I was a bit wary of starting this log given that I post infrequently, and finding time to pop on-line and post can be difficult. Also, since I never really introduced myself (as most newcomers to the forum tend to do) I wasn't sure if the interest would be there. But I figured I could make a start and see how it goes, and along the way I might be able to get some good advice from other members.
I've just come off the back of a lengthy break in training - about 3 weeks'ish - due initially to having a planned week off but then falling ill with a nasty cold over Christmas; great timing.
From around March of last year until December I followed the three hypertrophy workouts and the first two strength workouts in Alwyn's NROL. I also had a couple of phases in which I designed my own programs to take care of postural and imbalance issues.
For the start of 2007 I am going to try something different. I've been inspired by two articles and have taken the time to study them both carefully before deciding to take them on.
The first article was Alwyn's '7 keys to athletic success' (http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1262526) in which he provided an overview of what a "session" under his supervision will consist of. Alwyn was gracious enough to credit Mark Verstegen with some of the ideas for his article since it is a close parallel to the structure of those in Mark's book 'Core Performance' which I highly recommend. While I have tried in the past to cover much of what Alwyn proposes for each session, I hadn't structured it this way before, so here is an opportunity for me to do so.
The second article was Eric Cressey's 'No-Bulk Strength Training' article from the October issue of Mens Fitness USA edition, which I picked up while on vacation in the States. As the title says, it is a program aimed at getting stronger, not bigger. For whatever reason, I seem to lose strength quickly if I have a layoff, but it does come back just as quickly once I resume training provided the layoff hasn't been too long. I wanted to kick off thr New Year by concentrating on strength and Eric's article offers something very different to what I have done before. I won't give too much away now as the program will become clearer in subsequent posts, but there are ME days and DE days in there and some exercises I haven't tried, such as Floor Press and Walking Lunges.
So what I'll be doing is Eric's 4 week program and incorporating Dynamic Flexbility, Prehab, Movement Preparation and other stuff.
As well as seeking advice from others as I go on, I hope to pass on lessons I've learned too.
If you got to the end of this first post without getting bored then thanks for reading and I hope you'll come back to the thread on a regular basis to see how I'm getting on.
I'll be posting the first workout and how I did soon.
Comments: I have a predominantly desk bound job working in the field of I.T, which means sitting on my backside most of the day, so you can probably guess that it is a constant battle to prevent bad posture and tight muscles.
Though foam rolling is perhaps better suited to post-workout, I am confortable starting my workout this way as I am tighter than a Scotsman's wallet (and that is particularly tight let me tell you).
It should come as no surprise to most that foam rolling the IT band was fuggin painful. I don't care what people say about childbirth, it just isn't as painful as foam rolling the IT band. Mind, I have a very low pain threshold
Comments: Once again, going against the grain here by static stretching prior to the resistance portion of the workout. I really don't have that much of a problem with this; as I said, I'm tight and any loss of strength I may have as a result will be short-lived and given that the next portion of my workout will be some dynamic mobility I don't think my stength work will be adversely affected.
Dynamic Mobility:
bird dog - 5 reps
supine bridge - 12 reps
hip corrections - 8 reps
high knee walks - 5 reps
pull-back butt kicks - 5 reps
mini-band side steps - 10 reps each direction
cradle walks - 5 reps
single leg RDL - 5 reps
reverse warrior lunge - 5 reps
walking spiderman - 5 reps
alternating lateral lunge - 5 reps
squat to stand - 8 reps
Comments: I cannot recommend Eric and Mike's 'Magnificent Mobility' DVD and E-manual enough. The above exercises had a greater emphasis on glute activation work as the strength workout to follow is lower body. Quite frankly, I don't get any help from my glutes at all; they are numb, my piriformis is tight and they just aren't firing. I shall probably stick to the above list of exercises for at least the first couple of weeks and I'll be doing them on off-days too.
One benefit of dynamic mobility work is that it is a mini-workout in itself; having been rested for 3 weeks I was puffing by then end of it
Resistance training: Ok, the meat of the workout. I'll just list what I did but not the loads because I'm very weak and too ashamed to put into print what I lift - more about this in an upcoming post.
