This week as we progress through the Winter 2020 Training Cycle, and finish up our latest mini-cycle [3 week blocks] -  we get to revisit a few classic benchmark workouts… Jackie, Diane, & Elizabeth/Amanda!

Benchmarks or testers are workouts that can give us a lot of information and allow us to check in and see how skills are progressing, what we have improved upon, what needs work, and where we might need to spend a little more time focusing on.

There are many things we can test including: strength, skill, aerobic capacity, CP battery, cyclical conditioning, just to name a few. Depending on the focus of a cycle, these will be included in our benchmarks and testers for testing week. But that’s not where we start. We start at the basics! 

So, when building a skill like handstand push ups in Diane, we started with a landmine press and dumbbell floor press. From there we built into barbell strict press and controlled negatives in the handstand. After...