MovementLink’s Programming Online Course. There will be some overlap, but this article is specifically designed to provide people following the MovementLink workout program a guide to optimizing their experience and understanding how to read the workouts and select the appropriate number of reps, weights, and which exercises to use. Let’s go!
First of all, you can find the workouts we are doing in class, our run program options, upcoming events, and new MovementLink articles here: The Workouts
We also have an Online Foundations Course if you want to review our MovementLink techniques for various exercises.
Below is an example of one of MovementLink’s Mesocycles. You’ll see that there are 3 x Build Mesocycles (each 3-4 weeks long), 2 Strength Mesocycle (3 weeks long), 1 Peaking Mesocycle (3 weeks long), with a transition week between each, and then a Benchmark Week to wrap up each cycle.
Yearly Calendar - For MovementLink programming, each calendar year is made up of 2 distinct macrocycles, each typically 26 weeks long.
Macrocycle - MovementLink’s periodized programming is designed in Macrocycles. MovementLink’s macrocycles contain multiple, smaller mesocycles, each having a specific focus: Hypertrophy (or Building Muscle), Strength (Strengthening Muscles), and Peaking (Optimally Using and Coordinating Muscles). A macrocycle is a series of mesocycles, organized in a way that builds upon itself to compound results over time. This organization is called periodization.
Periodization - Periodization refers to the organization of mesocycles within a macrocycle in a way in which the effect of each subsequent mesocycle is enhanced by the results from the previous mesocycle(s). What this means is that we build new muscle, then strengthen the muscle, then maximally coordinate the use of the muscle. We build a base of cardio, then then ramp up the intensity and durations.
Mesocycle - A series of weeks that work together to create a block of programming. Each mesocycle is designed to elicit a specific stimulus and the periodization of MovementLink programming orders each mesocycle in a way that builds on top of each other. MovementLink utilizes mesocycles in this order:
Build Mesocycle - The purpose of the build mesocycles is to build strong muscle, a base of cardio, and a foundation of technique. Each macrocycle will include 3 x 3-4 week hypertrophy mesocycles before moving on to a strength phase. In a hypertrophy mesocycle you will typically see higher reps with lower weights.
Transition Weeks - After each mesocycle, we will do a 1 transition week in which we will still workout hard, but the total amount of weight and total reps will be reduced relative to when we are in a 3-week mesocycle to help recover and re-sensitize ourselves to hypertrophy and strength training.
Strength Mesocycle - The purpose of the Strength mesocycle is to strengthen the our muscle fibers and build upon our cardio and technique from the hypertrophy mesocycle(s). We will typically do 2 x 3-week strength cycles before moving on to our peaking phase. In our strength mesocycles, you will start to see heavier weights and fewer reps per set on our primary lower body and primary upper body days.
Peaking - The purpose of the peaking mesocycle is to teach the body how to optimally perform with its new, strong muscle and techniques. We will start to give a larger variety of options on our primary lower body and primary upper body days, so that people can workout in a way that is most specific for their goals. For example, if testing a 1 rep max is of interest, there is an option to build towards that. If testing a true 1 rep max does not fit your goals, then we use the peaking mesocycle to expose ourselves to heavy weight (not maximal weight) and then back down into more of a strength or hypertrophy rep range. This second approach develops technique, reduces risk, and is the best choice for most everyday people.
Benchmark Week - At the end of the macrocycle is our Benchmark week which is a series of easily repeatable and measurable workouts that will provide us insights into our overall fitness. We will look at strength, power, speed, endurance, stamina, and mobility through a functional lens. We can identify areas in which need improvement, but overall, it is a ton of fun to see how much we progress from one mesocycle to another.
Additional things to note that we cover much deeper in MovementLink’s Programming Online Course is how and why we vary volume (how much work we do each week) and intensities across the larger macrocycle.
Workout Day Types
This is covered in much more detail in this article: How to Choose Your Workout Days
Mondays - Primary Lower Body Strength + Short Conditioning
Tuesdays - Long Cardio
Wednesdays - Primary Upper Body Strength + Short Conditioning
Thursdays - Lower Body Power + Medium-length Conditioning
Fridays - Short, HIIT Cardio
Saturdays - Long Grind Workouts
Sundays - Upper Body + Long Conditioning
Our workout program has a lot of variance from day to day, but within that, on Mondays and on Wednesdays within a 3-week mesocycle, for our strength section of our workouts, you will see very similar rep schemes for a given exercise. For example, in a 3-week strength cycle, on each Monday, you may see a progression like this:
Week 1:
Back Squat
1 Set of 5 (65%)
1 Set of 5 (70%)
2 Sets of 5 (60%)
Week 2:
Back Squat
1 Set of 5 (70%)
1 Set of 5 (75%)
2 Sets of 5 (65%)
Week 3:
Back Squat
1 Set of 5 (75%)
1 Set of 5 (80%)
2 Sets of 5 (70%)
All of these percentages are based on an estimate of your 1 rep max (1 RM) for that exercise. Tracking what exercises you use and what weights you lift within these 3-week mesocycles, can be extremely helpful. Most people don’t know their 1 RM for all lifts at all times, which is why we rely on estimating our 1 RMs. For more information, check out the Estimating 1 RMs article here:
Knowing that similar rep schemes will appear on Mondays and Wednesdays is helpful, so that you know if any notes will be helpful for future you. On these days they will.
For our cardio workouts on Tuesdays and Fridays, most mesocycles will follow a progression, so taking notes about your pacing on Tuesdays and Fridays can be very helpful week to week. Most progressions we’ll use will be 4 weeks long and will also show up in the transition week following a 3-week mesocycle. Additionally, when we are using cardio machines like the rower or the air bike or when we are running, we will use terms like, max effort, hard, medium, easy, and slow. To get a feel for what we mean when we use these descriptors, check out our Cardio Pace Table article here:
Here are the most useful things to track over time or remember:
Your Estimated 1 RMs, especially on Mondays and Wednesdays within a 3-week Mesocycle.
Your Cardio Paces, especially on Tuesdays and Fridays within a 3-week Mesocycle + the next Transition Week.
Your Scaling Levels for Bodyweight Exercises
You Box Heights
Your Dumbbell and Kettlebell Weights.
Your Scores from Benchmark Week
This is a lot! We know!!! Your coaches are here for you, so please don’t hesitate to reach out via email or ask us questions in the gym! In the beginning, you’re trying to figure all of this stuff out, but over time, as you gain experience, this stuff gets much easier to work with and will dial your workouts into a level that is optimal for you and your goals.