1A Deadlift 3 x 3 10s rest
1B Rim Jump 3 x 4 180s rest
2 Walking Lunge 3 x 7 each side 45s rest
3A Pull-Thru 3 x 8 30s rest
3B Reverse Crunch 3 x 12 30s rest
4 Suitcase Deadlift 3 x 6 each side 45s rest
Comments: Overall, I really enjoyed this workout. After my lay-off, I kept the intensity lower than usual (say, 80-85% of what I would normally lift) even though it is meant to be a maxmimal stength emphasis program.
Not sure about technique for Rim Jumps so from a standing position I deep squat and exploded up into a jump and on returing to terra firma I just repeated without pausing.
Walking Lunges are to Eric Cressey what Bulgarian Split Squats are to Alwyn Cosgrove. Of course I've don't lunges before, but not walking and I sure as heck could feel it during the second set. Bring on the DOMS
Suitcase Deadlift was also a new one to me. I went light as I wasn't sure how I could handle the balancing of the barbell but it turned out pretty well. The key here I think is to maintain an upright posture without leaning in the direction of the load so this presents a great challenge for the core musculature. Cool.
The main problem I had was poor conditioning and my lower back. I was fairly panting toward the end of the workout, but especially so during the Walking Lunges (45s rest between sets was brutally effective in showing up my lack of conditioning). My lower was aching during the suitcase deadlift. This has been a long term problem for me whenever I have done workouts that emphasis a lot of lower back stability and/or strength.
Overall, a great workout. Structurally very different to what I have done before. Looking forward to the next workout which is upper body focused.
Looking really good so far. Just out of curiosity...how long did your workout take with all the bells and whistles?
Hi L'ilJ, here is quick breakdown:
Foam roller: 9 mins
Static stretching: 12 mins
Mobility: 15 mins
Resistence training: 35 mins
So, about an hour and ten all in. Over time, as my flexibility improves and become less tight, I can reduce the number of exercises I do or move stretching to post-workout at a time later in the evening when the muscles are less pumped.
Most of my workout logs keep a record of the total length of the workout, but I decided to keep a record of each component of these workouts as the structure was so different to what I had done before and I was interested to see how long these took to do.
For anyone familiar with the '7 keys to success' article, you might notice that there are still some difference between the session structure Alwyn proposes and what I have implemented.
I will be doing core work on off-days. My core is relatively weak and needs emphasis.
Injury prevention, or Prehab work, hasn't been given it's own section in thr workout, but there are elements of prehab stuff within the program, e.g. external rotations. I don't have any major structural or imbalance issues right now so I am going to see how the 4 weeks go on and in the next phase of training I will be putting my own program together which will include rehab stuff in it's own section as per '7 keys to athletic success'.
There is no elasticity/reactive/SSC work other than if you include Rim Jumping and or DE work. Coming back after a layoff, I am no comfortable including this element during this 4 weeks. Once conditioning improves I will be looking to include this section in it's own right as I like the idea of being a bit more 'springy'.
Energy systems work will also be moved to off days. I have to be careful here though; I don't want to compromise recovery of the lower body by performing HIIT, or steady jogging/running the day after. As it is, I am sufferring majorly with DOMS of the hammies and glutes, and it is all I can do to sit and stand without looking crocked!
Hopefully, you'll see that I'll be incorporating most of the '7 keys' but organised in such a way a to accomodate current fitness levels and lifestyle.
The lifestyle thing is important. I am not a morning person. I train in my home gym when I get home from work which is usually between 4:30pm and 5:30pm. I time the workouts so that I can have my evening meal with my wife within 5 mins of finishing the workout. We don't like eating late so I try to createa length of workout that takes this into account.
Just thought I'd add the following notes about Eric's program.
The recommendation is to do the workout on the following days:
Monday - Workout A
Tuesday - Workout B
Thursday - Workout C
Saturday - Workout D
I will actually be performing the workouts every other day, unless other liftstyle distractions cause me to change.
There are no lifting tempo prescriptions, so I will be lifting fast/explosively, lowering under control and then have a slight pause before lifting again. The idea is to lift beeg in the major lifts and I see no sense in lifting slowly.
Come to think of it, outside of rehab, beginners, learning new lifts, then all else being equal I believe 90% of the time I should be lifting fast and lowering under control. I'll probably expand on this in a later post.
