Oh! Well, would you look at that! It’s a new training program…again! And guess what, I have a completely different training focus this time around. Isn’t change wonderful?
Anyway, the point of the matter is that I’m a little sick of training ‘for powerlifting.’ Mainly because, I’m never really training for powerlifting. I’m using the big 3 lifts (squat, bench press and deadlift) and just force feeding these competition-style movements on my body without really ever thinking about the purpose, and function.
The fact of the matter is that I’m horribly de-trained, and de-conditioned to these movements. I’m doing myself no favors by guesstimating my maxes, to estimate training maxes, and then I’m force feeding relatively high intensity (as percentage of training max) into these lifts every week. My body just doesn’t care for it. The smarter, and more effective, approach would be to take very low percentages, and high volume and gradually work my way up into moderate intensities, and then start working into the heavier intensities over time.
The long and the short of it is that I’m disenchanted with the competitive powerlifts. They’re fine movements and can be great for developing general strength, but using the straight bar can be taxing if you don’t put in the appropriate effort to achieve the necessary mobility to get into the right positions. And so, my priorities have shifted quite a bit. I’m focusing more on endurance training, and getting faster on my feet for longer distances. I have on my bucket list a desire to eventually run a 100 mile ultramarathon, but I’m not jumping straight into that head first. I’m going to start with a half-marathon at the end of this year (not an official race, but I’m going to train and taper as if it is an official race), and then an official marathon in April 2021. Ideally, I’d like to shoot for a 50 or 100 mile race at the end of 2021, or even 2022.
My plan is to take the long view and avoid injuries and backtracking.
To that end, I’m still lifting, but with a much more generalized focus with an emphasis on developing upperbody muscle, and building on lower body strength with some hypertrophy. I’m lifting 2 days per week, in 2 week blocks, so that’s 4 sessions per block.
Each workout utilizes 4 movements, repeated progressively over the 4 workouts. First block was the SSB squat vs. 80 pounds of chain working up to a 6RM, followed by staggered stance trap bar RDLs for 3 sets of 10, then flat dumbbell bench press for 3 sets of 20, and then pull-ups with 1 set of max reps, and then myo-reps with 25% of the top set.
This worked pretty well, I got to a fairly decent point on the squats, hitting 255 for a set of 6 with 80lbs of chain. This second block is a little different, I’m using the front-foot elevated zercher split squat for 3 sets of 6, then sumo block pulls for 4 sets of 6, keeping dumbbell bench press and continuing to progress the weight and then finishing with more pull-ups but using a more strength-volume approach with 5 sets of 6 to start and adding reps each workout.
Next block will be a little different again, with some changes to the lower body movements, and haven’t really decided if I’m going to change the upperbody stuff yet, but I guess I’ll figure that out as I go.
Ramble on Fitness 