Jolt Fitness Training Methods: Lift Sessions
Part 1: Consistency & Compound Strength
Building Real Strength & Muscle Mass: The Jolt Approach to Progressive Resistance
Jolt Fitness leads and empowers busy hard working people to build resilient bodies and create a high-quality life through the power of progressive resistance training. Our methods are rooted in strength and conditioning principles that have withstood decades of time. No gimmicks or fads included. We ignore the “Tik Tok training trends” and root our methods with integrity and experience.
Specifically our Lift and Cross Train sessions are progressive programs designed by Coach Siggy (that’s me!), a trainer with over a decade of experience in all modalities and environments of training. Our Lift sessions are the closest experience you can get to personal training while maintaining the group energy and vibe that we all love! We believe in building a solid foundation of strength using consistent compound movements, and we’re going to help you understand why.
“I worked at gyms across Canada for over a decade. Facilities ranged from recreation centres, independent studios and boutique franchises. As a personal trainer, I kept hitting my head against the wall. Most group fitness classes lacked integrity in basic strength & conditioning principles. While personal training sessions focused on the importance of progressive resistance training, classes were led by methods of ‘entertaining’ and ‘feeling the burn’. Class programming was more geared to filling an hour time slot, then building an effective group training session.
When I opened Jolt Fitness, it was crucial to have integrity in my group training sessions. We strive to offer the highest quality training yielding strength and conditioning principles in a group setting. By joining our group training sessions, you get access to a high quality trainer, education with your form and movement practices, guidance on when to progress, semi custom movement recommendations and that extra motivation to show up for an epic community.
Our methods are revolutionizing the group fitness experience and raising the standard for active health care. We can’t wait to have you join the Jolt Fam!” - Siggy, owner of Jolt Fitness
The Power of Progressive Resistance:
At its core, progressive resistance training is about consistently challenging your muscles to adapt and grow stronger over time.
The benefits include:
Increasing muscle strength and size
Improving bone density
Enhancing functional fitness
Boosting metabolism
Improving overall health and well-being
Progressive resistance training can include modifying elements like intensity, volume (reps and sets), rest periods, tempo, and movements. For example, trying to add more weight to the bar each month (intensity). Or trying to add more reps to your lift at a specific set weight (volume).
One element often ignored in group training: consistency. To see maximal results, your body needs to be exposed to a consistent training stimulus for a significant period, typically 4 to 16 weeks. This allows for genuine adaptation and strength gains, rather than just chasing a temporary pump. If you tweak too many modifiable factors at once or continuously complete random exercises, you’re no longer participating in and reaping the benefits of progressive resistance training.
Consistency is what creates the opportunity for Progressive Overload:
A common training mistake is going to the gym and doing different movements every time. Although people love the entertainment of variety, it does not lead to effective results regarding muscle building and strength. Instead, we want to maximize your time in the gym to produce the best results - therefore you’ll see consistent exercises in each Mesocycle (3 month periods).
This is what makes physical activity different from progressive resistance training. Don’t get us wrong, physical activity and general exercise are still very important and fun - you’ll experience that in our Sweat and Kickboxing sessions designed to get your heart pumping, body sweating, and have fun with a variety of movements and skills.
The consistency of our Lift Mesocycles (see part 2) allows your body enough practice to get strong at a movement, so we can maximize our muscle building potential. Within that 3 month period, you may see small variations in tempo, intensity or volume (sets and reps) and this is where we get the variation from. This type of progressive variation allows our bodies to be consistent in the movement pattern with enough change month to month to avoid plateaus.
Example:
January - Monday - Barbell Assisted Chin Up x 8 reps
February - Monday - Band Eccentric Chin Up x 6 reps with 3 second lowering phase
March - Monday - Band Chin Up x 3-5 reps
Note: the movement pattern stays the same and the variation comes from manipulating elements like tempo, intensity and volume.
Why Compound Movements?
We prioritize compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead presses for a reason. These movements engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, providing numerous benefits:
Efficiency: They maximize your time in the gym, working more muscle groups in fewer exercises.
Functional Strength: They mimic real-life movements, improving your ability to perform daily tasks.
Hormonal Response: They trigger the release of growth-promoting hormones, which contribute to muscle growth and fat loss.
Full Body Strength: They build a well rounded base of strength.
Consistency over Variety:
While variety can be tempting, frequently changing exercises hinders your ability to achieve progressive overload. To truly progress, you need to focus on mastering a core set of movements and gradually increasing the demands on your muscles. This means sticking with a set routine for those 4-16 weeks to allow for true progressive overload.
Your Jolt Journey Starts Here:
At Jolt Fitness, we're dedicated to guiding you through this process. We'll help you master the fundamentals, build a solid foundation of strength, and unlock your full potential.