Warm-up:
lunge with twist
lateral lunge with opposite hand reach and touch
ball bridge/russian twist
inch worm
Upper body mobility:
foam foller parallel
foam roller perpendicular
foam roller segmental
closed kinetic chain upper extremity stability
shoulder circle big/little
wall slide
PNF diaganol with lunge
active write mobilization
Comments: Most of you will be very familiar with Mike and Bill's "Inside/Out" DVD. Like Eric and Mike's MM DVD, this is a tremendous product. I definately recommend purchasing the E-manual that comes with the DVD as it is a handy reference when working out in the gym.
The foam roller work has been quite painful. Not surprising really, as I feel a little knotted and thight in that area. As time passes I am sure this will get better.
Interestingly, I think I have developed a bit of scapular winging recently which wasn't there before and this made it difficult to get the scapulae out of the way during foam rolling. I will be doing scap pushups in the workout so this will help.
The wall slides are more difficult than they appear. This exercises definately showed how tight I was.
Resistance training:
1 Floor press 3 x 3 180s rest
2A Neutral Grip DB Bench Press 4 x 7 90s rest
2B One-Arm DB Row 4 x 7 90s rest
3A Scap Push-up 3 x 15 10s rest
3B Incline Trap Raise 3 x 15 10s rest
Comments: Wow, I really enjoyed this workout.
I hadn't done Floor Presses before and so I wasn't sure what to expect. Couple that with not having benched for 3 weeks and I was a little wobbly technique-wise.
Though warm-up sets are not prescribed in the article, I actually did 3 warm-up sets. My own personal hero is Ian King and I religiously followed a warm-up protocol prior to the work sets that he recommends.
In terms of weight used I was surpised by how much weight I actually used. Although my intention was to go deliberately light I do think I went too light and so my in my final work set I used more weight then the first. I have noted in my workout log what weight I should use next time.
As far as technique goes I made sure I was tighter than a nun's gussett, keeping glutes, upper back and glutes tight and planted my feet firmly into the floor. Keeping the elbows tucked was also, for me, important.
I was pleased to be doing One-Armed DB Rows since, as someone who followed H1-3 and S1-2 in Alwyn's NROL, I have been doing a lot of bilateral rowing (BB bent over rows and cable rows). Going back to unilateral DB back work is great for balance and variety and it is also a good balance for the DB chest work.
Scap Pushups were fine except that 3 x 15 was tough toward the end. I can feel it in my upper back this morning.
Incline Trap Raises were tough and I used no additional weight. So why was it tough? Well, I decided to use to no weight so I could concentrate on grooving sound technique and muscle recruitment. What I tend to find is that my shoulder joint seems to fatigue very quickly and though not painful, it is as if I get a pump in the area and movement becomes restricted. I am sure tightness is probably a cause too so we'll see how things go.
Further comment: Overall, a great workout. It took an hour exactly with the resistance training portion taking 40 mins.
I got a nice little bonus of a good pump at the end due to the higher volume accessory exercises. Though primarly a strength focused program, the fact that I am doing new exercises is enough in itself to elicit hypertrophy due to new muscle recruitment patterns.
The short rest periods between the bench press and rows also helps in this regard. Having short rest periods is not just good for conditioning and hormonal responses, but we don't want all the muscle fibres to recover between sets, so we can encourage subsequent sets to activate unused muscle fibres which, in turn, helps with muscle growth.
Later today, more foam roller work and AIS stretching...details later.
Workout C complete last night. I'll repeat stuff I do from previous posts to save people scrolling back if interested.
Foam rolling: hamstrings, IT band, quads, groin, glutes
Comments: I was surpised how umcomfortable it was foam rolling the quads. Also, my wife caught me humping the foam roller while doing the groin area and adductors
Dynamic Mobility:
bird dog - 5 reps
supine bridge - 12 reps
hip corrections - 8 reps
high knee walks - 5 reps
pull-back butt kicks - 5 reps
mini-band side steps - 10 reps each direction
cradle walks - 5 reps
single leg RDL - 5 reps
reverse warrior lunge - 5 reps
walking spiderman - 5 reps
alternating lateral lunge - 5 reps
squat to stand - 8 reps
Comments: Balance on a few of these exercises is a problem; Bird Dogs, Cradle walks and Pull-Back Butt kicks moreso. Also, my lower back was a bit achy during Alternating Lateral Lunge.
