Strength Training for Singles 2014: Eight-Week Workout Cycle I

Week 5
Monday 9/8/14
Goblet Squats ---1 x 10 x 32kgs
Deadlift ------------EMOM x 4 x 155Kgs
Neutral Pull Up --2 x 6
AM bike commute - 36:31
Lunch time sun salutations
PM bike commute - 39:32
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Frustrating morning, had my second youngest join me in the gym and couldn't get focused to hit the 155's on DL.
Thinking maybe the EMOM for 10 might be tough the higher in weight I go. 155 is 94% of my 1RM. I'm gonna give it a go again hopefully later tonight.
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Tuesday 9/9/14
2k warmup run
Squats -----------1 x 10 x 60kgs
Swings ---------- 1 x 20 x 32Kgs
Inc Press -------- 2 x 5 x 80kgs
Inv Rows --------- 1 x 10
N Pull Ups ------- 1 x 9
Press--------------- 2 x 5 x 60kgs
Farmers ---------- 80m x 95kgs
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AM bike commute - 37:31
Lunch yoga
PM bike commute - 36:00
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Dickish comment of the week. I discovered the trick to Maff training. If you want to be really good at low heart rate training, train at higher heart rates more frequently and it will instantly make your LHR attempts much faster. I did the nasal breathing on the last nights and this mornings ride and amazingly my times were not too bad. So I am going to forget about the LHR thing unless I just want to take it easy or force myself to slow down, however on a regular basis I am going to ride and run hard.
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Wednesday 9/10/14
AM 5k walk

Thursday 9/11/14
AM 12 mile easy run
Lunch 20 min Yoga
PM Bike Commute 17.6k - 39:52

Had a really nice run into work today. Tested out a new pack I bought a couple of weeks ago. really happy with it.

Friday 9/12/14
TBDL ------------- 3 x 3 x 125Kgs
Gob Sq ---------- 1 x 10 x 31Kgs
Bench -------------2 x 5 x 100kgs
Pull Ups ---------- 3 x 5
KB Rows --------- 3 x 5 x 32kgs both arms
Famers ----------- 1 x 80m x 95kgs
AM Bike Commute 17.6k - 37:09
Lunch yoga
PM Bike Commute 17.6k - 38:02
Sunday I am riding in a trail duathlon. I have never done a MTB race so it will be interesting what they are like. I'll probably take tomorrow off or maybe just take a quick loop around the track to make sure the bike is all ready to go.

Sunday 9/13/2014
Trail duathlon - 7k run / 23k MTB / 3k run 2:14
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Race went well, no wipeouts but I did bonk pretty hard towards the end. I didn't take any water or calories with which was pretty silly of me. The MTB course was fun had a good mix of forest roads and single track with a few steep grades. The run went great for the first 7k I was hitting 9mm for the ups and sub 8s going down, until I got to the portion where we ran around a quarry/mine and the rocky mine road really influenced my pace. I wore my VFF spyridions unfortunately, wish I would have gone with a better trail shoe. Next time I am not going to take any chances and I am going to stick with a non-minimalist option unless I know the trail is somewhat foot friendly. The last 3k is around the quarry for the second time and I was running 10:30mm by then dodging around all the rocks. I hit close to my estimated time and the total length of the course was 33k or 20.5 miles.

Tuesday 9/2/14
Goblet Squats --1 x 10 x 32kgs
Deadlift ----------EMOM x 10 x 150Kgs
Press ------------- 1 x 3 x 72.5kgs & 1 x 3 x 60kgs
Neutral Pull Up -2 x 6
Farmers -------- 80m x 95 kgs
AM bike commute - 34:56
Lunch Yoga 20min
PM bike commute - 34:44

Getting back at it after a nice long weekend off from lifting. Got in some great runs and bike trips. I'm gonna jump to 75kgs next week in the press and up to 155kgs for the DL. Farmers at 95kgs was tough on the grip. Being at the race was quite motivating. I might start to get a little more serious about my running and sign up for a couple ultras?

Wednesday 9/3/14
Easy 5k run in the AM

Thursday 9/4/14
2k warmup run
Goblet Squats --3 x 8 x 32kgs
Swings --------- 1 x 20 x 32Kgs
Inc Press -------- 3 x 3 x 80kgs
KB Rows --------- 5/7/5 x 32kgs
Suitcase ---------- 80m x 32kgs per arm
AM bike commute - 37:13
Lunch Yoga 20min
PM bike commute - 33:12

The inside of my right knee felt irritated from doing squats today so I scratched the 20 rep attempt. I am kind of frustrated with the squats right now, hopefully they don't influence the TBDL tomorrow or Saturday when I do them. Maybe just doing a real slow linear progression of 3 x 5 from 60kgs and going up 2.5kgs per week is the way to go right now? Not really sure. Anyways I signed up for a trail duathlon on the 14th kind of excited to try out a new type of race for me.
Friday 9/5/14
TBDL ------------- 3 x 3 x 115Kgs
SLDL ------------- 3 x 5 x 95Kgs
Bench ------------ 3 x 1 x 110 kgs & 4/5/4 x 80kgs
N Pull ups ------- 3 x 6
Ab rollout-------- 1 x 10

Rough workout today was hoping to get in a bike ride but I was feeling pretty worn out all morning so I skipped it. Planning on taking a day off tomorrow.

Sunday 9/7/2014
1 hour easy run & 1 hour hard MTB
Monday 8/26/14
Goblet Squats --1 x 14 x 32kgs
Deadlift ----------EMOM x 10 x 150Kgs
Press ------------- 2 x 72.5kgs - 3 x 3 x 60kgs
Neutral Pull Up -3 x 6
Farmers -------- 80m x 95 kgs
A few hill sprints in the evening.
DL's were very peppy, press was ok struggled a bit on the 2nd rep

Tuesday 8/27/14
Swings ------------1 x 20 x 32kgs
Inc Press --------- 1 x 90kgs - 1 x 6 x 70kgs
P-row ----------- -3 x 5 x 80kgs
Ab roll outs -----2 x 10
AM commute - 37:40
PM commute -
I decided to drop heavy squats for now and just work some 20 rep sets of Goblets then move to 20 reps of 135 for a while. I figure working on the DL is more important right now. I still can't manage 20 reps in a row with the KB.

This is my last lifting workout for the week, heading down to crew a friend for UTMB. Hopefully I'll haves some time for biking and hiking while I am waiting around.

Thu-Sun
2 90 minute trail runs and
2 3 hour downhill MTB rides.
Monday 8/18/14
Goblet Squats --1 x 10 x 32kgs
Deadlift ----------EMOM x 10 x 145Kgs
Press ------------- 1 x 72.5kgs - 3 x 3 x 60kgs
Neutral Pull Up -3 x 6
Farmers -------- 80m x 95 kgs
AM bike commute 17.3k - 32:30 had a nice tail wind.
20 minutes sun salutations
PM bike commute 17.6k - 40:50

Had a good workout today, everything was moving quickly except for my failed 75kg press. I need to learn to rest a little more between max attempts.

