Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Frank (7/25): Lower

Back Squat
5x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x185, 5x225, 3x275, 3x315
5x355 @ 9
5x355 @ 9/10
5x355 @ 1e10
The first set was fine. The second set was iffy. The third set was a travesty. I completely lost pressure on rep four and had to muscle the weight up. I then did one last rep (cuz I had to, y'know) which was the ugliest squat I've ever done, though it wasn't that slow, at least. I guess it's good to know that I'm strong enough to muscle up the weight when my form falls apart, but it's probably best not to let that happen in the first place.

Deadlift
5x135, 5x225, 5x315, 3x365, 3x405, 1x455
5x485 @ 9
5x485 @ 9/10
5x485 @ 10
Last one was tough.

Ab Rollout: 3x4

So I'm pretty much back to where I was before, which means that starting Thursday, I'll be on my official plan. I'll follow the plan from my previous post with two minor modifications. (1) I'll be sticking in a Texas Method progression between the Starting Strength and RTS progressions. (2) I'm changing up the overall RTS progression a bit so I'm not pushing it every week. So here's what it looks like.

Thursday: volume squat, deadlift assistance, maybe other squat assistance, abs
Friday: RTS bench, bench assistance
Sunday: intensity squat, RTS deadlift, maybe other squat assistance, abs
Monday: RTS lockout, lockout assixtance

RTS will be volume/intensity in 3-week blocks following a medium (6x4)/heavy (5x5)/light (5x5)/heavy (3)/medium (2)/heavy (1) system.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Frank: Planning

It's been a week since the meet, which means that I have to start training seriously again, which means that I have to make plans. So here is my plan.

Despite the misgivings of those more experienced than I, I intend to try the Smolov squat routine. My understanding is that it was originally developed for Olympic lifters whose squat strength lagged behind their strength in the classical lifts and who felt that this was holding back their classical lifts (otherwise, they wouldn't care). The overall structure is as follows:

1. Introductory microcycle (2 weeks) for those who have had a long layoff from squatting. Since I just squatted my max a week ago, I'm skipping this.
2. Base mesocycle (4 weeks)
3. "Switching" (2 weeks)
4. Intense mesocycle (4 weeks)
5. Taper and Competition (1 week)

More details can be found here (ignore the pseudo-Russian-tough-guy routine...). There is a calculator for the base and intense cycles here.

Because this is such a high volume routine, I will not be doing any deadlifts for this period of time. So much raw squatting show help my deadlift regardless. I will continue traiing my upper body more or less as usual, though I will split some of my sessions since half of each session will be taken up by squatting. I will be using the 5-3-1 rep routine for my bench press and military press.

My current max back squat is 365. I am using 290 and 185 as my estimated bench press and military press maxes, respectively. Here is my base mesocycle plan for the next four weeks:

Week 1
Tuesday: Back Squat 4x9@256, Bench Press 5+@246, Dumbbell Bench: 3x8@110
Thursday: Back Squat 5x7@274, Cable Row 3x10@190, Barbell Curl 3x8@95
Saturday: Back Squat 7x5@292, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 5+@157, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@225
Sunday: Back Squat 10x3@311, Pullup 4x8@65, Dumbbell Row 3x10@120, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

Week 2
Tuesday: Back Squat 4x9@276, Bench Press 3+@261, Dumbbell Bench: 3x8@?
Thursday: Back Squat 5x7@294, Cable Row 3x10@?, Barbell Curl 3x8@?
Saturday: Back Squat 7x5@312, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 3+@167, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@?
Sunday: Back Squat 10x3@331, Pullup 4x8@?, Dumbbell Row 3x10@?, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

Week 3
Tuesday: Back Squat 4x9@286, Bench Press 1+@275, Dumbbell Bench 3x8@?
Thursday: Back Squat 5x7@304, Cable Row 3x10@?, Barbell Curl 3x8@?
Saturday: Back Squat 7x5@322, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 3+@176, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@?
Sunday: Back Squat 10x3@341, Pullup 4x8@?, Dumbbell Row 3x10@?, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

Week 4
Tuesday: Bench Press 6@205, Dumbbell Bench 3x4@?
Thursday: Cable Row 3x5@?, Barbell Curl 3x4@?
Saturday: Back Squat: Test new max, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 6@130, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@225
Sunday: Pullup 4x4@?, Dumbbell Row 3x5@?, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

The ? are for the exercises where I'll just play by ear. I will try a weight. If I can hit the prescribed reps, I will increase the weight. If not, I will try to better my previous rep max at the next relevant training session.

I would appreciate any suggestions that people have. My main concerns are (1) too much volume and (2) too little upper back work (to maintain my deadlift). Any other concerns are certainly welcome! See you all (hopefully) tomorrow. I will probably be arriving a little late, for me, maybe around 7:30 or so.