Routine Proposal:

[Barbarossa]

I do SL 5x5 and am working toward my first PL meets later this year.  For my current schedule, the 3x/week scheme works very well--I have enough time to deal with the rest of my life, rest, and spend time with my wife.  That having been said, right now I have at least 30 pounds of fat to remove from my frame in as short a time frame as is feasible, and my weak points are becoming apparent (general conditioning and upper body).

As such, I'm considering making the following my standard workout (my gym, as it turns out, frowns on the Olympic lifts, so those are out for now).  As soon as I start hitting the walls wherein I can't increase the weight by 5lb/workout, I'm going to purchase a set of fractional plates so that I can still continue to add weight on each lift as often and as slowly as possible.  All exercises after the first three are for conditioning/weak point work and as such, will have a lower weight at least initially.

I expect the additional work to impact my lifts a bit, but as long as my calculated Wilks stays the same or goes up, I'm going to count it as progress.

 

“A†Day:

Squat 5x5

Bench Press 5x5

Pendlay Row 5x5

Barbell Curl 5x5

Chin-up 3x5

Dips 3x5

Pull-up 3xAMRAP

High Incline Jog: 1 Mile

 

“B†Day:

Squat 5x5

Overhead Press 5x5

Deadlift 5x5

Hip Thrust 5x5

KB TGU: 5x2 (1=L, R)

KB Swings: 3xAMRAP

High Incline Jog: 1 Mile

 

All that having been said, are there any thoughts? 

 

Thanks,

 

Perry

[Morrigainz]

Looks good/like fun to me, but I'm no expert when it comes to accessory stuff.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

It's doable, likely gonna take 2 hours + a workout though once you start needed more than 2-3 minutes break between sets, but at that point you should probably be going to 3x5 anyway. Still, gonna be a long workout. And if you're eating at a deficit to lose the weight, that's gonna be very hard to recover from.

[Barbarossa]

It's doable, likely gonna take 2 hours + a workout though once you start needed more than 2-3 minutes break between sets, but at that point you should probably be going to 3x5 anyway. Still, gonna be a long workout. And if you're eating at a deficit to lose the weight, that's gonna be very hard to recover from.

 

I've actually got the time to do a few long workouts per week, and I'm not eating at a deficit; I'm in full "seefood" mode and am planning on the intensity and growing muscle to take care of the excess fat--seems to be working now.  The only problem is that right now I'm maintaining 250 lbs while gaining muscle at ~4000 calories/day.  I'm not sure there's enough food in the house to keep a maintenance/surplus level if I roll this plan out.  I think I'm going to give it a go and evaluate after a few weeks, though.

 

EDIT:  I just realized that one of the perks to my recent work promotion is free food (restaurant manager).  Problem potentially solved!

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

If it's working, roll with it until it stops and reevaluate.

[jdanger]

I'm ok with it. I'd consider upping the reps on the auxiliary stuff like curls and pullups, somewhere into the 8-12's. And once it gets hard dropping the DL volume once things start grinding a little. Doing a 3x5 or even working up to a top set of 5 is generally enough. The squatting will push it up.

[Barbarossa]

I'm ok with it. I'd consider upping the reps on the auxiliary stuff like curls and pullups, somewhere into the 8-12's. And once it gets hard dropping the DL volume once things start grinding a little. Doing a 3x5 or even working up to a top set of 5 is generally enough. The squatting will push it up.

 

OOPS! Good catch--the DL is supposed to be 1x5, excluding warm-up sets.  Thanks for the feedback--I'm testing this at the gym this week and next week, and so far I think the hip thrusts on "B" day aren't needed if I hit the KB swings hard (which, y'know, they kind of force you to).

 

Related note:  in my gym the KB's are in the "plyometric/bosu ball/minor yoga" room--you get all kinds of odd looks from the residents when you go in gasping for breath after the weight work, and then start doing TGUs.

[Barbarossa]

Okay, so so far I think I bit off a bit much--long workout indeed, and by the time I get to my "finishers" I'm already finished.  I'll work on that.

 

Question is now, do any of you have an opinion for yoga as a recovery activity, assuming that my primary goal is raw strength (i.e., I don't care about looking big as long as I can lift big).  All I can find online is concerned about such activities being "gay," which makes me want to stop reading (I don't think it's every appropriate to use an aspect of a person's existence as a pejorative).  The articles that I can make it through are conflicting--some say that it's a great recovery exercise, some caution that it can make a lifter too flexible to be stable (though I'm not sure that such a thing is possible).  Right now I'm rehabing a couple of minor injuries (shin splint and damaged/tight lower back--gotta watch squat form toward the end), and yoga has always been good for me to get muscles to work as they should.

 

In any event, is yoga appropriate when I get back to 100% as a recovery and general conditioning exercise, or will it hurt me in the long run to be too flexible?

 

Thanks,

 

P

[Relic]

there's no reason that a little extra flexibility would hurt your lifting. If, in the process of limbering up, you stretch out ligaments you'd run into issues but that would be if flexibility was your goal, not recovery, and you were pushing it too hard.

[Morrigainz]

I love yoga! I think as a lifter I definitely need it. I don't know about becoming *too* flexible - stuff I've read recommends yoga for sure. I'm trying to incorporate it once a week or so (although majorly failing at that).

[I-Jo]

Yoga can be SERIOUSLY hard work.

 

It can be- more than just an "active rest day"  I include essentially vinyasa yoga into my workouts themselves- which is a dynamic flow between positions essentially.   Downward dog to plank/push up with an elevated leg to spider push up.. yeah do a hand full of those- see how that works out for you.  LOL good stretch and an ass kicking- sure why not!!! 

 

Everyone needs to stretch more than they do- we are chronic under stretchers- and I stretch a lot and it's still not ENOUGH.  I would highly recommend at least learning some positions that target your problem areas- you can build on it or start including a more relaxed version of yoga itself for regular stuff. 

 

I would definitely at least learn a few quality stretches. 

[Barbarossa]

Yoga can be SERIOUSLY hard work.

 

It can be- more than just an "active rest day"  I include essentially vinyasa yoga into my workouts themselves- which is a dynamic flow between positions essentially.   Downward dog to plank/push up with an elevated leg to spider push up.. yeah do a hand full of those- see how that works out for you.  LOL good stretch and an ass kicking- sure why not!!! 

 

Everyone needs to stretch more than they do- we are chronic under stretchers- and I stretch a lot and it's still not ENOUGH.  I would highly recommend at least learning some positions that target your problem areas- you can build on it or start including a more relaxed version of yoga itself for regular stuff. 

 

I would definitely at least learn a few quality stretches. 

 

When I was cycling I did a TON of so-called "power" yoga to keep overall fitness up and maintain enough flexibility to get into tight aero tucks.  The trick for me now is finding a style that's very, very easy and focused on flexibility for my recovery days rather than the more vigorous styles that seem to be in vogue.

 

I'm absolutely certain that I can make a decent showing in December, but I really need to work on getting back to 100% as quickly as possible after a lifting session.

[Morrigainz]

I think it's hatha yoga that's more recovery style?