Tuesday 8/19/14
Some easy sprints about 3k of total running.
AM bike commute 17.3k - 37:42
20 minutes sun salutations
PM bike commute 17.6k - 41:20

Wednesday 8/20/14
Back Squat ----4 x 3x 90kgs
Swings --------1 x 23 x 32kgs
Incline Bench -3 x 5 x 80kgs
BB Rows ------3 x 5 x 60kgs
Pull Ups --------1 x 7
Ab Roll outs - 2 x 10
20 minutes sun salutations

Squats felt a little better might make the jump to 100 next week, or have been considering a 50 rep set of 60kgs on DJ's recent article.
Thursday 8/21/14
AM bike commute 17.3k - 37:10
20 minutes stretching
PM bike commute 17.6k - 39:00
Track workout
400-800-1200-1600-2000 with a 400m jog between kept them all at a sub 8mm pace pretty happy with the effort 7 miles total running.

Friday 8/22/14
Bench --------- 2 x 1 x 120kgs - CG 3 x 3 x 90kgs
TBDL ---------- -3 x 5 x 90kgs
Pull Ups --------4 x 5
Ab Roll outs -- 3 x 8
AM bike commute 17.3k - 38:09
20 minutes stretching
PM bike commute 17.6k -

Pretty wiped out this morning from the run last night. Out of all the activities I do runnning always seems to require the most recovery time. Maybe just running easy 5ks is the better way to go. Hopefully over the weekend I can work in a lap or two around the MTB track and a swim on Sunday.

Monday 8/11/14
Goblet Squats --1 x 10 x 32kgs
Deadlift ----------EMOM x 10 x 140Kgs
Press ------------- 3 x 3 x 60kgs & 1 x 5 x 50kgs
Neutral Pull Up -3 x 6
Farmers -------- 80m x 75 kgs

Tuesday 8/12/14
AM bike commute - 37:23
PM bike commute - 39:43
Run - 14k
A lot of aerobic work today, the run included some speedwork 3 x ~1k at roughly 8mm pace. I joined a tri club so once a week I will do this run or a track speed work day with them. Busted a spoke on my commute home.

Wednesday 8/13/14
Back Squat ----2 x 1/2/3 x 90kgs
Swings --------1 x 20 x 32kgs
Incline Bench -3 x 5 x 70kgs
BB Rows ------5 x 3 x 32kgs with KB's
Ab Roll outs --2 x 10 x BW
AM bike commute - 36:52
PM bike commute - 40:23

Didn't get a lot of sleep last night and the squats felt terrible. Have I mentioned I hate squats. Bike ride felt hard and I had a bit of a tail wind. I started a bit light so I have some room to increase in the next few weeks. So far I like the two days, and I realized I need to give myself at least 40 minutes a day to lift to make sure I get it all in with an adequet warm up.

Thursday 8/14/14
5k easy run + 6 hill sprints

Friday 8/15/14
Bench ---------3 x 1 x 115kgs + 1 x 6 x 90
SLDL -----------3 x 5 x 75kgs
Pull ups--------- 6/5/6
TBDL --- ------- 3 x 1 x 145kgs
AM bike commute - 38:53
PM bike commute -

Took too long on the bench and ended up skipping the suitcase walks and some extra sets of the TBDL. Nice rainy ride in to work. Traveloing over the weekend so this is it for excercise for the week, besides walking and eating belgian waffles and drinking trappist ale. Feltlike a good week of training my ankles were a little creaky this morning and I think it had something to do with the longer fast run this week?
 
I think the longer cardio will mainly impact your strength if you do st during the recovery period of the cardio. I read somewhere that st can't impact cardio too much, because it doesn't really deplete energy stores too much, but the converse isn't true. That is, in the recovery period after cardio, your muscles will be busy replenishing themselves and so won't be able to go full out on the st. Also maybe something about how fast twitch and slow twitch fibers interact or differ. Sorry I can't remember the physiological particulars any better. I'll try to find the reference, I think I may have bookmarked it, in the meantime, here's some other related stuff: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17095931
http://www.poliquingroup.com/Articl...in_For_Strength_Endurance_At_The_Same_Ti.aspx

Yeah that was kind of my logic with the running twice a week. It's making me think a little more my current plan and my future running aspirations. Trying to mesh the two together a little more and maybe having a little more flexibility in the weight room. Also with the bike commute I am thinking about maybe trying to focus on very easy aerobic efforts to help assist recovery. I think I may be pushing them a little hard right now. Sunday's run/bike was a little tougher than I imagined. The run was eas but then jumping on a bike was tough, although I came very close to hitting a PR on the course and I felt like I was going terribly slow. So that's good. I'll get a better gauge where my 2 hour efforts are at after the race next Sunday.
 
WEEK 5

Is it week five already?

Sunday
Hauling picnic stuff from car to picnic table and back again on St. Croix River. Had to be at least a mile altogether, so I got in my loaded carries. Wish we would've brought the stroller so I could've loaded it up. Beautiful early fall/late summer day. A crowd of Russians occupied the next table over about 50 feet.

Monday

AM:
One-mile walk-commute. Left knee feels better but when I tried to run a few steps, it didn't feel good on landing. I'll try to keep walking on it until it's 100%, and focus on ST in the meantime. It's frustrating, I really feel the need to run. I'll also try to be a bit more attentive to massaging and stretching, as per Abide's advice.

PM: one-mile walk-commute. Stretching and massaging my lower leg seems to really help, but I didn't run cuz I didn't want to risk aggravating the left knee before my deadlift session.

Deadlift: 3x1x335, 3x3x295, 2x5x255
DB Row: 3x3x105
OH Press: 1x1x125, 1x1x115, 4/3/5x105
Cable Row: 3x5x150

Well, finally got in a fairly full version of my workout scheme, and it took 50 minutes total. I skipped the Russian Twists at the end because I'm still experimenting a bit with which lifts irritate my left shoulder, and want to limit variables.

The deadlift sets, reps and weight increments were perfect. Challenging, but not taxing, mentally or physically.

I didn't do 125 for the db rows because last Friday I felt the p-rows possibly irritated my left shoulder. Triples at 105 it was a little too easy though. That's supposed to be my quintuple weight.

I supersetted the rows with the OH Press. 125 for the OH Press went up without a push, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time on singles, so I lowered it ten pounds for my triples, but 115 felt a little heavy, albeit still without a push, so I took off ten more pounds, intending to do five reps, but it was only on the third set that five reps felt comfortable. Funny. I wonder if I could've done triples at 115 if I hadn't done the 125 single? In general, it felt like I hadn't recovered completely from Friday's OH Presses, so I may have to dial things back now that I'm doing them 3x over two weeks instead of once a week.