Resistance training:
1 Speed Pause Squat 8 x 2 @ 50% 1RM 45s rest
2A Elevated Deadlift 3 x 5 120s rest
2B 90/90 Stretch 3 x 10s holds each side 0s rest
3 BB Reverse Lunge 3 x 5 45s rest
4A Side Plank 3 x 30s 30s rest
4B Ab Wheel Roll Out 3 x 8 30s rest
Comments: Once again, another great and interesting workout.
As documented in the Training Forum I actually changed the first exercise from a Spee Box Squat to the Speed Pause Squat. Unfamiliarity with Box Squats was the main factor. I tried to make sure I got the butt back and pushed out the knees to encourage gluteal recruitment; I think it worked and I coupled with the mobility exercises done prior to this exercise I feel the glutes got more involved than usual.
To be honest, given the light load and the briefness of the sets, I am not going to recognise the benefits of the speed element until further down the line. I simply don't have the experience to know, see or feel what the effects are yet.
I was mightly pleased with my Elevated Deadlifts. I was lifting more weight than I expected even though the intention was to keep light the first week back to training. Technique felt great too.
BB Reverse Lunges presented a good challenge to balance, as one might expect. But what the fugg is it with leg training that gets your legs feeling like they're on fire and making me feel so nauseous so quickly. The short rest period between sets for this exercise also showed up my lack of conditioning again.
Side Planks were ok. Tougher on the left side thank the right. I did another exercise substitution here as well; I change the BB Roll Out from Box to a Ab Wheel Roller on grounf because my rubber Olymipic weights are hexaganol Technique is crucial with roll outs; I kept the body really tight and tried my best to squeeze the glutes throughout. Not too bad.
The strength training portion took 40mins to complete and the foam rolling, stretching and mobolity exercises took 30mins total.
Forgot to mention that on off days I am doing a warm-up followed by static stretching and foam rolling, or I am doing mobility exercises as per Magnificent Mobility.
2A Close Grip Bench Press 3 x 5 60s rest
2B Weighted Close Grip Chinup 3 x 5 60s rest
3A Wide Grip Seat Row 3 x 10 30s rest
3B DB External Rotations 3 x 12 30s rest
Comments: Another interesting and enjoyable workout.
Speed Bench Pressing not something I have done before. I do prefer to lift fast, or explosively, but going lighter (50% of 1RM) means you can really emphasis the speed.
One of the best tips I have ever had was to make sure I tucked my elbows in during benching; this has made a huge difference to my shoulder health and performance.
I was surpised at how much weight I could use during Close Grip Bench Press and was pleased with how I did here. I was a little wobbly due to the closer grip and not having close gripped for a while. I usually go 12" between grips.
For Close Grip Chinups I went bodyweight for all reps. It is my first week back and I was happy to do that, though I have done 10 full range chinups at a tempo of 301 a few weeks ago.
Wide Grip Seated rows I have never found comfortable. I think it is something to do with the shortened range of motion that the wider grip promotes. I think it is one of those exercises that you also have to be careful of hunch the upper traps during the pull.
External Rotations were done by setting the incline bench to around 70 degrees, kneeling to the side and resting the elbow on the bench for pivotting (I hoe that is clear).
Further comment: All in, a shorter workout at 45 mins, mainly due to more efficiently in warm-up and upper body mobility exercises.
Next week was to see a bit of a change to the workout parameters. However, as I intentionally went light in the first week I am going to repeat it as above using loads closer to my usual. This means that the modifications to be done for the subsequent workouts will have more relavance to what I am capable of.
Just thought I d add that I am, as my US friends are fond of saying, stoked.
I took delivery of the following books; "Supertraining" and "Facts and Fallacies" by Mel Siff, and "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance" by Stuart McGill.
I should be able to rattle through these over a cup of cocoa tonight
Wow, you turn your back for a couple of days and find your log way off the radar.
I have decided to repeat the first week rather than go into the what would have been the second week of Eric's program with the modifications that accompany. I went fairly light first week back and I wanted to repeat the first week to get the numbers up to something reasonable to give the remaining weeks something to work from closed to what I can do.