Part 2: The Jolt Plan: Mesocycles for Macro Results
Building Your Blueprint: Jolt's Mesocycle Approach to Long-Term Strength
In part one, we emphasized the importance of consistent compound movements. Now, let's delve into how we structure your training for long-term success: the Jolt approach to mesocycles and macrocycles.
The Power of Mesocycles:
At Jolt Fitness, we utilize 3-month mesocycles within a larger year-long macrocycle. This structured approach allows us to strategically plan your training, ensuring consistent progress and minimizing the risk of injury or plateaus.
3-Month Focus (Mesocycles):
Each 3-month mesocycle serves as a focused phase of training. This allows you to lock into a consistent routine, master specific exercises, and achieve measurable results. The consistency within each mesocycle is the key to creating real change. We will work to ensure that you are able to capitalize on the progressive resistance training that is best for your goals.
Why This Structure?
Progressive Overload: Mesocycles provide the perfect timeframe for consistent progressive overload, ensuring continuous strength gains.
Injury Prevention: By sticking to a structured plan, we minimize the risk of overtraining and injury.
Plateau Prevention: Mesocycles allow us to strategically vary your training, preventing plateaus and keeping your progress on track.
Measurable Results: Each mesocycle provides a clear timeframe for tracking your progress and celebrating your achievements.
The Year-Long Vision (Macrocycle):
Think of your fitness journey as a year-long project. Our macrocycle provides a comprehensive roadmap, guiding you toward building 360-degree strength and resilience. Throughout the year we could focus on building intensity (getting heavier and lower rep each month) or we may focus on adding volume (increasing the reps and sets each month). It’s not always about trying to just slam more weight on the bar each week, we use progressive methods throughout the year that ask your body to adapt to variety of stimulus. In addition we lay out a 360-degree plan that ensures you’ll be challenged in all movement planes and patterns. So although, it may feel like your first three months of the year is pull-up and squat focused, you know that bench press and deadlifts are waiting for you in the next cycle (depending on your days of training, more on that in part 3). We plan for the long term, avoiding quick fixes (that always fail) and prioritizing sustainable progress.
Once again, it all comes back to consistency. A year long program takes a long term lifestyle based approach to reap the benefits of progressive resistance training.
“Since starting with the progressive resistance training Lift sessions 6 months ago, I have noticed significant strength gains and body composition changes. These improvements only lead me to be more motivated and consistent in my routine.” - Kelly C. (member since 2020)
Part 3: Your Jolt Routine: Choosing Your Training Cycle
Tailoring Your Training: Choosing the Right Jolt Cycle for You
We've covered the Jolt philosophy and our structured approach to training. Now, let's discuss how to choose the right training cycle for your goals.
“I’d like to start by reminding everyone, that this is getting into the “nitty gritty” of exercise science. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the programming talk, remember that all you have to do is show up to the gym consistently and the results will speak for themselves. If you’re loving the extra education and nerd-ing out with me, then keep reading!” - Siggy
Choosing Your Training Split:
Within each 3-month mesocycle, we encourage you to stick to a consistent training split. This allows for optimal adaptation and progress.
Example 1: Full Body 2-3x Week: This split is ideal for beginners or those seeking a balanced approach to strength training. Full body allows you to be the most consistent because you’ll never “miss a leg day”. It could also be a good option for an advanced Lifter if you have a varied schedule that doesn’t always allow you to get into Lift consistently (like our nurses and shift workers).
Example 2: Upper/Lower Split: This split allows for more focused training on specific muscle groups. For example, Upper Body on Mondays, Full Body on Wednesdays, and Lower Body on Fridays (or any variation of this). Which may be a better option for those with specific goals, like growing the glutes or shoulders or our runners/cyclists who may want to avoid more lower body volume during race time.
Aligning Your Split with Your Goals:
The split you choose should reflect your individual goals and consider any other activities you participate in, such as Cross Train or other sports.
Consider how often you can train.
Consider your recovery time.
Consider other activities that you participate in.
Flexibility and Real Life:
While we recommend sticking to a consistent split within each mesocycle (for example, doing upperbody on monday for the full 3 month period), we also understand that life happens. Remember, any movement is better than no movement! If you need to adjust your routine occasionally, that's perfectly fine. We are here to help you live a better life, and that includes being flexible.
Your Jolt Journey, Your Way:
At Jolt Fitness, we're committed to empowering you to take ownership of your fitness journey. We provide the education, so you can feel empowered to take the lead on your health. Although I love providing the science and details of the programming, don’t let this intimidate you. All you have to do is SHOW UP, and we promise to look after you. Remember, it does NOT have to look perfect to be successful. Life has ebbs and flows, there is time when training will be dialled in and times when you may just be checking the box on your workout and that 100% is part of the lifestyle. We'll provide the guidance and support you need, answer all your questions, and help you achieve your goals. Let's build!
