Yeah, my comeback isn't directed towards a meet presently. My comeback is basically from not training at all for 11 weeks. As with anything, I figured when I was able to train again, I'd go about it at mach 10 with my hair on fire.
Little did I know what damage my body would suffer from not training and the stress from the life situation I was contending with. I feel very-very beat up. I learned early on that getting back to training like nothing happened would not have been a good idea.
So I sat down and started plotting my path. Two people who I respect very much were in my head. First was Wendler, he has preached the benefits of a three day a week, full-body training program for years. Then there was Dave Tate and how he says you should keep a barbell out of your hands after a meet. (Even though I did not just compete in a meet, I felt worse than any meets I had ever come out of).
Keeping the spirit of both ideas in mind I decided to go three days a week full body and although I'll still use a barbell I'm not going to be loading my spine. I'm also not going to be lifting like a powerlifter and exploding through lifts. I will implement a nice constant tempo for all of my movements. The point of this program is to put a little muscle back on and to prepare my body for whatever I decide to do next.
Very simply, the workouts will be based around four movements. A quad-dominant movement, a press, a hinge/hamstring movement, and a row/pull. Through the research I have done it seems that around 15-20 sets per bodypart a week is optimal. As a result I'll be performing 5 working sets for each movement and keep the reps between the 6-10 range.
The workouts are as follows:
TUESDAY
Belt Squat 5x6-10
Bench 5x6-10
Pull Through 5x6-10
T-Bar Row 5x6-10
THURSDAY
Elevated Split Squat 5x6-10
OHP 5x6-10
GHR 5x6-10
Pullup 5x6-10
SUNDAY
Step Ups 5x6-10
Dips 5x6-10
Sumo Dl 5x6-10
Incl Dbl Rows 5x6-10
Considering there are so few movements, it's imperative I get the most out of them. I will shoot to get damn close to failure on each set. With that, if I am going to push myself that hard, I will make sure to take adequate rest between sets of two to three minutes. The goal, of course, will try to increase weights or reps weekly.
I plan to run this for a month and then reevaluate. I'll make sure to report back. Damn, I can't wait!