With that said, I briefly comment on the first workout of this week...
Comments: Feels better all round, but the IT band is still a killer.
Dynamic Mobility:
bird dog - 5 reps
supine bridge - 12 reps
hip corrections - 8 reps
high knee walks - 5 reps
pull-back butt kicks - 5 reps
mini-band side steps - 10 reps each direction
cradle walks - 5 reps
single leg RDL - 5 reps
reverse warrior lunge - 5 reps
walking spiderman - 5 reps
alternating lateral lunge - 5 reps
Comments: Got though these drills more efficiently than first time round. I really do feel the benefit of these; more prepared for the strength portion to come.
Resistance training:
1A Deadlift 3 x 3 10s rest
1B Rim Jump 3 x 4 180s rest
2 Walking Lunge 3 x 7 each side 45s rest
3A Pull-Thru 3 x 8 30s rest
3B Reverse Crunch 3 x 12 30s rest
4 Suitcase Deadlift 3 x 6 each side 45s rest
Comments: Very please with Deadlift performance. I am lifting much more than the previous week. I was having to add more in the 2nd and 3rd sets as I seemed unable to judge what I could do. I have marked down in my log what I figure will be a good weight for next week.
Walking Lunges were also better this week. I found them brutal last week and suffered majorly with DOMS. But as I sit and write this and I not suffering as much. Very effective exercise at targetting the glutes and hammies.
Otherwise, not much to say other than the loads were increased acroos the board and conditioning surprisingly better; not as much huffing and puffing.
Warm-up:
lunge with twist
lateral lunge with opposite hand reach and touch
ball bridge/russian twist
inch worm
Upper body mobility:
foam foller parallel
foam roller perpendicular
foam roller segmental
closed kinetic chain upper extremity stability
shoulder circle big/little
wall slide
PNF diaganol with lunge
active wrist mobilization
Comments: Love the foam roller work. Last week it felt a little uncomfortable but this week it felt a lot less painful; I actually enjoyed it. Good warmup and ready for the strenght workout to come.
Resistance training:
1 Floor press 3 x 3 180s rest
2A Neutral Grip DB Bench Press 4 x 7 90s rest
2B One-Arm DB Row 4 x 7 90s rest
3A Scap Push-up 3 x 15 10s rest
3B Incline Trap Raise 3 x 15 10s rest
Comments: Another very pleasing workout. I was surprised at the weight used for the Floor Press; using a lot of weight and bode well for the planned changes that Eric has in store for subsequent weeks.
I was also taken aback at the weight used for the DB Bench Press and Rows. Though the sets were for 7 reps I found I had misjudged the weight and had to add a couple more reps; this is having read Dos's recent comments about using a load and not wasting reps if you feel you have some more reps in the bag.
As before, Scap Pushups were fine except that 3 x 15 was tough toward the end.
Further comment: The morning after the workout I am feeling a little sore in the anterior delts. Now, this could be DOMS, having gone much heavier than I have for a while, but the worry is that I have felt soreness like this before in the same place and it became quite a problem. I recall it tooks weeks and months for my anterior delts to become ok again. We'll see how it goes.
This is a very detailed and informative log, FS. Nice job. I may have missed it but I didn't see where you outlined your goals. Where are you at now and where are you trying to be by the end of the program?
__________________
"Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right." - Henry Ford
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss
"Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw
This is a very detailed and informative log, FS. Nice job. I may have missed it but I didn't see where you outlined your goals. Where are you at now and where are you trying to be by the end of the program?
Oh dear, someone is actually reading my log
To be quite frank, I am not very good with goal setting. I appreciate this is heresy in strength training and in fitness generally.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, until I reached my late 30's I had always been weak and so the only goals I have set myself over the last 3-4 years was to get bigger, stronger and leaner. As far as I have been concerned, so long as I was making progress in either of these areas I have been happy.
I think part of the reason I hadn't set more specific goals is that I am a keen student of strength training and I followed the work of Ian King, Chad Waterbury, Alwyn Cosgrove, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, amongst others, and the programs I have followed were chosen for a) their suitability for what I wanted to work on at that time, and b) for the education I would get in studying their programs. I don't just do a program; I like to study it so I can understand why they have been desgined in the way they are.
