Assessment of Last Cycle. I let home improvement projects and the holidaze get in the way with lifting, but most weeks the walking was fairly consistent, except several days during the cold snap. Still searching for the best schedule. Ideally I would do each component of the Metabolic Triad three different times of the day, to get three separate metabolic boosts, but it might be best just to do them all at once. Around noon might be the best time slot. The time-restricted eating was easy to maintain, but without more consistent lifting and conditioning, no progress on the weight front. At least I didn't gain any. Using a timer for lifting sets proved useful in keeping the workout humming along, instead of getting caught up in Apple news feeds on my phone and taking too long in between sets. I was already using it for the sled. For the rower, I found it easier to keep track of how many minutes I was averaging to do 500 meters, rather than trying to keep the meters within a certain amount of minutes. I can do 2m30s per 500 meters pretty easily. Goals for this Cycle. More consistency in getting all three Metabolic Modalities--Aerobic, Anaerobic, and Glycolytic (conditioning)--in six days a week. Will also try a little harder to get a daily Mobility session in. Mobility/Balance/Groundwork: 1. Stretching/Sun Salutations. 2. Summersault 3. Turkish getup 4. Stand on one foot for ten seconds. 5. Hang from a bar for 30 seconds. 6. Squat down, hold for 30 seconds, and stand up. Aerobic. Just continue to walk about two miles a day, hitting five of my neighborhood's hills for 200 feet elevation gain/loss. Anaerobic. I'll try once again to at least get everything up to their Target loads in the first training block by the end of the cycle. I was close last cycle, so might be able to progress a couple of blocks if I become consistent. Glycolytic. I'll continue to keep both the rowing and sled work to ten-minute sessions. For the Sled, I'll either try to get up to the second resistance level, or try to reduce the rest periods in between each 100-foot push, which means adding a few more intervals for a ten-minute session. Maybe start with 12 fifty-second intervals. For the Rower, I'll try to get down to 2m25s per 500 meters, or lower. ---------------Week 1: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.01 AFTERNOON Aerobic 2 mi Five Hills walk with dog. 200ft. Monday, 22.01.02 MORNING Aerobic 2 mi Five Hills walk with dog. 200ft. Tuesday, 22.01.03 LATE MORNING Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 10 mins, 1832 total meters, 2:45.4 per 500 meters. LATE AFTERNOON. Aerobic? Shoveling snow. Wednesday, 22.01.04 LATE MORNING Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 10 mins, 1971 total meters, 2:34 per 500 meters. NOON Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 45/95/135/135/135 LATE AFTERNOON. Glycolytic? Shoveling heavy snow. Thursday, 22.01.05 LATE AFTERNOON. Glycolytic? Removing plowed snow from my driveway and two of the neighbors'. How do people in Buffalo do it? Friday, 22.01.06 LATE AFTERNOON Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Anaerobic: Upper Body, Horizontal BP: 3 @ 45/95/115/135/145/155 RW: 3 @ 135/155 I like just doing two lifts per session. Maybe I could either alternate Lower Body and Upper Body, in which case I could alternate Pulldowns and Overhead Presses on one Upper Body Day with Bench Presses and Rows on the other, or do a Lower Body/Upper Body/Upper Body split: SQ,DL / PD,OP / SQ,DL / BP,RW SQ,DL / PD,OP / BP,RW Since I tend to prioritize Squats and Deadlifts for overall strength, I might try the first option first. Plus, it would keep my shoulders on a 48 recovery schedule. Anyway, I guess I may have an experiment for this cycle after all. Saturday, 22.01.07 AFTERNOON Anaerobic: Lower Body DL: 3 @ 155/185/185/185 SQ: 3 @ 95/115/135/145 Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 5 mins, 1113 total meters, 2:17 per 500 meters. I liked the shorter, more intense session. This was close to my current limit. ---------------Week 2: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.08 LATE MORNING Anaerobic: Upper Body, Vertical PD: 3 @ 115/135/145/155/160/150/140 OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95/85/75 Aerobic 2 mi Five Hills walk with dog. 200ft. Monday, 22.01.09 AFTERNOON Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 95/115/135/155/175 DL: 3 @ 135/155/185/205 The big lifts are starting to feel more solid. Still, going to take it slow . . . Aerobic 2.5 mi walk with dog through woods, fields, and mid-century neighborhood. 