Legato Has To Nuke It From Orbit, It's The Only Way To Be Sure

[Legato]

This is my new program, pieced together from bits of my old program, 5-3-1, and some advice from Machete, Manok, and MalleusMalleficarum. Much thanks!

 

1) Box Jumps, Squat and OH Press (both 5-3-1 style), Romanian DL, Hanging Leg Raises, Ross Magic 50

 

2) Medicine ball wall bounce, Bench press, pullups, dips, bicep curl, lateral and front shoulder raises, power cleans

 

3) Jump rope intervals, DL, chin-ups, front squat, skullcrushers, lateral and front shoulder raises, Ross Magic 50.

 

Magic 50 is 5 dumbbell snatches (each arm), 5 dumbbell swings (each arm), 10 burpees, followed by 60 seconds of rest.  Rinse, repeat for 5 rounds. It's a nice conditioning routine recommended by Machete, and it's killer. 

 

The isolated arm training is total vanity. I just started this today, so they may be excised as I go on. 

 

I want to write some of my overall goals down for myself.

 

I want to continue to progress in the main lifts. The most important lifts are first in the program above, so if I need to get in and get out of the gym, I can just hit the first lift or two and be good.  I read an article by Jim Wendler earlier today, and he said he had concrete numbers in his head about what "strong" was. I thought about what my own numbers were. I think a strong person can squat 250, deadlift 350, and bench 200. Personally, my goals over the next few years of lifting are squatting and deadlifting double my bodyweight (about 400), and benching 1.5 my bodyweight (about 275).  

 

I want to become more flexible, continue to improve my posture, and improve mobility. These have all been things I've been working on for the past month or two, and I've made progress. I have to focus on it and make it an important part of my training, or it gets looked over.  I also have a 20 minute yoga routine for non-lifting days.   

 

I played outside with some friends the other day, and it wore me out a bit. It made me want to improve my conditioning, which was the catalyst for changing my program in the first place.  Each workout begins with a dynamic movement that will help mobility. The Magic 50 and power cleans are conditioning pieces I'm using to improve my endurance.  The power cleans aren't being done for maximal weight.  They'll be 5x5 with 60-120 seconds of rest in between sets. I'm hoping to improve my explosive power and endurance during exhaustion. 

 

This will be my program for the next 8 weeks. That's 2 cycles of the 5-3-1 on the big lifts. There might be small tweaks to some of the littler pieces of the programming, but I'll just see what happens. 

[Legato]

From Machete, in the thread I started about conditioning:

 

 

Just make sure you're doing your exercises in the correct order to get the best out of your training.

 

> Warm-up and movement prep / corrective / prehab

> Skill development (while your CNS is fresh)

> Speed / acceleration / jumps / throws (allow adequate time for full recovery in between sets)

> Strength / resistance training

> Conditioning / MetCon ("finisher")

> Recovery and stretching

 

Excellent list. I'm fairly certain I've adhered to most of these in my programming. 

 

I stretched today and rode my bike a bunch. I also read to much about programming assistance lifts and supplemental lifts, and I want to go back to the drawing board with my program. I'm not going to, but I want to. I'm worried it's too cluttered, that the arm work is unnecessary, and there's no heavy rows. I honestly think the DLs, front squats, and weighted pull-ups and chin-ups will be enough for my back, but we'll see. 

 

I hate the days in between lifting. I just want to go to the gym.

[Legato]

Today felt great. I'm loving the conditioning after the workout.

 

Simple 6, posture foam rolling

Medicine ball wall bounces: 3x10 5 kg

Bench press (5-3-1): 1x5 105, 120, 135

Pullups: 1x10, 1x8, 1x7

Dips: Bodyweight, 3x12

Skullcrushers/Lateral & front raises: 40lb 2x15/ 15lb 2x24

Power Cleans: 5x5 95lb, 30 seconds of rest in between sets. 

 

I switched triceps work and bicep work because it made more sense to pump my triceps and shoulders after benching. I want to put some face pulls somewhere, but the program is too complicated already, so I probably won't.

[Legato]

I forgot to update yesterday. No one tell on me. 

 

Posture Foam rolling

Jump Rope 3 rounds, 1 minute on/30 seconds off

Deadlift (5-3-1): 1x5 of 145, 185, 205

Chin-ups:1x12, 1x8, 1x7

Front Squat: 3x5 95 

Bicep curls/Face pulls: 2x15 20 lb/2x20 50 lb

 

I skipped conditioning because I rode my bike to the gym, and I needed something left in the tank to get me home. I forgot to write down the proper 65%, 75%, 85% for my deadlift, so I just made up some numbers that looked good and felt appropriate. <GASP>  It'll be ok, I think.

 

Today, I went to the gym to foam roll, do abs, and work on handstands. I kind of like doing some light work on off day. I'll probably keep it up unless I see a decline in my lifting. 

 

I've been toying with joining Crossfit. The idea behind it is interesting, and I know there's a good way to program it. But the coaches have to be really good in order to do so. There's no quality control, so I just don't know. As of right now, I think I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. I like strength training+conditioning, and I like doing something active everyday.  I got that going on for me right now, so I'm just going to see where it goes. I'm having fun. 