This latest program by Eric is a case in point. I hope I am not misinterpetting it, but it has a powerlifting feel to its structure, involving ME, DE and RE days, and accessory lifts. And by pulling in dynamic mobility of the lower and upper body (Eric, Mike and Bill's stuff) and a bit of Alwyn's/Mark Verstegen's stuff too, I am piecing together the things I have been reading voraciously for the last year or so.
Yup, how else are you going to be kept accountable.
I'm guilty of not setting firm goals either, FS (as you no doubt saw from my log ). I know generally where I want my training to lead (i.e. long term goals) but am poor at setting specific shorter term goals. Having said that, I don't really lack motivation so I'm not sure the shorter term goals are all that important. Sounds like you may be of similar ilk.
__________________
"Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right." - Henry Ford
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss
"Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw
Workout C complete last night for a second time. As before, I'll repeat stuff I do from previous posts to save people scrolling back if interested. Someone actually did sneak in here and post last night Thanks K-Court.
Foam rolling: hamstrings, IT band, quads, groin, glutes
Dynamic Mobility:
bird dog - 5 reps
supine bridge - 12 reps
hip corrections - 8 reps
high knee walks - 5 reps
pull-back butt kicks - 5 reps
mini-band side steps - 10 reps each direction
cradle walks - 5 reps
single leg RDL - 5 reps
reverse warrior lunge - 5 reps
walking spiderman - 5 reps
alternating lateral lunge - 5 reps
Comments: I like these mobility exercises. However, as always, towards the end my lower back starts to ache, as if it is pumped, and affects my performance. This is starting to frustrate me now. I've put up with it for a long time now. I'd hoped things would improve with the stretching and mobility work but it isn't. Maybe it is a technique thing; maybe I'm not keeping the lumbar back in good alignment or I'm just not keeping the core tighter. I might have to badger Eric or Mike for help.
Resistance training:
1 Speed Pause Squat 8 x 2 @ 50% 1RM 45s rest
2A Elevated Deadlift 3 x 5 120s rest
2B 90/90 Stretch 3 x 10s holds each side 0s rest
3 BB Reverse Lunge 3 x 5 45s rest
4A Side Plank 3 x 30s 30s rest
4B Ab Wheel Roll Out 3 x 8 30s rest
Comments: I wasn't as quick on the Speed Pause Squat this time round. I upped the weight only 2 1/2 Kg and this seemed to slow me down. I wasn't expecting that. Next time I'll put that weight back down.
Very pleased with the load for Elevated Deadlift - much increased. Lower back was struggling a little bit but I worked very hard on bracing the abs, squeezing the glutes and keeping the lower back arched. Heavy deadlifts really test my mental resolve; on the one hand I love them because I love to lift heavy (relative to me of course) but it can be brutally demanding and I wonder how I got to the end of the sets.
Reverse Lunges were also good. Better balanced, but I did go lighter than I should. I just couldn't judge the weight correctly. Going in reverse for lunges is a nice change of pace.
Conditioning has been much better this week too and I am quite surpised by that. But for the start of the third week, which begins this Saturday, I'll be introducing soem interval training. But I need to be careful; with two lower body dominant days I don't want to compromise recovery with my intention to do treadmill intervals.
I might actually do either a) treadmill stuff as mentioned, b) barbell complexes (never done before), c) tabata protocol (short, sweet and hellish), or d) leg matrix (where I reach a near death experience in a little under 3 mins).
I would like to post pictures of my home gym but the image sizes are too big. I'll start a thread in the off-topic forum for assistance. So, if you see this post and think you can help, head over there. Cheers.
Very nice setup, FS. I'm seriously jealous - especially after struggling to do my workout with all the newbs at the gym last night. BoM is very difficult to do when the gym is crowded since there are so many equipment changes.
Sorry to hear your back's acting up after the mobility work. Definitely check in with Eric or Mike and see if they have any suggestions. Let us know what they say.
__________________
"Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right." - Henry Ford
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss
"Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw
I've just come off the back of a lengthy break in training - about 3 weeks'ish
As I was reading that I was expecting months, not weeks, lol. I don’t think 3 weeks is lengthy! It’s a bit long, but not lengthy and certainly justified from the illness. Glad you’re posting a log. It will be interesting to follow your progress.
