A reader asks:

Hi guys,

Thanks for the video links for BWER. They will be a great help, is there a way of downloading them to a DVD so I don’t have to wait so long for each to down load each time?

 

Also wondering which Prasara flow to use if I’m doing fat loss chapter?

 

Would like some help as to what order to set up for a 7 day training circuit. I am a Personal trainer and group fitness instructor so my week is set solid.

Fortunately I’m a freestyle instructor so It’s up to me as what I do in 80% of my classes.

Thursday is my hardest day with 3 classes back to back.

Mon, Fri & Sun I’m home to do own practice.

*Own CST practice consists of a mixture (Intu flow, prasara, Flowfit, ageless mob, Body flow and extensions)

 

A 4 day cycle just doesn’t work. Below is my week set up.

 

MON- *own CST practice at home

TUES- 1x 1hr Body tone class / low impact and 6x PT clients

WED- *own CST practice at home, 1x Yoga class and 3x PT clients

THURS- 2x 45min low impact (BW + machines) circuits and 1x 1hr low impact aerobic dance class and 2x PT clients

FRI- *own CST practice at home

SAT- 1x 1hr Body balance class (choreographed yoga/Pilates) and 4x PT clients

SUN- *own CST practice at home

 

Plus Intu-flow every day

Thanks very much for supporting our work. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it.

 

Your questions…

 

>is there a way of downloading them to a DVD so I don’t have to wait so long for each to down load each time?

 

No, at the moment there’s no DVD version of the program. We are thinking about releasing a complete book / DVD set once the entire 4×7 Wave series is complete, but that’s a little way off.

 

We decided to make the BER package completely downloadable so we could get it to you instantly, and so we could cut overhead (production and shipping) costs to the bone in order to pass along the greatest possible value to our customers. We have burned a DVD of the clips in a couple rare instances (for cost plus postage), but that was only when all other means to access them had failed for those individuals.

 

>Also wondering which Prasara flow to use if I’m doing fat loss chapter?

 

That one’s easy – there is only one. We included one Prasara flow with BER. It was designed as a full body, head to toe and core to periphery release. It’s also designed to be accessible to people who are totally new to Prasara. The next step beyond that sequence if you’re looking for more would be Coach Sonnon’s Prasara ‘A’ Series DVD. Really great stuff, and precisely coached so it’s easy to follow and use.

 

 

>Would like some help as to what order to set up for a 7 day training circuit [snip] A 4 day cycle just doesn’t work.

 

To tap into the 4×7 Wave, you’ve got to follow the formula. It’s that specific waving of intensity levels which produces the incredible results. Tinkering with the ratio will reduce the effectiveness of the program (and believe me, over the past 5 or 6 years we’ve tried it in every combination, with a wide range of our athletes). The key to 4×7 is in waving the intensity of your output from low to moderate to high, while incorporating quality active recovery (joint mobility sessions) with compensatory movement (prasara yoga). Do it any other way and it’s no longer 4×7—it’s something else.

 

I read through the notes you provided, and the good news is that there’s an obvious pattern here. You’re basically teaching intensively every second day. Which means that you’re focusing on your own personal practice every second day.

 

The rule with 4×7 is that you can add more rest (remember rest = Intu-Flow) but you can’t add more work.

 

We all have to balance the demands of our day to day lives. Sometimes that gets the better of us, and we need an extra rest day. BUT we also have to reign ourselves back when we tend to do too much. You may feel like you’re bursting with energy on the Low or Moderate days, but if you go balls to the wall you’ll squander what would have been a new peak on your high day. That’s worse. We’re walking a fine line here in order to get optimum results, and we don’t want to tip the balance into overtraining.

 

For your case, I would suggest that you simply add rest days on your heavy days at work. In other words, in terms of BER, do IF only on those days.

 

It would look like this:

 

MON- *own CST practice at home   NO INTENSITY

TUES- 1x 1hr Body tone class / low impact and 6x PT clients  REST

WED- *own CST practice at home, 1x Yoga class and 3x PT clients  LOW INTENSITY

THURS- 2x 45min low impact (BW + machines) circuits and 1x 1hr low impact aerobic dance class and 2x PT clients REST

FRI- *own CST practice at home  MODERATE INTENSITY

SAT- 1x 1hr Body balance class (choreographed yoga/Pilates) and 4x PT clients REST

SUN- *own CST practice at home  HIGH INTENSITY

 

 

Remember, REST = Intu-Flow.