I did 150 instead of 170 on the Cable Rows also with a view to keeping them a little light to see if this helps keep the left shoulder irritation down.

Tuesday
AM: my left shoulder only feels a little creaky, so I'll massage it some throughout the day. Hopefully I'm zeroing in on a routine and proper sets/reps/weights to keep the thing in check.

My left knee feels 100% and there's a beautiful harvest moon, but I decided to put off the run until the afternoon so I could massage and stretch the lower leg some more before trying to run on it.

PM: Didn't run.

Wednesday
AM: Ran the first 2/3s of my one-mile run commute. Both knees felt a little something coming on, so I walked the last bit. Still, I'm hopeful this means I'm back in the game. I'll try to increase the running portion of the morning run/walk gradually until I get it up to three miles. Probably not a bad approach for implementing the daily 5k plan anyway.

PM: Ran halfway home. Knee felt OK.
Then ST:

Squats: 3x1x245(111), 3x3x215(98), 2x5x185(84)
Bench Press: 3x1x335(107), 1x1x215(98), 3x3x205(93), 2x5x185(84).
Pulldown, neutral: 3x5x150(68)
Pulldown, supine: 3x5x150(68)

Squats went well, perfect really. Challenging without being too taxing. I could probably bump up the singles by ten pounds, but my form might suffer a bit.

Warming up on the bench, my left shoulder felt creaky, and I thought about blowing it off, but by the time I got to my singles, everything felt fine. 235 was a good weight. I don't think I could've done 345 three times. On the triples, I tried to reduce just 20 pounds, to 215, but I could tell immediately that I'd never make it through all my reps, so I reduced another ten pounds, and the triples went really well with that weight. The quintuples were also spot on, fatiguing but with good bar speed.

On the pulldowns I went with 150 instead of the planned 170, and that was just right. I got through three sets of quintuples for both the neutral and supine grips. I think the pulldowns work better for me than the chinups because I can limit the range of motion a little, so the shoulder doesn't extend quite as much.

Holy frick! Great workout. Got a good pump and used up a lot of energy, yet everything remained doable throughout. This is the second workout in a row I've managed to do a fairly complete version of my 1/3/5 scheme with just three lifts, and it's really a good way to go. I could see doing this indefinitely. I'm almost tempted to put my rubber hex dumbbells in storage or sell them. I think I've finally become convinced of Rippetoe and RDL's ultra minimalist approach, although I use 6 lifts instead of their respective 4 and 3.

Thursday
A head cold provided a convenient excuse to let the left knee rest some more, so I didn't run.

Friday
Still feeling sick and tired, but a little better. I thought about blowing off the ST, but I really wanted to see how a full week of the new scheme felt, so I went ahead with it.

Deadlift: 3 x 1 x 335, 3 x 3 x 295, 5/8-9 x 255
P-Row: 3 x 5 x 165
Y-Row: 3 x 3 x 185
OH Press: 3/1 x 115, 5/4/1 x 105

Man, 335 felt super heavy. Musta been the illness. But I managed to get through the deadlifts with longish breaks, maintaining good form, and then on the last set, at 255, found myself doing close to 10 reps with pretty good bar speed. Wow, that felt good. I had to sit down after that one. I was winded.

The rows went fine, although I sometimes wonder if it might be best just to stick to DB rows and Cable rows. The barbell rows, especially the P-Row, do strain the lower back a bit.

By the time I got to the OH press, I was pretty much spent. I only managed one triple at 115. On the second set I gave up after one rep. I could've done more if my life depended on it, but it didn't, so I didn't. The quintuples at 105 felt a little better, but my energy quickly dissipated. I missed a rep on the second set and gave up on the last set. It was time for shower, protein shake, pick up the kids, and a nice ribeye to aid protein synthesis in recovery.

That's the second time this week that I wasn't able to get through my OH Presses as planned, so maybe I need to reduce weight, and try 3x3x105 & 2x5x95, instead of 3x3x115 & 2x5x105? Maybe establish that for a week or two, and if it goes OK, add five pounds, for 3x3x110 & 2x5x100.

That evening, while watching Despicable Me 2 with the kids, my back felt pretty beat up. Not a pump, but more like someone had repeatedly hit me with a baseball bat with moderate force a few days before or something. I think this week's workouts are at close to the limit of my ability to recover from them. We'll see how I do when I can add running back in. I might have to back off a bit, maybe drop a set from both the singles and the triples on the heavy lifts.

Saturday
AM: ran most of my one-mile commute.
PM: one-mile run-commute. Knee feels OK, so hopefully I'll be able to run again next week. I might just do two miles to begin with.
 
Frustrating morning, had my second youngest join me in the gym and couldn't get focused to hit the 155's on DL.
Thinking maybe the EMOM for 10 might be tough the higher in weight I go. 155 is 94% of my 1RM. I'm gonna give it a go again hopefully later tonight.
It really is hard to focus with the little ones hanging around, especially on the big lifts.

Even under better conditions though, 10 reps at 94% is ambitious, it seems to me.

Is 165kg your 1RM then? I thought you did a little higher than that at the end of your 40-day program. Maybe I have a chance in our DL contest after all.
 
It really is hard to focus with the little ones hanging around, especially on the big lifts.

Even better conditions though, 10 reps at 94% is ambitious, it seems to me.

Is 165kg your 1RM then? I thought you did a little higher than that at the end of your 40-day program. Maybe I have a chance in our DL contest after all.

Ha you totally have a chance, increasing cardio sessions and weight loss are not good things for a DL competition. Well I did pull 170 I think but with the trap bar not a barbell. I did 150 last week and they went up pretty well. I guess a 5kg increase is a decent jump. I need to get over the KG/LBS. variation I think and maybe make more reasonable jumps? I have also been considering switching the lifting sessions to the evening to see if its a little easier then? I've also been thinking maybe a 4-5 day 3 lift program?
 
Ha you totally have a chance, increasing cardio sessions and weight loss are not good things for a DL competition. Well I did pull 170 I think but with the trap bar not a barbell. I did 150 last week and they went up pretty well. I guess a 5kg increase is a decent jump. I need to get over the KG/LBS. variation I think and maybe make more reasonable jumps? I have also been considering switching the lifting sessions to the evening to see if its a little easier then? I've also been thinking maybe a 4-5 day 3 lift program?
Supposedly, mid-morning is optimal for lifting. Your body has warmed up, you have at least one meal in you, and testosterone levels are high. But I've always liked lifting around 4-4:30pm, after I've eaten at least two meals. I can't really imagine doing a big lift first thing in the morning. Although, as I've mentioned before, my sense is that early morning running might be the ticket for me. I don't know why, but I get this feeling that it should be possible to run at least a few miles pretty much every day and that this would be the best plan for me. I have an image of me zipping through 5Ks at a pretty good clip in about 6 months.

Hmnn, so we're close then, in the DL. I did 365/166 a week or two ago, but my back rounded at the top, so it was a technical fail.

