I made a few tweaks to my training. I've been feeling run down, as of late. I know it's the lack of sleep (which I always cry about). I also think it's my lack of a true conditioning portion to my training. When I was feeling my best over the summer I was doing a very simple lifting program with very consistent conditioning.
As usual, I consulted the oracle and realized I really haven't had a great plan. I know what I've been doing really helped me put some muscle on. And overall, I'm in good shape. It's just not a well-rounded program. This got me thinking about what I put into my athletes' training programs. Now, I can't, nor am I willing to do EVERYTHING they do, but I should be doing something similar.
I've been doing a 5 minute static stretching routine followed by Hurdle-unders, Push-ups and Pull-ups for 5 rounds. Then the lift starts.
What I did yesterday was:
Hurdle-under/RFE-Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch/Inch Worm/Spiderman/Bodyweight Squat: 1 sets of each with Push-ups and Pull-ups 5x5 each. Slight tweak to get a little more variety in my mobility work.
The lift looked like this:
- SSB Box Squat: 225x3/250x3/280x10
- BB Shrugs: 5x10
- FBB Incline: 5x10@95-115
- KB Row: 5x10
- Extra
- DB Curls/Band Pushdowns/Neck: 2 sets each
You can see I just simplified things a bit. I love the circuit stuff and the FSL/BBB I've been doing, but it's taking its toll on the old body. I'll definitely revisit it in the winter when I'm not as busy. For now, I'm thinking the better focus on getting stronger will help me hit my SSB goal of 3 plates for 10 reps in December when Jim and I get together for our Winter NOV.
I've noticed, as I'm sure many have, the higher volume stuff is great for building muscle, obviously. It does not help my strength.
I've also added the dreaded Prowler back in. I haven't decided if I'll do this after I lift or on the off days. Monday I didn't have time so I just did it today. Truthfully, it doesn't matter as long as I do it.
So, each workout should now have adequate amounts of:
- Mobility/Stretching
- Lifting
- Conditioning
I'm hitting all of the basics.
If you read my training log regularly, you're 1. possibly disappointed I don't do a great job of staying totally up-to-date, 2. I get caught up in routines and stick with them for a pretty good amount of time. This is partially because once I fall into something I enjoy I don't have to think about it at all. I can just do. 3. I'm also HORRIBLE at following something that I plan out too far in advance. So, no more planning in advance. I'll simply figure out how my goals change and adjust on the fly. It'll get written down after the fact.
The reality is, even if my set-up changes, the basic progression I'm following hasn't. I'm still running a 3 week cycle. I have to get 10 reps on my heaviest set each week before I can move on to the new cycle.
To date, I've fallen short on Squat and Bench twice and hit all of my Trap Bar weights.
Now I'm starting to ramble. Rhodes, out.
