Today was my first day back in the gym after the meet last weekend. Following the competition I took a USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Certification to learn more about the weightlifting movements (clean, snatch, and jerk variations). It was definitely a great learning experience and I have a whole new respect for people proficient at those movements.
Over the course of the next 6 weeks I'm going to give the regular barbell movements a break and focus on bodybuilding-style training with higher volume, some extra work to bring up my GPP and give myself a chance to heal up a little. Dave Tate has always given the advice of not touching a barbell for a month or so after a meet, and until this point I've always ignored that. This go around I guess I'm finally pulling my head out of my briefs and I can definitely see how building some muscle mass and giving my joints a break is a good idea.
My training split in meet prep was 4 days per week, 2 dynamic effort and 2 max effort days. Over the next few weeks I'm just doing 2 volume upper and lower days. Since I've had my volume lower leading into the meet, I don't need to make any insane changes to make some muscle building progress. I'm going to do some pre-exhaustion work and my "heavy" sets won't be anything less than sets of 8. A good amount of supersetting and giant sets with higher reps and different angles should make for some good progress. The emphasis for 90% of exercises for the next few weeks will be feeling the muscles as opposed to focusing on the weight being moved.
Training Broke Down Like This Today (easing in):
Warm-Up: Walking Lunges around Track for 1/10 of a mile (more on this in my next log)
A. Wide Grip Cable Lat Pulldown - 5x12
B. Machine Chest Press - 4x15
C1. Dumbbell Presses - 4x10
C2. Seated Cable Rows - 4x12
D1. Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Presses - 4x20
D2. Dumbbell Shrugs - 4x15
E1. Cable Tricep Pushdowns w/ strap handles - 4x20
E2. Dumbbell Tricep Extensions Overhead w/ Pause at Bottom - 4x6
F1. Dumbbell Hammer Curls - 4x15
F2. Supinated Dumbbell Curls - 4x8
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