Lean what!?

By: Derek Wellock

Double Edge Community.  This time of year I, along with the Double Edge team is very busy planning 2020 and reviewing 2019.  This includes prices, class schedules, events, and various other things that take place at Double Edge to make sure we offer the best product and service possible.  As many of you know, last year I backed out of regular coaching. The premise was to spend equal time between bothy gyms and really wrap my head around the similarities, the differences, and help both teams in any way I could to help them ultimately provide you “The Member” the best health and fitness services possible. 

During this time I also focused on fully emerging myself into our product as a member.  I did our nutrition programs, I followed 100% of the group class programming 3-5 days per week.  The last 6 months 5 days per week group class with some early morning recovery cardio. I learned a lot about our programming and the effects it had on my fitness.  What I found out was if you eat healthy whole food, train 60min 5-7 days per week. You get really fit and really healthy.  

Are your minds blown?  It should be, because I am the oldest I have ever been and the healthiest and fittest I have ever been.  I don’t need to recap my journey, but simply about 2 years ago I was not healthy and I was not that fit, I was gaining fat, regressing in fitness, and overall health.  I fixed it. I did it with our products that you all have access to every single day.   

Ok, so what does this have to do with Lean?   You might have noticed that Midtown and South have different Lean’s now?  I want to give everyone an update on what is happening with the Lean and Welded programming going into 2020.  

The last 5 years Welded was written as program that people would do but also mix in some Lean workouts with the Lean workouts still being Welded style, but lighter, more reps, and less complex movements, the reality was Lean was our nice way to onboard new people do our Welded style training without the intimidation factor.   Here’s the problem, it simply is no longer the best way for Double Edge to provide you the best service and we must evolve it in order to evolve you.  

My goal going into 2020 is simple.  Do whatever it takes to inspire you to care the most about your health and fitness.  To do that, you need to be surrounded by people who move you closer to these goals. The best way to do that is to make sure you are in the gym more, the goal is 5 days a week but never less than 3.  That is why the committed club came around. I have found that in 13 years of health and fitness coaching, I have simply never seen someone improve if they aren’t at least doing 3 days per week or more of hard intense physical exercise.  There are no shortcuts, you have to put in the work.  

Over the year, I saw over and over and over people walking into class and not knowing what they are going to do that day on Tuesday and Thursday.  “Lean looks fun” or “I don’t want to do that”. This isn’t a recipe for optimal training frequency. If you do Lean on Tuesday that has 200 air squats, then you decide to do Welded on Wednesday and you are supposed to hit 90% of a 1rm back squat for 3 to 5 reps, you can’t and you simply will not preserve the stimulus and you can’t train optimally 5 days per week.  

It is time to do better.  Going into 2020 here are the changes that are coming.  

Welded is going to be fully written and developed as a 5 day per week program meant to be completed Monday-Friday every week.  This is going to be the backbone of everything we do when it comes to developing optimal health and fitness.  

Lean is going to become its own class on the schedule.  This means it will have a coach and will need to be signed up for ahead of time, and it will be programmed at each gym independently around the Welded Program, based on what space and what equipment is available at each gym.  Going forward the Lean program and class times will be adjusted based on demand and attendance. The goal with it is to offer people an alternative that is “Less Intimidating” it will allow new people to safely develop some GPP and onramp people into our Welded programming.

The primary focus at each gym will be providing and offering the best Welded GPP program available with the intent of you working out 5 days per week.  

Lean will continue at both gyms on Tuesday and Thursday.  Classes will be separated both in gym and on the schedule starting 1/1/2020.  The growth and development of the Lean program will be independent of Welded and will be driven by tracking attendance.  Class times that have less than a 10 person average over a 3 month period we will only offer Welded programming during that hour until attendance numbers support staffing an additional coach and class during that time.

This is just one of the focus points that will be evolving in 2020.  I don’t think everyone is ready for the next one. So I will save that for my next blog post. Haha.   

As always if you have questions or concerns, please reach out and we can meet up.  [email protected].