aj_rock

All cleans, squats, and deadlifts are being left off the program until my lower back says I can I'm gonna aim for next week, but you really can't take things too seriously. Last time that I REALLY knocked my back out was three years ago, and it set my training back by about six months of walking like an old man and doing nothing for the compound lifts.

The name of that particular game is reverse pyramid training. You start with one reaaaally heavy set, and remove 10-20% of the weight for every set you finish. I did those almost exclusively while cutting last November, and strength levels held pretty well. What I'm doing right now is an example of a weekly cycle. Before I had to change it up due to some external factors, it was monday: power workouts (cleans n such, plyo pushups) tuesday: low rep. Wednesday: easy cardio Thursday: hard cardio Friday: power again Saturday: circuits (cardio + high rep training) The way I encouraged someone else to set it up is to think of your personal intensity every day: is this workout particularly hard, or easy? Maybe in the middle? Then, in general, you wanna follow hard days with easy days, and you can string a couple medium days together before needing a break.

I do weekly cycles myself. IMO the body adapts much better to consistency rather than acute stress. You're much better off keeping the same weekly routine than blasting one style for a couple weeks before switching. That way, you can also cycle through intensities if you program properly. Right now, I have a day of low-rep training and the day after I do circuits, with a large endurance component. To the best of my estimations, the low rep does not affect my ability to do higher rep work. It bothers me a little bit how much people eschew high rep work around here. I wouldn't make a program around JUST doing it, but done right it aids in recovery, flexibility, endurance, and enhances neural patterning (GTG anyone?)

Short workout today. Tonight is gonna be insane, so energy conservation in play. HS Bench: 248 X 7.5, 238 X 8 Wide grip pull-ups: 1 X 10, 1 X 9 DB incline bench: 2 X 60 X 8 Seated Rows: 2 X 180 X 10 DB shoulder press: 2 X 45 X 10 Int/Ext rotations: 2 X 40/35

You aren't gonna see successful high-rep programs around here, because no one gets told to do them... Self-confirmation kills the idea of anyone going higher than 6 reps . Only thing that springs to mind immediately is GTG

Mmmm but especially for intermediate/advanced programs, low-rep isn't ALWAYS ideal for whatever strength goals you pursue. What about the programs with olympic lifting competition in mind? I would also like to move that we make a similar compendium for other training methods as well. Cross-training for specific sports always seems to be under-represented on nerd fitness as well.

I'd say if you found space for 20 minutes EVERY day to do some exercise, you can see some gains. There are a ton of body weight progressions that you can follow, find em and apply. Keep in mind that you probably don't plan on working two jobs forever, right? Do what you can now, and when the time is free, then you can give'er.

Sooooo the assassin training was useful, no?

I'm telling your mommy. But hypothetically, if SWIM (someone who isn't me... used on other forums all the time) was looking for cheap textbooks, SWIM could look on amazon or other online retailers for cheap used copies. Wait no that's still legal... Find a copy of the book and take it to a copy shop. They can copy and bind a new one for you for around 30 a pop. Most don't really care about legality because it's money in their already probably floundering business's pockets. If it's a very popular textbook, especially in uni or college, you can probably find torrents or pdfs online as well. SWIM could save a lot of money

Mmm, the squishy watery muscles is most pronounced in the 8-12 range. Endurance training builds density mostly due to an increase in energetic capacity; your muscles become capable of carrying more glycogen. That's the only downside to endurance training; your ability to train is more emphatically affected by your feeding state for endurance work than low-rep, because it's so energy intensive.

Played basketball yesterday instead of regular workout. Still an ass kicker though. Buddy of mine wanted to spend a bit of time at the weights after, so I did some leg and ab work Pistol squats: 2 X 10, 1 X 6 +15lbs What a difference just 15 pounds can make. Plank: 1 X 90 seconds Hanging leg raises: 2 X 15 Will push some chest and back tonight, will hopefully get to circuits later tomorrow. Crazy show coming up tonight thouhg, so not sure what sort of state I'll be in. Sunday would still be alright, as the gym is closed monday for family day anyway.