Quote:
I don't care what people say about childbirth, it just isn't as painful as foam rolling the IT band.
I’ve done both and this is just not true. :p Just be glad you’re a man.
Quote:
For anyone familiar with the '7 keys to success' article, you might notice that there are still some difference between the session structure Alwyn proposes and what I have implemented.
I will be doing core work on off-days. My core is relatively weak and needs emphasis.
Alwyn’s 7 keys article was great and you know I trust Eric too.
I read Alwyn’s recommendations as
MAMP
Prehab (This could be part of the MAMP group.)
Core (I think that if your core is a priority, then do it here, not on off days. It works as movement prep too.)
Plyos (OK, I can see you leaving this one to whatever Eric put in his program)
Lifting
Energy System Work (I agree with doing this on off days for now. Build up your tolerance gradually.)
Flexibility (I think you’d get more from this doing it on off days after your energy system work.)
I understand you like to make it your own, but don’t veer too far off the path. I think you’ve got a pretty good plan, but if you wanted to you could make more of your MAMP include core stability. I think of the first three parts (MAMP, prehab and core) as really one little circuit. If you choose several movements that tax the core, then you’ve done it all at once.
Quote:
My own personal hero is Ian King and I religiously followed a warm-up protocol prior to the work sets that he recommends.
Doing Ian King’s programs sold me on his warm-up strategies too! I was amazed how much difference in made in my lifts. I’m glad you know this info too!
Quote:
BB Reverse Lunges presented a good challenge to balance, as one might expect. But what the fugg is it with leg training that gets your legs feeling like they're on fire and making me feel so nauseous so quickly. The short rest period between sets for this exercise also showed up my lack of conditioning again.
You answered your own question really. It’s lack of conditioning. Any time you do single-leg lower body work it’s very cardiovascular and your conditioning can end up being the limiting factor. It’ll improve.
Quote:
External Rotations were done by setting the incline bench to around 70 degrees, kneeling to the side and resting the elbow on the bench for pivotting (I hoe that is clear).
That’s clear and that’s how you should be doing them, with your elbow supported.
Quote:
I took delivery of the following books; "Supertraining" and "Facts and Fallacies" by Mel Siff, and "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance" by Stuart McGill.
I should be able to rattle through these over a cup of cocoa tonight
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I want to hear how that speed reading session went! Great book choices.
Quote:
Walking Lunges were also better this week. I found them brutal last week and suffered majorly with DOMS. But as I sit and write this and I not suffering as much.
See. You’re already getting better!
Quote:
I like these mobility exercises. However, as always, towards the end my lower back starts to ache, as if it is pumped, and affects my performance. This is starting to frustrate me now. I've put up with it for a long time now. I'd hoped things would improve with the stretching and mobility work but it isn't. Maybe it is a technique thing; maybe I'm not keeping the lumbar back in good alignment or I'm just not keeping the core tighter.
I’m certainly not Eric or Mike, but I think you already know the answer and said it yourself (again). You’ve got to keep that core tight and you already know it’s a weakness for you. Just keep at it, focus on correct technique in the movements, and it will improve.
Quote:
I might actually do either a) treadmill stuff as mentioned, b) barbell complexes (never done before), c) tabata protocol (short, sweet and hellish), or d) leg matrix (where I reach a near death experience in a little under 3 mins).
If you’re still getting some DOMS from your workout, I’d suggest starting with the barbell complexes that keep you standing in one place. The leg matrix would be the hardest to recover from and tabatas are just too nasty to think about. If you do decide on HIIT, can’t you do it outside instead of on the treadmill?
Your home gym is very, very nice! And, wow, very clean too!
Sorry for the incredibly long post. I was just catching up and got very intrigued! Keep up the good work!
Since you're doing speed bench, I thought you might be interested in Jim Wendler's reply to a question about bench speed. I just saw it and thought of your log.
A Scotsman's 7 keys to success
Technique is crucial with roll outs; I kept the body really tight and tried my best to squeeze the glutes throughout. Not too bad.
). I know generally where I want my training to lead (i.e. long term goals) but am poor at setting specific shorter term goals. Having said that, I don't really lack motivation so I'm not sure the shorter term goals are all that important. Sounds like you may be of similar ilk.
Linear Mode
