Metabolic Triad Training, 2023: Cycle II

Assessment of last cycle. The walking stayed pretty consistent, although I pied out on some of the coldest days. The lifting also became pretty consistent, but the conditioning was still pretty sporadic.


I also started stretching more in between sets. I'll try to continue to do that. I've also found that the late afternoon time slot sometimes works just as well as the late morning time slot, although only the latter is really guaranteed.

Goals for this cycle. Maintain the consistency of the walking and lifting, and try to improve that of the conditioning. For the lifting I will hopefully graduate to the second or third training block, but I will spend some more time on the first one until the Squat and Overhead Press feel a bit easier, and I can improve my bar speed a bit. I will continue with my simplified ramping system:



So I'll get in at least four worksets per lift, six if I ramp down two more sets. I may also do the Target set twice sometimes. It's a matter of finding the right balance between intensity and volume. The ramping gives me volume, but I wonder if I'm getting enough intensity with only one Target set?

Towards the end of last cycle, I combined the upper body lifts into a single session. I think I will continue to do that for this cycle, for a standard Upper/Lower split. However, if time is tight on the upper body days, I will minimally try to get in the Overhead Press, my weakest lift. The prioritization is: OP > PD > BP > RW. For the lower body sessions, it's SQ > DL.

---------------Week 1: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.02.26
LATE AFTERNOON
Anaerobic: Lower Body
SQ: 3 @ 75/135/165/175/185/195
RDL: 2 @ 135/185; DL: 2 @ 225/235/245/255

Glycolytic: Pull
Concept II Rower: 3 mins, 690 total meters, 2:15 per 500 meters.

Aerobic
1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft.

Monday, 22.02.27
LATE AFTERNOON
Anaerobic: Upper Body
PD: 3 @ 115/125/135/145
OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95/85/75

Tuesday, 22.02.28

Wednesday, 22.03.01
NOON
Anaerobic: Lower Body
SQ: 3 @ 75/135/165/175/185/195

Thursday, 22.03.02
LATE AFTERNOON
Aerobic
1.8 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 171ft.

Friday, 22.03.03
LATE MORNING
Anaerobic: Upper Body
PD: 3 @ 115/125/135/145/135/125
OP: 3 @ 45/75/85/95/85/75
BP: 3 @ 45/95/115/125/135/145/135/125
RW: 3 @ 135/145/145

Tried to push the bar speed a bit. Felt good.

Saturday, 22.03.04
LATE MORNING
Anaerobic: Lower Body
RDL: 3 @ 135/185; DL: 2 @ 225/235/245/255


---------------Week 2: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.03.05
Knees have been feeling strangely cranky despite, or perhaps because of, not walking much this last week.

Monday, 22.03.06
LATE AFTERNOON
Anaerobic: Upper Body
PD: 3 @ 115/125/135/145/135/125
OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95/85/75
BP: 3 @ 45/95/115/125/135/145
RW: 3 @ 135/145

Kept pretty strict time, and the bar speed is decent. Could be about time to increase, maybe next week.

Aerobic
1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft.

Tuesday, 22.03.07
LATE MORNING
Aerobic
1.6 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 150ft. The last, steepest and longest hill was closed for tree trimming, so I took a lesser hill to finish up.

LATE AFTERNOON
Anaerobic: Lower Body
RDL: 2 @ 135/185; DL: 2 @ 225/235/245/255
SQ: 3 @ 45/95/135/165/175/185/195

Glycolytic: Pull
Concept II Rower: 3 mins, 662 total meters, 2:20 per 500 meters.

Everything felt pretty easy. It's starting to come.

Wednesday, 22.03.08
LATE AFTERNOON
Anaerobic: Upper Body
OP: 3 @ 45/65/75/85/95

Got in a quick session while helping my daughter make dinner.

Thursday, 22.03.09
LATE AFTERNOON
Aerobic
1.65 mi Four Hills walk with dog. 165ft.

I was going to do my squats and the rower afterwards, but the walk made my knees a little cranky. I've learned in the past that the squats have to come first, but then decided I'd rather walk first today. Oh well.

Friday, 22.03.10

Saturday, 22.03.11


---------------Week 3: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.03.12
Knees have been a little cranky, so I'm giving them a break.

Monday, 22.03.13
MID-MORNING
Persistence
1.1 mi walk with dog through woods and mid-century neighborhood. 75ft.

Tuesday, 22.03.14
MID-MORNING
Persistence
0.9 mi "Two Hills" walk with dog. 80ft.

I did the first two hills of my "Five Hills" walk. I'm thinking of doing this twice a day instead of a single four- or five-hills walk. My knees have been a little cranky lately, and I like the idea of a shorter walk. Maybe early in the morning and then again just before dinner, with the ST and conditioning done before lunch.

Wednesday, 22.03.15
LATE AFTERNOON
Anaerobic: Upper Body
OP: 3 @ 45/70/80/90/95/90/80

Instead of subtracting by n pounds from the Target load, I subtracted by percentage--95%, 85%, 75% of the Target load--then rounded to the nearest five-pound increment. So the perceived ramping differentials or increases in intensity will remain constant among the different lifts and also within the lift as I begin to increase the loads.