Just do what we do over here. Pirate the living shite outta them. Seriously, they charge way too goddamn much

If you did nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear...

Keep in mind that a lot of people tend to lump cables into the same category as machines, which is patently unfair, because many cable weight set-ups allow for just as much stabilizer and real-life application as free weights do. Do not fear cables, especially if you have any back problems but wish to still work your back.

Hey man! Just re-found your thread for the first time in a while. Took a while to figure out what's going on, but my heart's with yah bud. You'll get through this ay okay, knowing what you've already strived (stroven? strivi? ehhh you get it) through.

Heh, it's been a while since I got anything but an over-use injury playing rugby... far less common than when I played football at any rate! Probably helps that I usually outweigh my opposition in position by around 10kg... we'll see if that still applies come blues tryouts.

Back day yesterday! DB rows: 100 X 6 (twice) Lat Pulldowns: I think the machine at our secondary gym is broken. did 3 X 6 of the whole stack (255). Reverse flyes: 10 X 15lbs, 9 X 20 Then I got pulled into a basketball game. I was tooootally off my game, but got complemented on the fuel tank. Must have made at least 12-15 fast breaks.

For sure I stumbled a couple times when I really took them ATG. I'll go for sets of ten today and see how that feels. Also Seth, keep in mind that during the season, mobility and balance is about 60% of everything we do, so even for not doing a whole whack of BW exercise in the off-season, my mobility and stability are still pretty damn high.

Actually, I see your panda avatar and immediately think of those drunken pandas from WoW

What's the harm in it Ok, workouts are gonna look a little different. HS BP: 283 X 3, 273 X 3, 248 X 5 definitely suffered after doing the circuits only yesterday Pistol Squats: sets of 6, 8 per leg, then 5 ATG. I feel like I shall lose no strength doing these instead of back squats Incline DB BP: 70 X 6, 60 X 8 Overhead DB press: 45 X 10 In/Ex rotations: 25 and 15 respectively 10' run So tomorrow will be more pistols and Back exercises. Since there's no super heavy stuff for the legs, the volume should go up jussss a bit. Also gotta start thinking about spring cut. I want to work around end of exams, so let's set target date tentatively for April 27th. Start point: currently around 187. Initial weight loss of 5 lbs expected, so true start will be 182. Gained three lbs since the end of last cut. I liked where I was, but I wanna do better. Let's aim for 173, for another 6 lbs lost from lowest, and 9 lbs altogether. Conservatively, 1 lb/week means a little over two month cut. If we target two months of cutting, that gives me a start date of March 2nd. Which is also Blues tryouts will probably hold off until after that. I'll set up a plan, but maaaay have to change if the tryouts go well. Never have I ever hoped that things will get off schedule so much in my life.

Bah. Did gold circuit yesterday; was just too tired Saturday so I took my rest day early. Goal time: 37:00 Time: 39:01 So I obviously finally have some solid work to do. Felt kinda sick after I finished though; not sure if it was lack of sleep, food, or simply pushing myself too hard (I do that sometimes >.>) Anyways, due to the modified program now, the high vs low intensity of monday tuesday has gone down the tube. I'm gonna switch from full body strength day to a split workout monday tuesday with running post workout. Gonna have to start stepping the fitness training up. Speaking of which, Ontario Blues try-outs are nextnext weekend. Seriously considering going.

Yeah, shouldn't be a problem unless you're trying to PR a 1 1/2 miler or something.

We had a snow day too! Kept me from the gym on Friday... *grumble*

Ok, been kinda quiet the last couple days. Tons of snow here so the gym was closed Friday. Thursday did a 1 1/2 mile run, came in at 10:43 with a 7:16 mile split. Not terrible, but I'm still trying to figure out the appropriate pace. Stand by for circuit times sometime tomorrow. I'm also going on modified duty for weight lifting until my back stops complaining. Pistol squats it is for the next couple weeks.

Cue Waldo telling you to build towards single-arm push-ups