I have to say, I have learned so much over the years from Rhodes, Wendler, and Tate. In the past I just used to do work. I got by on brawn and balls. Now I still have both, but working smarter helps a lot along the way.
Right now I am getting ready for a bench meet. So I rearranged my training schedule to focus on that. Hence, I am squatting and deadlifting both on Saturday. This allows me basically a week's worth of rest for Friday's primary bench. Squatting and deadlifting the same session is brutal so I am not performing any assistance that day.
I like training four days so I took a bunch of the assistance exercises I would normally do on my lower days and I turned it into a circuit that I perform on Wednesday's. The circuit consists of Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats, Back Raises, Pullups, Glute Ham Raises, and Roman Chair Situps.
The biggest reason for this day is to add balance to my training. These exercises are really done to keep my body healthy. The pullups help traction the shoulders. The split squats stretch my hip flexors. Back raises, glute ham raises, and the roman chair really work my core which is paramount considering my disc issues.
OK, so this is a long way to go to get to my point. This training day was designed for a reason, but then I thought I'd make it better. I introduced a 20 lb weight vest into the mix. I mean come on, doing this circuit with a 20 lb vest on is a little bit bad ass. Years ago I couldn't even do 10 pullups at a clip, let alone on the fifth set with a weight vest on after doing four other exercises for five rounds.
Mission accomplished right? No! The mission of the day is really to keep my body in working order. Adding weight to it increases the resistance. That means it also requires more recovery time. I really felt the difference on Friday's bench as a result. In other words, I tried to improve upon an already successful part of my program.
Does this sound familiar to any of you? Everything is going well with your plan and then you go and decide to make it better. If each part of a plan is carefully thought out, you shouldn't just go and haphazardly change it because you can.
Luckily I am pretty in tune with my body and did not get far off track. I dropped the vest this week, but to make it a little more challenging I reduced my rest intervals. There will be a time and a place to add resistance to these exercises, but it does not fit while preparing for a bench meet.
More is not always better.