Also, the Ramp load right before and after the Target load will now be closer to it, but the initial and middle ramps' loads will become progressively farther as the loads increase. So there will be somewhat more intensity around the Target load, but perhaps less fatigue overall. This will effectively give me three worksets, while the other ramps will become more like warmup sets. There is a chance I could do the last ramp set, the sixth set, which is 85% of the Target load, for reps from time to time, for any lift except the Deadlift.

Thursday, 22.03.16
MORNING
Persistence
1 mi walk with dog through woods and mid-century neighborhood. 75ft.

The stairs leading down to the path in the woods, which follows an old trolley line, are full of snow, so I had to lower myself sliding down while holding onto the railing. My knees have still been a little cranky since last week, so at the end of the path, instead of coming up to street level, where there is no sidewalk next to the busy road I have to follow for some 300 feet before getting on the mid-century neighborhood's sidewalk, I simply doubled back, to stay on the softer snowy surface of the path. But I came out of the woods before I got to the section where I'd have to climb up the slippery steps. A road cuts through the the little strip of woods at about the midway mark of my walk.

I think once the snow is gone I'll simply double back all the way to the stairs, staying in the woods for most of the walk, although I kind of have it ingrained that I should do a loop when walking/running. I think the dirt-packed path, when it reappears, will also be easier on my knees than the concrete sidewalk of the neighborhood. And there's less chance of running into other dogs, so I can keep ours unleashed. She loves romping around the wooded area.

NOON
Anaerobic: Lower Body
SQ: 3 @ 45/95/145/165/185
RDL: 2 @ 135/

Felt a little instability in my back, shut it down, but probably would've been OK.

Glycolytic: Pull
Concept II Rower: 10 mins, 1770 total meters, 2:52 per 500 meters.

Friday, 22.03.17
NOON
Anaerobic: Upper Body
PD: 3 @ 110/125/140/145/140/125
RW: 3 @ 135/140/145
OP: 3 @ 45/70/80/90/95/90/85

Yah, felt good to have the ramps closer to the Target weight. I think it counts as three worksets.

LATE AFTERNOON
Persistence
0.9 mi "Two Hills" walk with dog. 80ft.

Saturday, 22.03.18


---------------Week 4: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.03.19

Monday, 22.03.20
NOON
Anaerobic: Lower Body
SQ: 3 @ 45/95/135/145/165/185

Got interrupted.

LATE AFTERNOON
Anaerobic: Lower Body
RDL: 2 @ 135/185; DL: 2 @ 225/245/255

Persistence
0.9 mi "Two Hills" walk with dog. 80ft. 36F 29WC.

First day barefoot since last fall. Still lots of snow, ice, and moisture but enough dry spots to get through it. All the small sidewalk pebbles for melting snow were at least as annoying.

Tuesday, 22.03.21
LATE MORNING
Anaerobic: Upper Body
RW: 3 @ 135/145/145
PD: 3 @ 115/125/140/145/140/130
OP: 3 @ 45/75/90/95/90/85

Experimenting with a tweak in which the first ramp is one of the 25- or 45-pound plate increments, but the Ramps before and after the Target set remain close to its load. This will effectively eliminate one ramp in many cases, making the first ramp the last warmup set. But it places the second ramp a little less than halfway between last warmup set and the first ramp set close to the Target, the third ramp.

When the loads increase, it'll become more logical I think, but it should make getting through the sets a little faster, still with decent volume at or close to workset loads. With fewer sets overall, I may have more motivation to ramp down more often after doing the Target set. So I'm shifting a little of the fatigue from before the Target set to afterwards.

EARLY AFTERNOON
Persistence
0.9 mi "Two Hills" walk with dog. 80ft. 37F 31WC.

Wednesday, 22.03.22
MORNING
Persistence
1 mi walk with dog through woods. 75ft.

Thursday, 22.03.23

Friday, 22.03.24

Saturday, 22.03.25


---------------Week 5: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.03.26

Monday, 22.03.27

Tuesday, 22.03.28

Wednesday, 22.03.29

Thursday, 22.03.30

Friday, 22.03.31

Saturday, 22.04.01


---------------Week 6: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.04.02

Monday, 22.04.03

Tuesday, 22.04.04

Wednesday, 22.04.05

Thursday, 22.04.06

Friday, 22.04.07

Saturday, 22.04.08


---------------Week 7: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.04.09

Monday, 22.04.10

Tuesday, 22.04.11

Wednesday, 22.04.12

Thursday, 22.04.13

Friday, 22.04.14

Saturday, 22.04.15


---------------Week 8: Cycle II---------------

Sunday, 22.04.16

Monday, 22.04.17

Tuesday, 22.04.18

Wednesday, 22.04.19

Thursday, 22.04.20

Friday, 22.04.21

Saturday, 22.04.22

 

POC = Power Clean?
PP = Push Press?

I've been meaning to ask you, what do you see as the benefits of the Push Press compared to the strict press? I kind of like the idea of a more dynamic movement with more weight.

 

Hmnn, I wonder if doing 5-10 pounds more than my Target set as a Push Press would help advance my Overhead Press.