The Evolved Training Daily Workout Program has reached a lot of people, and I am extremely honored to be able to provide this program to you. Since the release in early May, I have been fielding a number of emails from members that are curious about how to best modify or adjust the program based on certain individual goals or needs. There is a lot of leniency within the structure of the program, and it can easily be adapted to cater to a number of different individual situations. It could be used as your full training program, or you can use pieces of the program as crucial accessory work to benefit another program. The purpose of this blog is to outline the different ways in which you can self-regulate the Evolved Daily program.
Before beginning, it is important to understand the general structure of this cycle of the program:
(note that every 12-16 weeks, the cycle will change, and I will write a blog previewing the next period)
- 4x/week strength and aesthetic focus, alternating upper body and lower body workouts
- One day per week of ONLY conditioning work
- 2-3x/week, the strength-focus day will finish with a short conditioning workout
- On the strength days, certain movements will repeat week to week for metric tracking
I want to include more Olympic Lifting
This is very doable with the program, and the basic structure actually creates an optimal environment to include additional Olympic Lifting work.
- Power Snatches and Jerks can be added prior to upper body days
- Squat Cleans and Squat Snatches can be added prior to the lower body days
This structure is actually quite ideal, because these Oly movements will act as a CNS (central nervous system) primer. The explosive nature of the movements will warm-up the muscles locally without incurring any significant fatigue that might impact the strength work that follows (i.e. squats and deadlifts will always be heavier than the cleans and snatches that proceed them).
I have Adrenal Fatigue, Cortisol, or other hormone issues
The majority of these hormone imbalance issues are directly related to high intensity conditioning work; specifically the “Glycolytic” energy pathway. This is essentially the 3-10 minute time domain of all-out hard work. In severe cases, you would want to avoid shorter “sprint” work, as well as longer conditioning workouts at hard effort. But the inclusion of LISS (low intensity steady state) work should not cause any significant issues (this would be equivalent of going for a 30-45 min walk).
With this in mind, the Evolved program can easily be modified to fit perfectly into this recovery protocol. Just focus exclusively on the 4x/week strength and aesthetic work. Avoid the conditioning workouts at the end of the strength days, and avoid the solo conditioning day. Strive for 10,000 steps per day (approx 4 miles of “movement” throughout the day), and you will be able to achieve all of your body composition goals!
I want to include additional CrossFit Metcons into the program
First off, make sure that you are in a state of high quality hormonal health before you even consider this option. The Evolved program is intelligently programmed to optimize bio-markers of health, but it still a moderate to high volume program. Adding in additional high-intensity work could wreak havoc.
This alteration is slightly more challenging than the others to include into the program. This is mostly because CrossFit WODS are generally both upper and lower body in composition. Inevitably, there will be some crossover effect from the WOD to the strength work. Here are a few options:
- Replace the conditioning work in the strength program with your specific CrossFit WOD
- Replace the “conditioning” DAY with one or two CF workouts (without strength work)
- Perform your CF WOD as morning training, or as a separate session
(Ideal to have as much time as possible between the program and the CF WOD)
If you have the option, it would be best for your WOD to avoid a high volume and/or a high load of a movement from the program (i.e. pullups, squats, deadlifts) and instead opt for movements that won’t have as much crossover impact (i.e. Box Jumps, Double-unders, TTB, Assault Bike, Row, KBS etc…).
I want to include specific Gymnastics work into the program
This is also easily added to the general structure of the program. While the program already includes a large dose of bodyweight movements (Dips, Pull-ups, Burpees, Push-ups, Ring Rows etc…) it does not include the kipping variations that are necessary to develop for CrossFit training.
The different gymnastics skill work pieces, such as Handstand Push-ups, Muscle-ups and kipping movements must be performed if CrossFit is the ultimate end-goal. Therefore, I highly recommend practicing these movements without going to a point of fatigue. Not only will this negatively impact the training, but going to failure on these movements is counterintuitive to technique development.
When you go to failure, you are allowing your body to reinforce improper movement patterns and therefore create muscle memory around failure. The same principle applies with Olympic Lifting. It’s best to stay well shy of failure and focus on perfect movement to develop technique. Let the strength work build your base, and then the kipping will allow you to masterfully demonstrate the strength you’ve achieved.
Add this sub-failure skill work in as a warm-up on upper body days. You can also add in a third day prior to the conditioning day.
I only want to workout 3x per week
Now you’re speaking my language! I am a father for the first time, and with an 8-month at home, this is how I prefer to workout nowadays. It creates the optimal balance of life and fitness for me. I always prioritize 10,000 steps of movement each day (as referenced above in the “hormone” section) and I find that controlling diet, walking daily, and training hard 3x/week has allowed for continued progress in both strength and aesthetics.
There are a few different ways in which this program can be modified to optimize a 3x/week training schedule:
- Strength/Aesthetic Days Only
Alternate Upper/Lower/Upper on first week, then Lower/Upper/Lower on second week
Alternating days would be ideal, but any way that best fits your schedule is fine, since the program naturally alternates different areas of the body
- Include Conditioning Day
Simple fix, one day upper, one day lower, plus the conditioning day. Order and structure is not too important, though it would be ideal to do on alternating days for general recovery purposes.Within this structure you have a choice between two upper body days and two lower body days. You could opt to perform the SAME upper and same lower body day each week, or you could opt to alternate them weekly (essentially hitting each “similar” day every other week).
For STRENGTH gains, it would be best to complete the same day each week. This allows for more time spent on the specific movements for which you want increased strength.
For AESTHETIC purposes, it would be best to alternate the days. This allows for a larger variety of muscles to be trained.
Please let me know if there are any MOD’s you would like me to cover. I’d be glad to add them to this post so other can benefit!
As always, I will answer any questions or concerns you have within the Evolved Training private Facebook group. Become a member of the program to join!
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Bryan