150ft. Had to trample through some deep snow for a block with just sneakers and no socks, but it was relatively warm out Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 5 mins, 942 total meters, 2:42 per 500 meters, but last minute was around 2:05. Tuesday, 22.01.10 MORNING Anaerobic: Upper Body, Horizontal BP: 3 @ 45/95/115/135/145/155/160 RW: 3 @ 135/145/155/160 Wednesday, 22.01.11 NOON Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 45/95/115/135/155/175/185/175 I felt a little something in my mid back, so I didn't finish the second ramp down, and skipped the deads. Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 12 mins, 2042 total meters, I kept it to just under three minutes per 500m, wanted to make sure my back was OK. Thursday, 22.01.12 NOON Anaerobic: Upper Body, Vertical PD: 3 @ 115/135/145/155/160/155/145 OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95/85/75 Aerobic 2 mi Five Hills walk with dog. 200ft. Friday, 22.01.13 NOON Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 75/95/115/135/155/175/185/195/185/175 DL: 3 @ 135/185 I felt a little something in my mid back on the last Squat set again. So I just primed the Deadline. Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 2 mins, 497 total meters, 2:05.5 mins per 500m. That was pretty high intensity for me. I kept it to just two minutes to make sure my heart was ok with it. Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Saturday, 22.01.14 ---------------Week 3: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.15 LATE MORNING Anaerobic: Upper Body, Horizontal BP: 3 @ 45/95/115/135/145/155/160 Skipped the Rows because I'm going to try to push the Deadlifts a bit tomorrow. Aerobic 1.7 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 160ft. Monday, 22.01.16 Tuesday, 22.01.17 LATE MORNING Anaerobic: Lower Body DL: 3 @ 135/185/205/225/235 SQ: 3 @ 95/115/135/155/175 Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 5 mins, 1051 total meters, 2:24 per 500 meters. AFTERNOON Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Slush! Wednesday, 22.01.18 NOON Anaerobic: Upper Body, Vertical PD: 3 @ 115/135/145/155/160/155/145 OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95/97.5/85/85 Ok, got to the target weight on four lifts, just the lower body ones to go. Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Thursday, 22.01.19 LATE MORNING Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 95/115/135/155/175/185/195 DL: 3 @ 135/185/205/225/235 Will continue to solidify these loads before progressing. The Squat is now 35 pounds short its target load, and the Deadlift only 25. AFTERNOON Aerobic Shoveling Friday, 22.01.20 LATE MORNING Anaerobic: Upper Body, Horizontal RW: 3 @ 135/145/155/160 BP: 3 @ 45/95/115/135/145/155/160 LATE AFTERNOON Glycolytic Torque Tank M1 Push Sled: 6 x [2 x 100 feet] = 1200 feet @ Resistance 1, 50-second intervals. The front wheel didn't grab quite as well in the mild slush. Might have to put some plates on it. Aerobic 1.25 mi walk to shops with dog. 80ft. Chopping ice. Saturday, 22.01.21 AFTERNOON Aerobic 2 mi Five Hills walk with dog. 200ft. ---------------Week 4: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.22 Mid-AFTERNOON Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Monday, 22.01.23 MID MORNING Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 95/115/135/155, 2 @ 185/195 DL: 3 @ 135/185/205/225/235/245 Put on my belt for the last two Squat sets. It felt a little uncomfortable, so I just did two reps each to see how I feel tomorrow. The belt tends to add some soreness initially, if I recall correctly. Added another 10 pounds to the Deadlift, just 15 pounds off now. Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 10 mins, 2015 total meters, 2:29.9 per 500 meters. Tuesday, 22.01.24 NOON Anaerobic: Upper Body, Vertical PD: 3 @ 115/135/145/155/160/155/145 OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95/97.5/95/85 Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Wednesday, 22.01.25 NOON Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 85/135/185/185/185; 1 @ 195/205/215/225 Tested my current max, broke form a bit at this training block's Target load, 225, so may try to get up to three reps at 215 in the short term before pushing up to the Target load. Next time I'll start with two reps @ 195 and see how far up I get before going to one rep. Used the belt starting at 195. Felt fine. Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Thursday, 22.01.26 LATE MORNING Anaerobic: Upper Body, Horizontal BP: 3 @ 45/95/115/135/145/155/160/155/145 RW: 3 @ 135/145/155/160 Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Friday, 22.01.27 Saturday, 22.01.28 ---------------Week 5: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.29 NOON Anaerobic: Lower Body DL: 3 @ 135/185/215/225/235, 2 @ 245/255, 1 @ 260 SQ: 3 @ 95/135/185 Got up to the Target load for the Deadlift, so now it's a matter of working up to full sets for the lower body lifts. After that, I'll try to use the timer more to make the rest in between sets strict. That should take me to the end of the cycle. Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. I began to keep track of frequency for each Metabolic Modality. I'll also try to get better about that in the second half of the cycle. L = Lower Body UH = Upper Body Horizontal UP = Upper Body Vertical Monday, 22.01.30 NOON Anaerobic: Upper Body, Vertical PD: 3 @ 115/135/145/155/160/155/145 OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95/97.5/95/85 Aerobic 1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft. Tuesday, 22.02.31 LATE MORNING Anaerobic: Lower Body SQ: 3 @ 85/135/155/175/185/185/185/175/155 Glycolytic: Pull Concept II Rower: 10 mins, 1786 total meters, 2:56 per 500 meters. Wednesday, 22.02.01 Thursday, 22.02.02 Friday, 22.02.03 Saturday, 22.02.04 ---------------Week 6: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.02.05 Monday, 22.02.06 Tuesday, 22.02.07 Wednesday, 22.02.08 Thursday, 22.02.09 Friday, 22.02.10 Saturday, 22.02.11 ---------------Week 7: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.02.12 Monday, 22.02.13 Tuesday, 22.02.14 Wednesday, 22.02.15 Thursday, 22.02.16 Friday, 22.02.17 Saturday, 22.02.18 ---------------Week 8: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.02.19 Monday, 22.02.20 Tuesday, 22.02.21 Wednesday, 22.02.22 Thursday, 22.02.23 Friday, 22.02.24 Saturday, 22.02.25
Assessment of Last Cycle. Kind of took a rest cycle, strength levels seem to have leveled off a bit lower and my weight also has remained level at the 204 level so missed the 200 mark. Goals for this Cycle. Keep the weight loss going, I would like to keep the weight loss in the range of 0.5 - 1 pound per week. Lifting wise I might shuffle things up for a cycle, maybe add some intensity. I need to think about this but for now I will likely just keep doing what I am doing for the first week. I would like to slowly reintroduce running into the mix, like 3 times a week for 30 min. I will use the treadmill initially to minimize any achilles issues. That's pretty much it, although the pieces to the above are much more complicated. ---------------Week 1: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.01 Snowboarding day, hit it hard for about 3 hours. Monday, 22.01.02 WU Fsquats/Pu Planks - 3@40sec FSquats - 3@155, 165, 175, 185, 195, 205, 215, 1@225 Pull downs - 10@160 Pull ups - 8,8,7,8 Press - 5@135, 135, 135, 8@95 Box jumps - 3x5@20" The gym is busy, and equipment is at a premium so I had to shuffle some lifts around. I took my time today and added some squat reps. Tuesday, 22.01.03 5min Walk/ 5min Run - 0:30 Wednesday, 22.01.04 WU Squats/PU Planks - 3@40secs Squats - 3@185, 205, 225, 235, 245 Low pulls - 15@145, 3x10@160 Bench - 10@135, 5@205, 225, 225,225 Glute machine - 10@90, 90, 90 Thursday, 22.01.05 Friday, 22.01.06 WU FSquats/PU Planks - 3@40sec Fsquats - 3@185, 185, 185 Pull downs - 10@145, 145, 145 Saturday, 22.01.07 ---------------Week 2: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.08 Monday, 22.01.09 WU Squats/PU Planmks - 3@40sec Pull ups - 8 Squats - 3@185, 205, 225, 225, 225 Bent rows - 8@135, 155, 175, 5@185 Bench - 10@135, 5@205, 225, 225, 225 Glute machine - 10@90, 8@90, 90 Tuesday, 22.01.10 Wednesday, 22.01.11 Thursday, 22.01.12 WU Fsquats/PU Planks - 3@40sec FSquats - 5@135, 3@155, 175, 195, 215 CG Pull downs - 10@145, 160, 8@190, 5@205, 220 Press - 8@95, 115, 115 Friday, 22.01.13 Saturday, 22.01.14 WU Squats/PU Planks - 3@40sec Squats - 5@185, 205, 3@225, 225, 225 Bent rows - 3x10@135 GHDSU - 3x10 Box Jumps - 3x5@24" Calf raises - 8@330. 