A five kg increase could be reasonable, but maybe 2.5 would be better? That's what I've been thinking lately, and that's why I picked up the 2.5-pound weights a few weeks ago.

What would the three lifts be? Squat, deadlift, and bench?

I don't think you want to neglect the rows. I think they're really helping both my bench and my deadlift, maybe also my squat and OH Press. Seems like a strong back is the platform for everything else. I don't know why rows are neglected in so many of the basic or minimalist approaches.

For me, I think the most minimal I can go is the six basic lifts or force/directions: Squat, Deadlift, Row, Bench, Pullup/Pulldown, and Press. For assistance, there's also a few exercises that are close to essential: Dips & Pullovers for pushes; Russian twists & Hyperextensions for pulls.

I'd be interested in hearing your ideas for a five-day program. I'm really anxious to implement the two-week cycle/six-workout idea this week:

DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press

SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown

That's just three lifts per workout, with a few optional assistance lifts.

Funny, I used to hate squats, but over the weekend I had a real jones to get back at them. I'm becoming addicting to the movement's feeling. Thanks for turning me on to the AtG/deep squats, that's been the key to enjoying them. I think my favorites are the five-rep squats, where the form feels really good and the bar speed is relatively fast. Even though squats and deadlifts are supposed to be mirror images of each other, I think deadlifts are more conducive to low reps, whereas squats seem more conducive to higher reps. Same thing seems to hold for the upper body, with lower reps for rows versus pullups/pulldowns, as well as bench press versus OH Press. I'll keep doing squat singles though, at least once in the two-week cycle.

I'm on the T-Nation subscription list now. Not much new info, but good for motivation. Just gotta make sure the endless variety doesn't distract me from my program, which I think is pretty good now. Minimalist ST is similar to barefoot running. It sometimes takes a little convincing that you don't need a whole lot to get results.
 
Supposedly, mid-morning is optimal for lifting. Your body has warmed up, you have at least one meal in you, and testosterone levels are high. But I've always liked lifting around 4-4:30pm, after I've eaten at least two meals. I can't really imagine doing a big lift first thing in the morning. Although, as I've mentioned before, my sense is that early morning running might be the ticket for me. I don't know why, but I get this feeling that it should be possible to run at least a few miles pretty much every day and that this would be the best plan for me. I have an image of me zipping through 5Ks at a pretty good clip in about 6 months.

Hmnn, so we're close then, in the DL. I did 365/166 a week or two ago, but my back rounded at the top, so it was a technical fail.

A five kg increase could be reasonable, but maybe 2.5 would be better? That's what I've been thinking lately, and that's why I picked up the 2.5-pound weights a few weeks ago.?

If your hips lockout technically its not a fail. Yeah I think I am sitting right around the 370 level, not exactly sure but its close. It's funny how initially you see some good jumps but then the gainz definitely level off fast.

Mornings are tough but at this point I have been lifting in the AM for so long its hard to change and its not very convienient with the family life right now to lift after work. I think I might just try to keep the intensity lower maybe, I have been doing 2-3 hard efforts lately and I think its better to have one focus lift for the day and then treat the rest as easy lifts. So ME for one lift and then 3-5 reps around 80% for the others.

What would the three lifts be? Squat, deadlift, and bench?

I don't think you want to neglect the rows. I think they're really helping both my bench and my deadlift, maybe also my squat and OH Press. Seems like a strong back is the platform for everything else. I don't know why rows are neglected in so many of the basic or minimalist approaches.

For me, I think the most minimal I can go is the six basic lifts or force/directions: Squat, Deadlift, Row, Bench, Pullup/Pulldown, and Press. For assistance, there's also a few exercises that are close to essential: Dips & Pullovers for pushes; Russian twists & Hyperextensions for pulls.

I'd be interested in hearing your ideas for a five-day program. I'm really anxious to implement the two-week cycle/six-workout idea this week:

DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press

SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown

That's just three lifts per workout, with a few optional assistance lifts.

If I were to do a 2-3 lift/day x 5 days a week program I think I would still try to mimic DJ's 5 foundational movement patterns with the six directions like you.

DL / Press / Pull Ups
Bench / Gob SQ / BB Rows
SQ / DB Rows / Suitcase Carries
Farmers / Inc Press / Swings
TBDL / Weighted Pull Ups / Farmers

This is just equip limitations for me. I would do the Russian twists and face pulls if I had the equipment too.

Funny, I used to hate squats, but over the weekend I had a real jones to get back at them. I'm becoming addicting to the movement's feeling. Thanks for turning me on to the AtG/deep squats, that's been the key to enjoying them. I think my favorites are the five-rep squats, where the form feels really good and the bar speed is relatively fast. Even though squats and deadlifts are supposed to be mirror images of each other, I think deadlifts are more conducive to low reps, whereas squats seem more conducive to higher reps. Same thing seems to hold for the upper body, with lower reps for rows versus pullups/pulldowns, as well as bench press versus OH Press. I'll keep doing squat singles though, at least once in the two-week cycle.

I'm on the T-Nation subscription list now. Not much new info, but good for motivation. Just gotta make sure the endless variety doesn't distract me from my program, which I think is pretty good now. Minimalist ST is similar to barefoot running. It sometimes takes a little convincing that you don't need a whole lot to get results.

Yeah same thing happened to me today. I think the key to happiness with squats for me is to keep it lighter with great form. At 60kgs today it felt like a good pump and stretch, everything clicked. Maybe I should just do a quick set of ten of back squats each day for a warm up at 60kgs for a while to grease the groove? Then on squat days make a big jump to do a big effort for a rep or two?

OH press at 60kgs went well at 2 x 5 also. My 5 rm is getting better but not sure about my 1RM. I guess that doesnt really matter though because higher reps seem to be a bit safer for the joints anyway. Maybe just push the DL as hard as I can for a bit more and then adopt a year long slow continual improvement plan for the rest? Trying to firm up my next year of running and I am thinking about possibly attempting a 100 miler next summer. I would love to see what happens to my strength levels and body comp with higher mileage running weeks.
 
If your hips lockout technically its not a fail. Yeah I think I am sitting right around the 370 level, not exactly sure but its close. It's funny how initially you see some good jumps but then the gainz definitely level off fast.

Mornings are tough but at this point I have been lifting in the AM for so long its hard to change and its not very convienient with the family life right now to lift after work. I think I might just try to keep the intensity lower maybe, I have been doing 2-3 hard efforts lately and I think its better to have one focus lift for the day and then treat the rest as easy lifts. So ME for one lift and then 3-5 reps around 80% for the others.
I'm not sure, but I don't think my hips locked out--rounding the back and not locking out the hips are kinda the same thing for me I think. So basically, I'm just 10 pounds or so behind you. I got a chance, but I sense that you have better genetics for lifting and you also have more experience. I have a bigger frame though, so we're probably well-matched. I won't be trying any new PRs until October probably. It would be nice to get 365 out of the way though.