[Legato]

Today was a great day. I PRed my squat.  It's not an impressive number, but I really suck at squatting, so it's a big deal for me. It was funny, right before I got under the bar, I had butterflies in my stomach. The only times I've had similar situations was when I was about to perform, or when I was interviewing for med school. It was an interesting experience. Anyhoo...

 

Box Jump: 10 high, 3x10

Squat: 1x3 115, 130, 145

OH Press: 1x3 80, 95, 105

Rom DL: 3x8 145

Lateral and front raises: 2x30 15lb

Magic 50: 30 lb, 5 rounds, 60 seconds rest.

 

These workouts are taking to long.  I'm going to a 4 day thing. From here on out, the program will look like this:

1: box jumps, squat, rom DL, calves

2: Med ball, OH press, lateral and front raises, face pulls, magic 50

3: rest

4: Box jumps, deadlift, weight chins, front squat, bicep curls

5: Resty rest

6: Med ball, bench, rows, dips, power clean

7: Rest

 

That should let me get in and out quicker. Each strength move has its own day, and they're the real time suck.  The accessory stuff doesn't take much time. 

[Legato]

Deadlift: 1x3 175, 200, 225

Weighted chins: 15lb  1x10, 1x8, 1x7      Will add weight next week.

Front Squats: 3x6 95

Bicep curls: 20lb 2x20

 

I love deadlift day. I feel so good. 

 

I'm going to start doing some light conditioning/skill work on off days. Probably a light run to and from the gym which would be about a mile round trip. I'm also going to do ab work and calf work on off days. The abs will be on days 3 and 5, the calf work on day 3. I've been reading the calves must be trained often for best results, and I have tiny little calves. Off days are also my handstand days.

[Legato]

This was yesterday's workout.

 

Bench Press: 1x3 115, 130. 1x7 (max) 145

Barbell Rows: 3x5 115

Dips: 3x max BW  16, 13, 9.5

Power Cleans: 5x3 100 with 30 second rests between sets. 

 

5-3-1 is excellent for progress. 

[Legato]

2 behind.  I'm terrible at keeping up on these. :/   

 

This is my 3rd week in a 5-3-1 style of training. Next week is deload, and I have a few exercises lined up to try out for the new program.  I'll continue with the 5-3-1 style progression on the squat, DL, OH Press, and bench, and accessorize/supplement to help shore up any weaknesses.  The deload week will be a chance to mess around with some new exercises, see how they feel.

 

Yesterday:

 

1) Squat  1x5 120, 1x3 135, 1x2 150 (to failure)

2) Romanian deadlift. I warmed it up, but when I went to rep it, my grip failed. No idea why. 

3) Straight leg calf raises. 3x20 140

 

I don't know why my grip failed in the Rom DL. It was 145 lbs, which isn't a lot of weight. I've deadlifted for reps at much higher weights with no issue. Probably just a weird day. 

 

Today:

 

1) OH Press 1x5 85, 1x3 100, 1x3 100 (to failure)

2) Front/lateral raise+face pulls superset!: 2x34@15lb/ 2x17@50lb

3)Farmers Walk  2xFail@50 lb

4) Magic 50: 35 lb for 3 rounds 60 seconds rest.

 

I couldn't make it 5 rounds in the magic 50 today. Well, maybe I could have, but it wasn't worth it. I bumped it up 5 lbs from last time, so I consider that a win.

 

****In the next exciting adventure of Legato, he will attempt to deadlift more than he has ever deadlifted before! Will he succeed! Or will he crumble into a fine chalky powder adequate for superior lifters to smear on their hands for grip?!?!?  Find out, after a few messages from our sponsors!****

 

[AMPish256]

Hey, hey! Just wanted to drop in and say you're doing great, and of course way ahead of me. 

 

Now, that you know someone is looking in on your progress, maybe it'll be some motivation to post more. 

 

Take care!

[Legato]

Awesome! Accountability is definitely a good motivator!

[Legato]

Today:

 

Deadlift: 1x5@190, 1x3 @ 225, 1x2@240 (failure)

Weighted Chin-ups: 3x5 @ 25 lbs

Front Squats: 3x8 @ 95 lbs

Bicep curls: @25 lbs, 1x15, 1x12

 

The deadlift is a PR, which feels pretty awesome. The 5-3-1 progression is really a fantastic way to program.  Next week is deload week, and I'm only going to train the 4 main lifts. I won't be doing any of the accessory/supplemental work. I'm going to take a breather next week on weight lifting and really focusing on flexibility and mobility, as well as non-strenuous movement like walks and relaxed bike riding. 

 

I watched an Elliott Hulse video the other day where he talked about making the most of off days. The model he proposed stated strength days heavily taxed the sympathetic nervous system, and so non-training days needed to be focused on balancing that by working on parasympathetic nervous system. He advised long, slow walks as well as a series of stretches. Deload week is going to be based on a lot of the principles he spoke about.