Every four to five weeks at Landing, our training changes.
The exercises evolve. The focus shifts. New challenges appear.
But while the workouts change, one thing stays the same: our goal is steady, long-term progress. Not random, hard workouts.
This week is the start of Cycle 7, the first of a three-cycle phase that will ultimately lead us into our next “Landing Baseline Week” after Cycle 9.
Think of this phase as laying the foundation.
Before we ask your body to express its strength and endurance during Baseline Week, we first need to build the qualities that make better assessment possible. Over the next three cycles, we’ll focus on improving muscle mass, relative strength, movement quality, and work capacity. Then we’ll put those improvements to the test.
This first cycle has two primary goals:
- Build lean muscle.
- Want to be more confident at the pool or beach?
- Want to be more resilient and reduce your risk of injury?
- Want to age well and stay independent for decades to come?
- Build relative strength. In other words, your ability to move your own body through movements like push-ups and pull-ups.
- Want to make everyday movements, like getting up and down from the floor, feel easier?
- Want to improve your push-ups, pull-ups, and other bodyweight movements?
- Want to keep hiking, golfing, playing pickleball, or riding your bike for years to come?
Why Don’t We Change Every Workout?
One question we hear from time to time is, “Why are we doing some of the same exercises again???”
Imagine you decided to learn a new language.
The first week you studied French.
The second week you switched to Spanish.
The third week you moved on to Italian.
Then German.
You’d probably learn a few words in each language, but you’d never become fluent in any of them.
Strength works the same way.
You can’t improve a movement if you only perform it once. Repeating key movements over several weeks allows your body to learn the skill, build confidence, and gradually become stronger. We can add load, improve range of motion and train harder, safely.
We don’t repeat exercises because we’ve run out of ideas. We repeat them because repetition is what drives results.
Once we’ve built that foundation, we introduce new movements and new challenges, then begin the process again.
Week 1: Learn
The first week isn’t about proving how strong you are.
It’s about learning.
Learn the movements.
Learn the flow of the sessions.
Find starting weights or variations that challenge you without sacrificing good technique.
Think of Week 1 as gathering information. Every set teaches you something that you’ll use over the next three weeks.
Week 2: Build
Now we have a foundation.
Maybe you add five pounds to a lift because Week 1 was a little light.
Maybe you complete more reps with the same weight.
Maybe you move through the session with more confidence and efficiency.
Progress isn’t always adding weight to the bar. Sometimes it’s simply doing the same work but better.
Week 3: Challenge
By now, the movements should feel familiar.
This is the week to push yourself.
Challenge your loading.
Challenge your effort. Maybe even find failure.
Challenge yourself to perform each movement with confidence and intent.
You’re no longer figuring things out. You’ve earned the opportunity to see what you’re capable of.
Week 4: Master
The final week isn’t about surviving.
It’s about demonstrating how much you’ve improved.
The movements should feel smoother.
Your confidence should be higher.
The weights that felt challenging four weeks ago should now feel familiar.
That’s progress.
Success in this cycle might look like adding five pounds to a lift. It might be using one less band on your pull-ups. It might be completing your first full push-up, moving with better technique, or simply walking into the gym feeling more confident than you did four weeks ago.
All of those are wins.
Trust the Process
Real strength isn’t built in one workout.
It’s built by showing up consistently, making small improvements each week, and allowing those improvements to compound over time.
That’s why we train in cycles.
Every session has a purpose.
Every week builds on the one before it.
Every cycle prepares you for what’s next.
At Landing, we don’t chase perfect. We chase consistent progress.
Learn.
Build.
Challenge.
Master.
Then we’ll take what we’ve built into the next phase.