I also like the idea of only one ME lift per workout. I sort of have that now, except I have to combine squats and bench on the same day in order to do either deadlifts or squats each workout. Still, ME Bench doesn't tax me nearly as much as ME squats and deadlifts. The deadlifts are the real killer, and I'm doing 100 pounds more than the bench or squats. With all the other lifts, it doesn't make much sense to do singles, so 3-5 reps is the natural range. I liked how reduced weight in the db rows at 3x3x105 yesterday helped me get through them quickly, but other days I'll be up for 3x3x125.

If I were to do a 2-3 lift/day x 5 days a week program I think I would still try to mimic DJ's 5 foundational movement patterns with the six directions like you.

DL / Press / Pull Ups
Bench / Gob SQ / BB Rows
SQ / DB Rows / Suitcase Carries
Farmers / Inc Press / Swings
TBDL / Weighted Pull Ups / Farmers

This is just equip limitations for me. I would do the Russian twists and face pulls if I had the equipment too.

I misunderstood. I thought you meant five days over a certain time period, I didn't realize you meant five consecutive days per week. That's a lot, but I guess if you keep it relatively light and lower total rep count it could work. I find it hard to do consecutive days for more than a few days in a row. I need that 48 hours of recovery. It will be interesting to see how this scheme goes if you follow through on it.
Yeah same thing happened to me today. I think the key to happiness with squats for me is to keep it lighter with great form. At 60kgs today it felt like a good pump and stretch, everything clicked. Maybe I should just do a quick set of ten of back squats each day for a warm up at 60kgs for a while to grease the groove? Then on squat days make a big jump to do a big effort for a rep or two?

OH press at 60kgs went well at 2 x 5 also. My 5 rm is getting better but not sure about my 1RM. I guess that doesnt really matter though because higher reps seem to be a bit safer for the joints anyway. Maybe just push the DL as hard as I can for a bit more and then adopt a year long slow continual improvement plan for the rest? Trying to firm up my next year of running and I am thinking about possibly attempting a 100 miler next summer. I would love to see what happens to my strength levels and body comp with higher mileage running weeks.
Yah, lighter squats with good form is the way to go. Five reps feels really good, but I'll keep after the singles and triples for the time being. For your scheme, I like the idea of warming up every day with lighter squats and then really hitting it just once a week. I find squats interfere most with my running though, so I don't think everyday would work for me, but maybe with lighter weights it could. Hopefully, after another few months my quads won't feel so sore after the squats workout.

With my 1/3/5 scheme, based on my true 1RM, I think I have a pretty good set-up now for slow, continual improvement. I'm not even sure I'll be pushing the deadlifts that much, or if it's even possible without bringing everything else up, especially the squats and rows, at the same time. I was really happy with how my 3x1x335, 3x3x295, 2x5x255 deadlifts felt yesterday. I was able to limit the rest between sets to about a minute, except when I had to change plates, when the rest interval was more like two minutes. Going much beyond 335 and I need more rest, so I'm not going to want to do super heavy singles more than once in a two-week cycle, but maybe I could limit it to once a month? Kind of like my long runs. Last fall I was going on a 10-to-15-mile long run every week, but I think once or twice a month is probably better for me. It's nice to have more of a workaday approach and let the gains come on their own, without having to worry about recovery and fueling so much like you do on long runs and heavy singles.
Dickish comment of the week. I discovered the trick to Maff training. If you want to be really good at low heart rate training, train at higher heart rates more frequently and it will instantly make your LHR attempts much faster. I did the nasal breathing on the last nights and this mornings ride and amazingly my times were not too bad. So I am going to forget about the LHR thing unless I just want to take it easy or force myself to slow down, however on a regular basis I am going to ride and run hard.
That's the way it's supposed to work. All three energy systems are interconnected, training one helps the others. I remember after doing mountain passes while traveling by bicycle, how my aerobic pace always seemed to get a boost afterwards on flatter terrain. Of course, the best way towards LHR riding is to have a strong tail wind.

LSD, Tempo, Intervals/Hills. (Almost) everybody agrees the secret is finding the right combination and ratios if you want to accelerate your rate of improvement and exploit your potential. I view rep counts in ST as sort of the same thing, although the analogy isn't exact. Singles are like sprints, triples are like tempo, and 5-8 reps are like LSD. Although only the last starts to exploit the glycolytic system (corresponding to tempo running), and none the oxidative (which corresponds to LSD), the analogy holds inasmuch as each rep count trains the muscles differently and yet each rep count benefits strength gains in the others. That's my theory anyway, and it's backed up by Westside's ME vs. DE distinction. I view 1 and 3 reps as more or less ME, and 5-8 reps as DE. I just find it easier to put it all in one workout, although I can see how there would be benefits to keeping them separate. In any case, with 5-8 reps, I really focus on moving the bar as fast as possible, making them "dynamic." Dan John recently had an article in T-Nation referencing complexes:
http://www.t-nation.com/training/mass-made-simple
http://www.t-nation.com/training/screw-cardio-four-complexes-for-a-shredded-physique

Might be something to try after strength gains really taper off in a year or two.
 
I'm going to put all the workouts in one cumulative post like Abide did, but I think this might be best on the first page. I'm reposting the first week's workouts here so that I can edit out all the notes/comments there.

Week 1

MONDAY
I slept poorly, and my stomach was a little goofy, so I was approaching the workout with a 'going-through-the-motions' or 'punch-the-clock' attitude. Nonetheless, 315 went up easy for the deadlift, after quickly warming up, so I decided to try 365, which is three 45-pound and one 25-pound Olympic plates on either side of the bar. That would be a new PR, up from 355 a week prior. The bar started to go up, but mentally I was just too tired to express that much will and concentration. As I dropped the bar back down, I shouted to myself, "I have this." After a few minutes, I tried once again, but once again I couldn't muster the mental fortitude. I still got a decent pump just by tensing up so much in the initial lift-off phase. Then I went down to 345 x1, then 315x2x2, then 275x2x5.

For the rows, I think it's going to work well to include a Yates as well as a Pendlay style row. With my low energy levels, I kept the first to 135x3x5 and then the second I did at 165x2x5. The Yates row seems to serve the same purpose as a High Pull, but it's a little easier on my shoulder if I bend over at a 60-to-70-degree angle and bring the bar up to my lower rib cage instead of my nips or pits. Not sure if each rep should be cleaned off the floor, like the first one, or if subsequent reps should be done statically, beginning from the 60/70-degree angle.

For Chinups I got up to five assisted reps per set, but felt it a bit in my left shoulder on the second set so didn't do the third.

For the hyperextensions, I first did them with a 25-pound dumbbell, then a 40-pounder, both sets 6-8 reps. Forty pounds felt like about the right amount of added resistance.

I skipped everything else.

