Have you ever heard the expression, putting the cart before the horse? I have a terrible habit of doing that. I don't know what it stems from, but I seriously need to work on it. Just recently I posted a video on social media where I'm starting back up squatting. In it I mentioned how that was the first step back and how I'd like to compete in a full meet again. Meanwhile Wendler excoriated me and more or less said to just train.
Jim's words really resonated. I have been so goal oriented towards competition for so many years that I am blind to anything else. Perhaps if my body was in perfect repair I could start thinking about a full meet, but that's far from the case. After years of competing, training abuse, and throwing caution to the wind, I have had my fair share of injuries.
Presently I am just starting to feel whole again. My back and hip issues are better than I can remember in a long time, although not quite 100%. My shoulder/biceps tendon has come a long way and might be right around 90%. Now I may never be 100% ever again, so if I am waiting for that I may never be able to train again.
In order to program for my training I have come to the conclusion it will be best to plan month to month rather then setting a long term goal like competing in a full meet. I really need to focus on what is important to me right now. Here's the list I have come up with in order of importance:
Training as pain free as possible
Conditioning
Maintaining strength
Aesthetics
So how will I accomplish this? First, in order to train as pain free as possible the plan is not to introduce anything new this mescocycle. As much as I'd like to try to use a regular bar for squatting, deadlifting, pressing, and benching, I will be sticking completely with specialty bars. There's other lifts like dips that I'd like to get back to also, but it's not time yet. I need to get a couple of cycles of pain free training before I introduce anything different. Then when I do, I can only introduce one new movement at a time.
In regards to conditioning, the 5/3/Awesome program takes care of that. Three of my four training days are done circuit style with the goal of finishing as fast as possible. I will also continue with my couch to 5k running. It has not adversely effected my present weight training plan and has not caused any undue stress to my body.
Maintaining strength is a tough one. I figure the best I can do here is to keep a close eye on my main lift numbers. As a result of my injuries, the lower body lifts have been non existent and the upper have been lighter. So for this cycle I am being conservative. Just the fact that I am going to be squatting, deadlifting, benching, and pressing makes me happy here.
Last are aesthetics. I spent a lot of time in my life being a slave to strength only. Getting bigger and stronger is not always synonymous with becoming aesthetically pleasing. So yes, I do care how I look now, but it is not my top priority. I figure if diet, training, and conditioning is on point, this will be taken care of.
The nice thing is, I can interchange mesocycles now as I see fit. If I want to prioritize aesthetics I can implement the 5/3/1 bodybuilding template. When my body feels whole I can run pure 5/3/1 for strength and put the pedal to the medal. Right now while healing up I can focus on a conditioning template.
In all my years of training I have never felt so in control of my programming. The most important thing is that I need to set it and then stick to it. That in and of itself is a huge battle for me. I am a tremendous self saboteur. So right now one month baby steps is the plan. I'm looking forward to getting back at it this week.
For those keeping track, last week I reintroduced squatting and deadlifting on my deload week. I kept my ohp light and skipped bench to help with the shoulder/biceps tendon. Also, because it was such a wimpy week I did some tabata afterwards. Thruster tabata and airdyne tabata are no joke!
MONDAY
Warm up
Seated ohp w/football bar 135 5X5
Thruster tabata 4:00
WEDNESDAY
Warm up
Saftey bar squats 245 5x5
Thruster tabata 4:00
FRIDAY
Warm up
Circuit 5x10:
Face pulls
Split squat
Band pullaparts
KB swing
Inverted row
Med wall ball tosses
Airdyne tabata 4:00
SATURDAY
Warm up
Trap bar dl 225 5x5
Thrusters x100