 

It isn’t the ideal case of course, but it’s the best you’re going to do in terms of sticking as close as possible to the 4×7 Wave.

 

Yes, you’re doing a certain volume of work on those days that we labeled REST, but 1) it’s your job, so you’re likely conditioned for it (in other words, it’s already routine and isn’t extra work), and 2) You have this advantage: "Fortunately I’m a freestyle instructor so It’s up to me as what I do in 80% of my classes."

 

If I were in your situation, that’s how I would try it.

 

Does that make sense?

 

Please keep us posted on your results.

john k said:

I have a similar question(s).  I will be playing basketball once a week on Mondays and at my age I consider that a high intensity activity that I will have to recover from.  I would like to do the hypertrophy cycle. I was thinking this;

M – B-ball (high)

T – recovery / J.M. (no)

W – yoga (low)

T – moderate day

F – High day

Sa – no day

Su – low or no day depending on DOMS and joint health

The problems I will run into is working another cardio day in later in the week to supplement the basketball.  If I want to work in cardio on Th or Fr with corresponding intensity should I do it before the workout or will that defeat the purpose of the cycle and break me down too much?  Should I be looking at a different cycle if I want to incorporated the extra cardio day(s).

In my book the chapter that explains the Moderate Intesity Hypertrophy has SuperSlow Eccentric-Number 1 (X3) – Rest 60 Seconds -  then SuperSlow Eccentric-Number 2 (X3) then the instructions say Rest 60 Seconds and return to Max Duration Isometrics 1 (?).  I am thinking that is a typo and that I am moving on the Eccentric/Isometric Contrast portion. 

The SuperSlow Eccentric says 3 reps and Eccentric/Isometric Contrast says 3-5 reps but does not say how many times through for either circuit or if it is one continuous circuit done once.

Thanks, John K

---

Hi John,

>The problems I will run into is working another cardio day in later in the week to supplement the basketball.

What do you mean by "another cardio day"? What sort of work exactly? Also, for what purpose (you say to benefit your basketball training, but in what specific way?)

Your breakdown looks fine to me. With 4×7 you can add an extra recovery day to balance it out / shift the days around your basketball session.

Or… Depending on how you're feeling, you could also try making Saturday a Low day (in other words, skip the No day, but do a thorough joint mobility session before your yoga), and then make Sunday the Moderate day. I'm assuming basketball is always Monday, and will always be a High day.

Placing a Moderate day before your basketball day may help ramp you up so you hit a higher peak at Monday's game. You'd have to experiment with this and record how you feel over the course of a couple weeks. It may or may not be too much output. If it is too much and you're riding close to overtraining, go back to adding the extra No intensity day.

One last thing. To come back to "cardio" – after you're done the Hypertrophy session, I'd consider working some metcon circuits instead of traditional cardio training. With basketball you've got quick bursts of energy and short compressed periods of recovery while still moving. You'll find more direct effect from metcon circuits that compress the rest time. Your body will adapt by recovering faster between bursts of energy, to the point where your heartrate will start to drop in anticipation of rest. We've recorded this with some of the professional fighters we train. (long slow duration running will not be very relevant here – metcon's the way to go)

John,

Piriformis and hams have always been my problem areas too when it comes to tension.

Check out this article by Coach Sonnon on the Seated 1/2 Twist. Focus on hugging the knee to chest while driving the butt cheek to the floor, and sitting up tall (rather than focus on the twist). That should get right into your problem area.

The other main pose you'll want to get friendly with is Pigeon. These two are staples for me when things get tight.

>For my extra cardio I was thinking of either 30 / 90 X 8 or 20 / 10 X 8 (Tabata-like) on a C2 or bike.

20/10×8 would be good, because the focus there is on compressing your recovery – in other words, encouraging your body to recover within those 10 second breaks. That's the adaptation you want to strive for. 30 / 90 x 8 wil build on that, but in this case you're regulating your own burst-recover patterns over a longer period of time. I would start with a tabata cycle and then shift over to the other one after you've seen some significant adaptation. This way they'll build on each other.

The other thing you want to check out when you get the time or resources is Coach Sonnon's RESET DVD. Amazing stuff here – it contains the recovery techniques you'll want to use on those 10 second rest intervals. These are the same methods we use with pro athletes, sports teams and military groups.