Every syllabus at the academy is secretly a training plan. Week one is bodyweight. The load climbs on a published schedule, the deload is called reading week, and the final is a max attempt with spotters, which other institutions call a defense.
The biomechanics lab makes the metaphor literal. Students chart progressive overload in the squat rack and in their citation counts, and the two curves are displayed side by side without further comment.
Add weight slowly. Never round the back of an argument.
Students who complain that the reading load increases weekly are correct. That is the design. The only failure mode the department recognizes is adding weight faster than form allows.
- Filed by
- Coach Mina Alvarez
- Desk
- Academics
- Term
- Spring 2026