What are some "wins" you have had this summer? Are you improving your strength? following a consistent plan? Leveling up your skills? Let me know in the comments!

I get this question from athletes a lot. If you use our programming, then you know we use something called the RPE scale. RPE stands for "Rate of perceived exertion" and is a 0-10 scale with 10 being max effort / maxing out weight. We keep our workouts the same for 4 weeks at a time. As a general rule of thumb, week 1 of a new lift should be performed at RPE 6-7/10, week 2, 7-8/10, week 3, 8-9/10, and week 4, 9-9.5/10. Many new athletes struggle to know what a "6/10" should feel like on the RPE scale. To help, we use something called the RIR scale (Reps In Reserve) and it is directly proportional to the RPE scale. If you do a new exercises with an RPE of 6/10, then your RIR (amount of reps you left in the tank) should be 4. 6+4=10. The number should always add up to 10. If you do an exercise with an RPE of 10/10 that means you went to failure and you have no reps left in the tank. As you gain more experience, test yourself by going to failure on a lift you have been practicing for at least 6-8 weeks to see how many reps you actually had left in the tank. What further questions do you have about this?

Summer Mode at Carterville means strength and conditioning, learning to work with new teammates, teaching levels of progression, drilling technique, and getting ready for football season! We will be going to Camp Jeff at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin June 14-17 and hosting a multi-team camp July 22-24. I am so excited about our new team! New skill alert…one of our new freshmen hit a BHS to extended inversion on her first attempt! You should have heard the squeals! I credit that new skill to my returners participating in Strength 4 Cheer over the last year. The flyer received excellent feedback during inversion drills and has an excellent standing BHS. So excited for every open gym, weight room work, and camp this summer!