So, about 60% effort level overall, which is OK considering how crappy I felt. One thing that felt new is the pump I got in my legs almost immediately after my deadlifts. I'd never gotten that before, so I think my back and butt may have caught up to my legs and are no longer limiting factors. If true, this bodes well for continuing progress.

Today, not too sore, so I undertrained a little, but that's probably good after overtraining a fair amount in last week's Monday's workout. Still trying to find the right amount of sets and reps.

TUESDAY
6 mi. Marshall-Ford Parkway bridge circuit on Mississippi.

Notes: Mostly steady-paced but a few semi-fartleks of just 15-30 seconds per mile faster pace toward the end. Running fitness continues to improve, albeit slower than I would like. At least six miles no longer seems so far, and it's not very taxing mentally anymore.

WEDNESDAY
Squat: 4 x 2 x 225 (102)
Bench: 3 x 5 x 185 (84)

Walk/Run: 2 mi. commuting.

Notes: My new heavy bag came so I spent 20-30 minutes of my workout time messing around with that. I was going to reduce the squats to 3x5x185, but didn't have time, so I just got in another set of 2 reps at 225. I will try to get 225 up to 3x3 soon. Should be easy, I just didn't have the mental fortitude, but I also want to give my knees and quads plenty of time to adjust to AtG squatting and heavier weights. My left teres still felt a little irritated (from last week's super heavy DLs) so I went easy on the bench press, probably too easy, but at least I got it in. I tried dips but the sore teres didn't like that, so I called it a day.

THURSDAY
6 mi. Marshall-Ford Parkway bridge circuit on Mississippi.

Notes: Steady-paced, very slow. My quads were feeling the prior day's squats. Seriously thinking of spacing out the deadlifts and squats again, to Mon-Fri, but I'll give the Mon-Wed sequence a few more weeks to see if my legs can adapt better. I think my quads will probably take a while to get as strong as my hammies on the AtG squats, since the hammies are already pretty strong from my deadlifts. Still, Thursday's run, or any run following squats, might be best done as my intervals/hills/tire-pull day. It's hard to sustain a steady run with the quads complaining.

FRIDAY
OH Press: 1x125, 3x3x115, 3x5x105? I can't remember, I think I bailed on the third set of 105 because my left shoulder started to feel a little strain.
1-DB Row: 3x3x125, 2x5x105, 1x8x105. On the sets of 125, I only did two reps with the right hand, in order to build up the left a bit. My right hand is noticeably more coordinated and it's easier to do good form with it, even at 125lbs. I really enjoyed doing the last set of 105 at 8 reps. I'll have to try this more with other lifts. An eight-rep set is a good finisher for the drop-off sets.
Cable Row: 3x3x170. 2x5x150? Messed around a bit to find the maximal weight by which I could still maintain good form. 200 was too much, 150 too little, 170 just right, but at 3x3. Seems like for rows, it isn't possible to do singles with good form. I haven't really done my cable rows since getting the new rack, but it really is an essential row-type I think, in addition to the other three--Pendlay, Yates, 1-DB.
Pulldowns: 3x5x150. Just did supine grip, skipped Straight Arm and Face Pull.
Russian Twists: 3x5x100.

Notes: tried thumbless grip on OH Press, seemed OK, not sure if it made a difference. I do a little bit of a push-press at the beginning. It's kind of cheating I guess, but most of the stimulus comes at the sticking point, when the elbows have their weakest leverage in the middle of the movement, so I'm not worried about it. Plus I read somewhere that the shoulders are under the greatest stress at the beginning of the movement, so if a little push from the rest of the body helps relieve this stress, that's a good thing. It was interesting how I can barely do one rep at 125, but three reps at 115 is pretty smooth. Seems like for other lifts the difference between a 1-rep and 3-rep set is a greater ratio, like it should maybe be 105 or something for the OH Press.

Overall, I really like how Friday's two Rows and OH Press fit together. I miss the lower body exercise somewhat though, so may try to work in Power Cleans or maybe Hex-bar DL next time.

I think this week I did pretty well in managing the shoulder issue. I stopped exercises the minute I noticed the least bit of strain. My impression is that none of the exercises need to be eliminated, just managed better, although there are a few that seem to irritate it more than others--chinups, pulldowns, OH Press and maybe Bench Press--and I wonder if it wouldn't behoove me to avoid those for a few weeks to give the shoulder complete rest. Still, after a full workout week, it feels pretty good right now.

Conclusion after one week of implementing the 1/3/5(/8) rep scheme. I think this is really the way to go for me, but it will take another few weeks to set the weights for each exercise's 1/3/5-rep counts. I'm also liking the idea of a 2/3/2/1 scheme for the sets, so 2 singles, then 3x3, 2x5, and finally 1x8 to finish.

SATURDAY
6 mi. Marshall-Ford Parkway bridge circuit on Mississippi.

Notes: Steady-paced, very slow for first half, then I took a long stretching stop on the Ford Parkway Bridge's handrails, then I ran fartleks of varying paces with walking breaks for the second half on the west side. It was pretty humid, but felt good to run in the heat. Haven't had to do it too much this summer.

Ran through The Ragnar Great River Relay Race (http://ragnarrelay.com/race/greatriver?gclid=CLvA-7mN3bUCFYs7MgodT0EAsA) on the east side. But the path hadn't been closed off to the public, and when I stopped to ask a lady at what seemed like a finish line, she said it was OK. A lot of races get staged on the river road. The whole road which is closed off for the bigger ones.
 
With my 1/3/5 scheme, based on my true 1RM, I think I have a pretty good set-up now for slow, continual improvement. I'm not even sure I'll be pushing the deadlifts that much, or if it's even possible without bringing everything else up, especially the squats and rows, at the same time. I was really happy with how my 3x1x335, 3x3x295, 2x5x255 deadlifts felt yesterday. I was able to limit the rest between sets to about a minute, except when I had to change plates, when the rest interval was more like two minutes. Going much beyond 335 and I need more rest, so I'm not going to want to do super heavy singles more than once in a two-week cycle, but maybe I could limit it to once a month? Kind of like my long runs. Last fall I was going on a 10-to-15-mile long run every week, but I think once or twice a month is probably better for me. It's nice to have more of a workaday approach and let the gains come on their own, without having to worry about recovery and fueling so much like you do on long runs and heavy singles.

This is a good idea, with west side they mix up lifts every 4 weeks to prevent the CNS burnout and in 531 he recommends taking off a week after 3 week cycles to let your body recover. Doing it every other week might be a good way to go.