10@330 ---------------Week 3: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.15 Took a couple longer walks, slept like a baby. I really need to more walks/runs/bikes going Monday, 22.01.16 WU Squats/PU Planks - 3@40sec Box Jumps - 24" @ 5,5,5 DL - 10@135, 5@225, 3@275, 3@295, 5x1@315 Press - 8@95, 5@105, 115, 125, 135, 145, 1@155 Tuesday, 22.01.17 Wednesday, 22.01.18 Thursday, 22.01.19 Friday, 22.01.20 WU Fsquats/PU Planks - 3@40sec FSquats - 5@135, 155, 175, 2@195 Pull downs - 10@130, 145, 145, 145 Box Jumps - 5@ 24", 24", 24" Bench - 10 @135, 185, 185, 185 Calf Raises - 225@ 15, 15, 12 Saturday, 22.01.21 ---------------Week 4: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.22 Monday, 22.01.23 Tuesday, 22.01.24 WU Squats/PU Planks - 3@40sec Squats - 5@160, 180, 7@205 Low pulls - 3x15@145 Bench - 5@155, 175, 9@195, 5@225 SLDL - 10@135, 185, 185 I am switching plans, I am going to run the official Wendler 531 program, This will be a 2 day a week Tue and Fri listing plan. Excluding deadlifts, however I might work them in there once in a while. Tue - Squats/Bench Fri - Front Squats/Press Then the other days I will plan 2 conditioning days or VO2 max days and then two longer cardio days. Wednesday, 22.01.25 Thursday, 22.01.26 AM Lift WU Fsquats/PU Planks - 3@40sec Abb rolls - 3x10 Fsquats - 5@135, 155, 8@175, 5@155 Box jumps - 24"@5, 5, 5 Face pulls - 20@90 Low pulls - 10@130 Press - 5@ 95, 100, 1515, 8@115, 5@125, 4@135 Friday, 22.01.27 Saturday, 22.01.28 Row 20mi - 4500m DL - 8@135, 5@225, 275, 295, 315 Farmers - 3x60m@70pa Sleds - 60m @ 270/3, 270/3, 270/3 Walk - 0:50 ---------------Week 5: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.01.29 Morning 4 Walk : 0:50 AM Lift WU Squats/PU Planks - 3@40sec Squats - 3@170, 190, 5@220, 3@245 Bench - 3@185, 195, 8@205, 3@225, 245 Low pulls - 3x10@160 Monday, 22.01.30 Ok here is the general plan starting this week, it's stolen from wendlers advanced lifting but basically fits the prepilin chart. All back work will be assistance and probably supersetted. Increases every 3 weeks are 5 pounds except 2.5 for presses. Tuesday, 22.02.31 Morning 4 AM Lift WU Fsquats/Press Ab rollouts - 3x10 GHD SU - 3x10 Fsquats - 3@155, 175, Work Set 5x3@205 Pull downs - 10@145, 160, 8@175 Press - 5@95, Work Set 5x5@125 Face pulls - 3x10@90 I like this layout of having 5 work sets at a straight weight. I might have started a bit too high weight, but I think it should be ok. I think the overall lifting week will look like this Day 1 Main Squat BenchAssistance Low pulls Glute or Calf raises Cable rotations Day 2 Main Deadlift Power cleans (maybe?)Assistance Farmers Sled push Day 3 Main Front Squats PressAssistance Pull downs Face pulls Ab work Wednesday, 22.02.01 Thursday, 22.02.02 Friday, 22.02.03 Saturday, 22.02.04 ---------------Week 6: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.02.05 Monday, 22.02.06 Tuesday, 22.02.07 Wednesday, 22.02.08 Thursday, 22.02.09 Friday, 22.02.10 Saturday, 22.02.11 ---------------Week 7: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.02.12 Monday, 22.02.13 Tuesday, 22.02.14 Wednesday, 22.02.15 Thursday, 22.02.16 Friday, 22.02.17 Saturday, 22.02.18 ---------------Week 8: Cycle I--------------- Sunday, 22.02.19 Monday, 22.02.20 Tuesday, 22.02.21 Wednesday, 22.02.22 Thursday, 22.02.23 Friday, 22.02.24 Saturday, 22.02.25
Looks like you are building up well, how are you feeling? Your comment about snow is funny, I was thinking the same thing. We had a 14" snow overnight a couple weeks again and it took a good hour to shovel. I was really sore the other day especially my shoulders. I can't imagine 3-6 feet of heavy snow... I am reading over Wendler's book again for a plan. It's funny how much I have forgotten about lifting plans and how much I have been riding the recent plan. I have been thinking about dropping weight some and trying to get more reps in and doing more of a wendler lift plus assistance work 3 days a week.
