#workout programming

[yousslam]

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[davetrains]

Running and calisthenics worked great for the past month. Now, back to weights.

My plan is to revisit the workout that got me the strongest:

A) squat, press, deadlift

B) something fun and sweaty

The framework is intentionally vague, since sets and reps will change as I ease back into heavy lifting. In the (A) workouts, I expect reps in the 4-6 range and to use both front and back squats. I expect the (B) workouts to vary between hill runs, flat runs spanning 3 to 10k, sets of sprints, calisthenic or circuit workouts, and hopefully some girevoy sport and power Oly lifts.

[davetrains]

Making do

I'm unexpectedly nowhere, with no weights, for a month. So I focus on running and calisthenics.

For runs, I'm sticking to long runs (5k and greater) and hills. There are great hills to hate here. It’s fun to run in the cold without “proper” gear. Above 0°C, without rain, I find I don’t actually need warm clothing.

Calisthenics workouts usually involve a short run—maybe a mile, maybe a slow hill run or two—before or after high volume squats, dand push-ups, and as much of everything else I can think of. My push-ups are improving. I'd like to fit some Kurz work in. I'm re-reading my Ross Enamait.

So, one workout is a long run or medium run with hill sprints, and the other is calisthenics with a short run. I've been alternating daily between those two workouts, only taking rest days when forced to by social or travel responsibilities. It's not so taxing. There's a gym nearby, but it's expensive. Maybe I'll treat myself and go once to deadlift, squat, and press heavy. Heavy for right now, at least.

When I have access to kettlebells, I'd like to try this girevoy sport workout a try:

Warm up with 10 each side: swings, cleans, jerks, snatches

4 minutes each, with breaks between: long cycle, jerk, snatch

That should be plenty of volume in all the movements.

[davetrains]

Achieved baseline strength goals. Now switching to Olympic lifting protocol.

To review, the old was:

“A” Days

front squat (3 sets of 5)

pull-ups (started with 3 max sets or max-rep sets until 50 total; more recently a ladder up and down (totaling 100) worked better)

other stuff, maybe

“B” Days

deadlift (3 sets of 5)

overhead press (from floor, 2 sets of 5)

dips (started with 2 max-rep sets, switched to ladders totaling 100)

other stuff, maybe

Other stuff included mobility, grappling movements, abs, conditioning circuits, and such.

Now that I hit my benchmarks, I’m cleared to put these basic strength movements on the back burner and focus on other lifts that develop explosiveness, flexibility, and awesomeness. So:

“A” days

overhead press (from floor, not sure of set/rep scheme)

power cleans (singles totaling ~10)

romanian deadlifts

other stuff, maybe

“B” days

weighted lunges (this is exploratory but I’m starting with 5 sets of 5 left, 5 right)

pendlay rows (also exploratory but I’m more confident in 3-5 sets of 8)

other stuff, maybe

Other stuff is as before.

Morning workouts continue to be dynamic stretching and yoga.

I’ll see if “I can’t make it to the gym” workouts—consisting of high-rep air squats, dands, and so on—can be made a thing.

[davetrains]

I trotted out that old workhorse: squat, pull one day; deadlift, press the other day. On other days, do sport or cardio. But the way I’m doing it this time is making the difference.

First, I’m being serious about running. Longer runs, more often.

Second, the mobility work. Every time I focus on mobility and flexibility I see tremendous movement-quality and feel-good gains. I’m on that track. Hips, shoulders, thorax, neck.

Third, an assortment of minor programming changes on the lifting side seem to be synthesizing into something productive. Among them: front squats, not back; three deadlift sets, not one; pull-ups with bodybuilding-style short rests, not full recovery; a combination of 2 sets overhead presses and 2 sets dips rather than picking one to do 3 sets of; and a parallel front squat stance, not toes-out. I expected the increase in deadlift volume to be the most powerful, but it looks like the major difference is from the front squat stance change and short rest periods for pull-ups. This, strangely, has produced The Hunger.

[davetrains]

Non-gym summer workouts:

Ocean ziggurat climbing

Backflip and frontflip practice

Ramazan-closed-gym leads to hill sprints in 39ºC heat

Marathon snorkeling (not pictured)

I like play. It’s important, too, but mostly I just like it. New capabilities, new experiences, new explorations. Saltwater in the nose. Nearly puking on a grandmother’s doorstep. Feeling alive.

[davetrains]

Creativity Through Artificial Restriction

After my gym became literally unable to accept my money, I am reduced to home workouts. I am grieved about the regress this absence of a barbell means. But there is no time for tears. I have said many times that a pull-up bar and a kettlebell is the minimum one needs for a solid general fitness. I bought a kettlebell to see if I’ve been right.

After some exploratory workouts, I’ve discovered the following template works well for me right now:

Dynamic warm-up

Kettlebell snatches

Superset, with rest: [Single-leg deadlifts / Overhead press]

Lunges, with and without the ‘bell

Pull-ups

The largest kettlebell I could find was 20kg, so that’s what I have. I kind of want a second one for overhead pressing and squatting, but for external reasons that doesn’t make sense right now. 

My aim with these sub-maximal exercises is to simultaneously increase total volume and reduce the number of sets and time. So, I’m doing 100 snatches, with the arbitrary goal of beating the RKC snatch test standard of 5 minutes. (I’m a ways away.) Rest times between pressing sets are getting shorter without compromising the number of reps. The 1LDLs are fairly static, so they may or not be useful—hopefully they stretch my hamstrings. I aim for 50 total pull-ups and an uncounted mess of lunges, and both seem to work well. 

I’m seeing the best improvement from the snatches and the lunges. I don’t doubt the utility of the other exercises, though I am on the lookout for ways to make them more useful and challenging given my constraints.

For a side dish, I’m doing a lot of BJJ, and may try drop-ins at the local Crossfit box to get some heavy deadlifts and squats in.

[davetrains]

Another idle workout programming thought. 

Three lifting workouts a week, each centered on one of the classic Olympic lifts. 

Clean-and-press day

Clean-and-jerk day

Snatch day

I’d of course do power variations on the cleans and snatches, and some of the jerks. 

This maps quite well to the three-way hip complex split I’ve been mulling: squat/deadlift/glute-bridge. I also have found that in the midst of a workout, I very much enjoy flowing from one exercise to its logical “overload”, for example, progressing from clean-and-X to power cleans. Incorporating both ideas might look like:

Clean and press, squat

Clean and jerk, power clean, deadlift

Snatch, overhead squat, snatch-grip deadlift, glute bridges

This leaves plenty of room (particularly on clean-and-press days) for additional exercises like pull-ups, dips, or conditioning. The snatch day seems a bit overloaded, so the overhead squat might need to get nixed.