Fall In Love With Lifting: This Is Lift With Laura

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of discovering what you’re truly capable of, and Sweat trainer Laura Roberts’  lifting program is designed to do exactly that.

This program is going to take your strength to a whole new level, and you just know it’s going to be good when your trainer tells you to get ready for a lot of sweat and some badass lifting. 

Lift with Laura is available exclusively in the Sweat app. It’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 

What can you expect in Lift with Laura?

Lift with Laura is a 12-week full-body strength training program designed to help you build strength and muscle, with a focus on progressive lifting and metabolic conditioning, alongside some foundational Olympic lifting elements.

There are three 40-50 minute workouts each week - Lower Body, Upper Body and Full Body - plus an optional fourth session that will give you an introduction to Olympic lifting and a space to develop your skills. 

In the three main workouts, you’ll find a combination of heavy compound exercises that work multiple major muscle groups, plus accessory movements and conditioning to level up your strength and fitness even more. Different parts of each workout are based on reps, laps or time.

How does the program progress and what will you achieve?

Over the course of 12 weeks, the complexity and difficulty of the exercises increases to keep you challenged and discovering more of what your body is capable of, but you’re also encouraged to log your weights in the Sweat app to track your progress and see your strength build. 

The program is also split into two six-week training blocks. In weeks 1-6, you’ll progressively build your strength and confidence lifting weights with a mix of heavy compound lifts and accessory movements.

In weeks 7-12, the workouts feature more Olympic lifts and new exercises are introduced to keep you feeling challenged. Some of the Olympic lifts in the Lifting Foundations sessions become more complex, and reps in these workouts also decrease to focus on building strength and power.

Throughout each workout, you’ll have in-app guidance around how hard you should be pushing yourself - aka your RPE or rate of perceived exertion. This is designed to help you continue making progress each week and levelling up without burning out.

By the end of Laura’s program, you can expect to:

• Feel more confident with her training style and exercises

• Feel stronger and be able to lift heavier weights

• Feel your cardiovascular fitness has improved

• Have made progress with your Olympic lifting technique and confidence if you’re completing these optional sessions

• And, as Laura says, you’ll have fallen in love with lifting!

I’m a beginner, is this program suitable for me? 

A strong base level of fitness, confidence lifting weights and feeling comfortable using equipment will definitely help you to hit the ground running with this program, but we don’t want you to feel intimidated if this is your first time trying this style of training. Let Laura’s athleticism motivate you rather than scare you off - she knows exactly what it’s like to be on day one and still remembers when squatting 20kg was her max.

If you’re familiar with the exercises in Lift with Laura but are new to lifting heavy weights, we recommend:

• Start with weights that feel challenging, but you can still complete the full number of reps without compromising your form. 

• Log your weights in the Sweat app, and then you can get a feel for whether you’re happy or want to change your weights in your next workout. 

If you’re new to the exercises and equipment in Laura’s program, we recommend:

• Use the instructional videos in the Sweat app to see a demonstration of each movement before you start and use the muscle groups feature to check which muscles you should be feeling the burn. 

• Select light weights for your first week or two so you can focus on mastering your form, and then think about increasing your weights once you feel confident with the movements. 

The optional fourth workout in each week is also a great space to explore and develop your skills with Olympic lifting movements such as snatches, cleans and jerks!

What equipment will you need?

Having access to a gym will allow you to get the most out of the program by using a range of small equipment (detailed below) as well as large equipment, including:

• Barbell

• Weight plates

• Squat rack

• Dumbbells

• Kettlebells

• Resistance bands

• Plyo box

• Pull-up bar

• GHD machine

• Deadball

• Wallball

• Gymnastics rings

• 45-degree back extension

• Bench

• Skipping rope

Your comfort zone ends here. But your new lifting chapter is only just getting started. Check out Lift with Laura in the Sweat app now, or give it a go with a 7-day free trial!