Yah, New Year's was a useful now-or-never mark. I didn't get much lifting in the first week, what with the snow storm and having my son home two days and my daughter four, plus taking her to her orthodontic appointment, then my brother to two orthopedic appointments, one during the white-out phase of the storm. He hurt his wrist while playing hockey with my son. Fractured in four spots. Ouch! But last week went well. The late morning-to-noon time slot works well most days. And I'm enjoying just doing two lifts, 5-10 minutes of conditioning, and then 30-40 minutes for the walk. That's just about an hour total per day. My only goal remains consistency, although of course it would be nice to eventually get my lifts back up there a bit, with a minimal goal of 3 reps @ 115 for the OP, 195 for the BP/ RW/PD, 275 for the SQ, and 315 for the Deadlift. Then bonus points for 3 reps @ 135/225/315/365, respectively. I’m pretty sure the former are doable, not sure I can still get to the latter at my age, we’ll see. Definitely feels great to be able to push things a bit again, in any case. And it's amazing how that extra effort contributes to sounder sleep. Still, once I get more in the swing of things, I may go back to an alternating Upper/Lower split, or even my Push/Pull split. Just depends on whether I can progress the Overhead Press only hitting it three times over two weeks. But two lifts per day is very easy mentally, and I like doing the exact same routine each day, making everything mindless. Perhaps I could hit the OP and PD twice a week, and the BP and RW just once. The latter two have usually been my best/easiest lifts. Yah, it’s kind of hard to follow your log as a “program.” But it’s obviously working, you have good loads. I guess for me the tendency over time has been to simplify things as much as possible. I just look at my chart and progress the ramps, everything at three-rep sets. It’s also feels better to have gotten rid of the HIIT and just do moderate to high (for me) intensity steadily on the rower for 5-10 minutes. The sled still lends itself to HIIT though. I’m starting to get better about stretching in between sets, but still not near where I’d like to be. I can’t believe I used to be able to do the splits.
I like your idea of the 3 x 315, 275, 225, 135. I think at this point I could probably do them all except for the squat. However I am wondering if this level is good enough from a strength standpoint? I was listening to this podcast about testing various aspects of fitness. I'll write the tests up in a bit to give a better idea. And yeah need to get on a better plan that allows flexibility but has some direction. I have the base down and I might add some tweaks from some various tweaks Wendler wrote about in later books more to follow. I was thinking with the sled work to do walking with exaggerated strides rather than running, and then doing some rows like 2 min hard, 1 min rest for the VO2 max conditioning. That's unfortunate for your brother, 4 fractures, ouch.
No upper body pulls for assistance? It will be interesting to see how you progress. That's very minimalist. But your upper body presses are already pretty strong.
I am thinking to do them as assistance work only, after pulling that muscle the other day doing heavy rows I am going to keep the rows to reasonable loads for now and keep them at higher reps. I have also been doing a quick morning warmup thing with 3x10 squats, push ups, ab rollouts and pull ups so I am getting some decent volume of back work. I think I may scratch the initial Wendler plan and do something similar but not pushing reps and slowing loads down. There was a reason I initially stopped chasing higher rep sets before, my form breaks down too much after the 4th rep. I will put together a plan in a bit, I also might add some deadlifts to it. I like your tracking list, makes it very easy to see consistency.
Yah, I always fried my lower back doing rows until I discovered the Pendlay Row. It really helps to release tension after each rep. Rows are the only one of the six main ones that has a long moment arm throughout the lift. But I also suspect the upper body pulls might be better candidates for higher reps. Not sure why. Maybe because the form is easier? Yah, it's hard to maintain form with higher reps. I think I've transferred whatever benefit I might've achieved with higher reps to more conditioning work. Not exact equivalences, but close enough for my purposes. Anyway, this week I think I'm going to try a strict Iron Ratio of 2-3-4-5, except the Deadlift which may be a little less than 5 units: This will make the Overhead Press harder and the SQ, BP, and ROW easier. I read an article yesterday advocating for the importance of the Overhead Press: https://generationiron.com/overhead-press-important-bench/ So perhaps the best weekly routine would be: M SQ & DL Tu OP & PD W SQ & RDL @ same loads as SQ Th BP & RW F SQ & DL Sa OP & PD