LSD, Tempo, Intervals/Hills. (Almost) everybody agrees the secret is finding the right combination and ratios if you want to accelerate your rate of improvement and exploit your potential. I view rep counts in ST as sort of the same thing, although the analogy isn't exact. Singles are like sprints, triples are like tempo, and 5-8 reps are like LSD. Although only the last starts to exploit the glycolytic system (corresponding to tempo running), and none the oxidative (which corresponds to LSD), the analogy holds inasmuch as each rep count trains the muscles differently and yet each rep count benefits strength gains in the others. That's my theory anyway, and it's backed up by Westside's ME vs. DE distinction. I view 1 and 3 reps as more or less ME, and 5-8 reps as DE. I just find it easier to put it all in one workout, although I can see how there would be benefits to keeping them separate. In any case, with 5-8 reps, I really focus on moving the bar as fast as possible, making them "dynamic." Dan John recently had an article in T-Nation referencing complexes:
http://www.t-nation.com/training/mass-made-simple
http://www.t-nation.com/training/screw-cardio-four-complexes-for-a-shredded-physique

Might be something to try after strength gains really taper off in a year or two.

Yeah its an interesting way to look at it, however the adaptations might be significantly different. For example with sprinting you build up fast twitch fibers and also some muscle hypertrophy which is significantly different than the tempo longer duration runs that build up mitochondrial density but smaller muscle size. The low rep lifting builds up neuromuscular adaptations and higher reps build muscle cell size. And after a certain point once the neuro adaptations are maxed out the only way to build more strength is muscle size. Anyway it all depends on the goal I guess, and it probably is better to alternate like you said to get the most bang for your buck for each lifting session.

I've done a few complexes and to me they are very similar to HIIT in the crossfit sense. And I don't buy the fat shredding nonsense. It works great for a while but then you adapt and your back at square one. Plus there is a lot of form breakdown once your grip starts getting tired or your shoulders etc... I mostly ignore DJ's conditioning info for some reason because a lot of it is too crossfitesque although I liked his litinov article.

I think that simplicty rules when it comes down to conditioning and choosing patterns that can be maintained at hard efforts and have very little risk of causing and injury are the best ones to be used. Things like hill sprints, or speed work, hard bike efforts, squats, carries, sled pushes, KB swings, inverted rows, pushups etc... what it really comes down to is effort. I think you could easily get the same workout doing a simple lifting plan and a hill sprints/push ups conditioning workout as you could with any complex.
 
This is a good idea, with west side they mix up lifts every 4 weeks to prevent the CNS burnout and in 531 he recommends taking off a week after 3 week cycles to let your body recover. Doing it every other week might be a good way to go.



Yeah its an interesting way to look at it, however the adaptations might be significantly different. For example with sprinting you build up fast twitch fibers and also some muscle hypertrophy which is significantly different than the tempo longer duration runs that build up mitochondrial density but smaller muscle size. The low rep lifting builds up neuromuscular adaptations and higher reps build muscle cell size. And after a certain point once the neuro adaptations are maxed out the only way to build more strength is muscle size. Anyway it all depends on the goal I guess, and it probably is better to alternate like you said to get the most bang for your buck for each lifting session.

I've done a few complexes and to me they are very similar to HIIT in the crossfit sense. And I don't buy the fat shredding nonsense. It works great for a while but then you adapt and your back at square one. Plus there is a lot of form breakdown once your grip starts getting tired or your shoulders etc... I mostly ignore DJ's conditioning info for some reason because a lot of it is too crossfitesque although I liked his litinov article.

I think that simplicty rules when it comes down to conditioning and choosing patterns that can be maintained at hard efforts and have very little risk of causing and injury are the best ones to be used. Things like hill sprints, or speed work, hard bike efforts, squats, carries, sled pushes, KB swings, inverted rows, pushups etc... what it really comes down to is effort. I think you could easily get the same workout doing a simple lifting plan and a hill sprints/push ups conditioning workout as you could with any complex.
Good points all around. Yeah, the analogy was loose, and the adaptations quite different, as you explained quite well. Also very good point about choosing conditioning exercises that are low-risk. Thanks for the feedback.

For mixing rep counts or ME and DE in the same session, it's mostly so I don't have to think about things too much. It would be complicated to work out a Westside-like schedule. It will be nice when the workouts get more automatic, and I don't have to think as much as I do now while implementing the 1/3/5(/8) scheme. Then, through autoregulation or 'feel' push the singles once in a while when I'm really feeling it. Let's call it the 'flexibility within a scheme' approach. You have the scheme to maintain some discipline and constancy, but you can easily vary the reps/sets/or weights to accommodate fluctuations in energy, time, and motivation, e.g., cut out the singles or quintuples if you're short on time or energy, or increase the weight of the singles if your energy or motivation is high. But on most days, you just go by the chart and push yourself just enough to make a little progress.

Do you do much tempo running, or do you stick mostly to hills/intervals and LSD?

PS., I finished my abbreviated workout summary on page one. It's nice to have an overview like that. Good idea.
 
So ME for one lift and then 3-5 reps around 80% for the others.
Thinking about this a bit more, I might try something like this, with boldface indicating a heavy day, done once in the two-week cycle for each main lift:

DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press

SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown

For the Squat, Deadlift, and Bench, a heavy day would be drop sets starting 10-20 pounds heavier than my normal single, or close to my true 1RM. For example, for the deadlift, instead of
3x1x335, 3x3x295, 2x5x255,
I would do
1x1x355, 1x1x345, 1x1x335, 1x3x305, 1x3x295, 1x3x285, 2x5x255

For the Press, Pulldown, and Row, a heavy day would involve adding sets of singles about 20 pounds heavier than the triple weight. On the other days, I just do triples and quintuples.
 
Do you do much tempo running, or do you stick mostly to hills/intervals and LSD?

PS., I finished my abbreviated workout summary on page one. It's nice to have an overview like that. Good idea.

I don't do much of any running lately other than some random hill sprints. Actually I don't think I have run specific tempo runs either before. Like I said before I suck at running so I don't think about it too much.
For now I am going to stick with LSD till I can get a decent base built back up. I'll keep the speed workouts limited to the bike. I'm hoping eventually to build up to two runs a week a 20k and 30-40k and that will be it for running.

Thinking about this a bit more, I might try something like this, with boldface indicating a heavy day, done once in the two-week cycle for each main lift:

DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press

SQ, Bench, Pulldown
DL, Row, Press
SQ, Bench, Pulldown

For the Squat, Deadlift, and Bench, a heavy day would be drop sets starting 10-20 pounds heavier than my normal single, or close to my true 1RM. For example, for the deadlift, instead of
3x1x335, 3x3x295, 2x5x255,
I would do
1x1x355, 1x1x345, 1x1x335, 1x3x305, 1x3x295, 1x3x285, 2x5x255

For the Press, Pulldown, and Row, a heavy day would involve adding sets of singles about 20 pounds heavier than the triple weight. On the other days, I just do triples and quintuples.

I like this idea you could really burn through these workouts. I might give this a try in a few weeks. I might add in some weighted carries but thats probably it.
 
I don't do much of any running lately other than some random hill sprints. Actually I don't think I have run specific tempo runs either before. Like I said before I suck at running so I don't think about it too much.
For now I am going to stick with LSD till I can get a decent base built back up. I'll keep the speed workouts limited to the bike. I'm hoping eventually to build up to two runs a week a 20k and 30-40k and that will be it for running..
I dunno, when I first started participating on this site, I remember you being one of the guys regularly doing long runs, and now you have plans to do a 100-miler next summer, so it's hard to imagine you suck at running. Are you saying you're not very fast? With the lifting, you'll never have an endurance build, so to be able to run those distances is actually probably more of an accomplishment than some dude your height weighing 140, right?
Thursday 9/11/14
AM 12 mile easy run

Had a really nice run into work today.
See?!!
I like this idea you could really burn through these workouts. I might give this a try in a few weeks. I might add in some weighted carries but thats probably it.
Yeah, Monday and Tuesday's workouts have been really great. I love the simplicity. It's taken me a while to have full faith that just doing really basic lifts is enough, but I think it is. I'm having some of the best workouts of my life right now. Instead of assistance stuff, just do more rep counts on the main lifts! It's all about targeting the prime movers. The secondary and stabilizer muscles will strengthen on their own as the prime movers strengthen. I think the theory is correct.

I don't know if I'll be able to do heavy days for the lesser lifts--rows, pulldowns, and OH presses. I just don't know if they're conducive to heavy singles. I certainly didn't feel like doing a 200-pound pulldown yesterday; 150 at five reps felt most effective. But I will do super heavy singles once in a while on the big ones--bench, squat, and deadlift. At the moment, however, there's almost no point. The 1/3/5/ formula is working pretty well and after a month or so of experimentation, I think I have pretty good weight increments figureded out. By the time I get to the last set of fives, I'm ready to be done.

I still have room for some assistance lifts, and intend to work them back in, including loaded carries, and, eventually, the plyo/mobility/stabilizer stuff, but for the next few weeks (months? years?) I might just focus on making the three-lift scheme automatic.
 
I dunno, when I first started participating on this site, I remember you being one of the guys regularly doing long runs, and now you have plans to do a 100-miler next summer, so it's hard to imagine you suck at running. Are you saying you're not very fast? With the lifting, you'll never have an endurance build, so to be able to run those distances is actually probably more of an accomplishment than some dude your height weighing 140, right?

Yeah, Monday and Tuesday's workouts have been really great. I love the simplicity. It's taken me a while to place faith that just doing really basic lifts is enough, but I think it is. I'm having some of the best workouts of my life right now. I don't know if I'll be able to do heavy days for the lesser lifts--rows, pulldowns, and OH presses--but I will once in a while for the big ones--bench, squat, and deadlift. At the moment, however, there's almost no point. The 1/3/5/ formula is working pretty well and after a month or so of experimentation, I think I have pretty good weight increments worked out.

I still have room for assistance lifts, and intend to work them back in, including loaded carries, and, eventually, the plyo/mobility/stabilizer stuff, but for the next few weeks I might just focus on making the three-lift scheme automatic.

Hey how do you get your formatting so nice an pretty? Evertime I edit or cut and copy from another program it becomes a mess. Do you think I should move my post to the first page?

I say I suck at running because its one of those things I like to keep at a very basic level. I have tried training plans and other stuff but it drains all the enjoyment of it. Plus I go through phases where I hate it then enjoy it, and then you see some people who just float on by you and you wonder why its so hard for you. I am pretty slow and for the amount of work I have put into it, the payoff was minimal, well other than a lot of pain when getting out of bed in the morning. So for now I am going to focus on only running twice a week and just taking the pace easy for a while. With the main goal to build my endurance but do it as pain free as possible and try to enjoy it as much as I can.
And about doing a hundred there is only one hundred I have ever really been interested in running and I think with the vacation schedule next year I might be able to make it work. Plus I think I have plenty of time to train for it appropriately, for once!

You know I too need to have a little faith that the big lifts will work because it does take some time, but the results always show up. To this day I still occasionally think to myself that I should be doing more reps or more work every workout and kind of force myself not to. It's true though as long as you hit the big lifts hard the little stuff really doesn't matter (that much). That's why I am kind of hoping the two day running thing will work out too, just get in two good runs a week and build it up over time.

I do have to say though after I read that DJ article, I've been doing BW+ farmers carries and they have made my traps blow up. It's probably one of the quickest transformations I have ever seen when it comes to the weight room.
 
Hey how do you get your formatting so nice an pretty? Evertime I edit or cut and copy from another program it becomes a mess. Do you think I should move my post to the first page?
I don't know, I'm pretty OCD about formatting. It's part of my training in linguistics I guess--all those tree diagrams. I just copy the 'quote' brackets [...] and section off each part I want to comment on.

I think it would be a good idea for your cumulative workouts to move to the first page too. It's nice to have a broad overview like you did but have it more accessible. If we keep this up, it will be hard to find pages after a while, so it'll be nice to always be able to consult with the first page. I've tried to eliminate most of the commentary and just stick to numbers on the first page's list of cumulative workouts.
I say I suck at running because its one of those things I like to keep at a very basic level. I have tried training plans and other stuff but it drains all the enjoyment of it. Plus I go through phases where I hate it then enjoy it, and then you see some people who just float on by you and you wonder why its so hard for you. I am pretty slow and for the amount of work I have put into it, the payoff was minimal, well other than a lot of pain when getting out of bed in the morning. So for now I am going to focus on only running twice a week and just taking the pace easy for a while. With the main goal to build my endurance but do it as pain free as possible and try to enjoy it as much as I can.
And about doing a hundred there is only one hundred I have ever really been interested in running and I think with the vacation schedule next year I might be able to make it work. Plus I think I have plenty of time to train for it appropriately, for once!
Yah, enjoyment is key. I really don't like running fatigued or waking up barely able to walk. I don't think I could ever follow a specific training plan, and with no specific goals except to get faster, I don't really need to, but I do think it's beneficial as well as enjoyable to mix up run paces/types a bit. My ideal schedule would be something like this:

Sunday: rest
Monday: easy 5k
Tuesday: 5-10k tempo run
Wednesday: easy 5k
Thursday: 5-10k intervals/fartleks/hills
Friday: easy 5k
Saturday: 10-14 miles LSD

It's an open question whether my body would be able to take that, but my sense is that it would, if I can build up to it slowly. With the distances you want to run, however, I think it makes sense to have lots of rest/recovery days. For me, I think I would most like to get in 5k most days. It's just a feeling I have. Time will tell. In any case, I think it's my last hope for losing my belly fat without having to resort to some kind of dietary restrictions. Walking takes too much time.
You know I too need to have a little faith that the big lifts will work because it does take some time, but the results always show up. To this day I still occasionally think to myself that I should be doing more reps or more work every workout and kind of force myself not to. It's true though as long as you hit the big lifts hard the little stuff really doesn't matter (that much). That's why I am kind of hoping the two day running thing will work out too, just get in two good runs a week and build it up over time.
I read somewhere, probably Rippetoe, that as long as you're progressing in the big lifts, there's really no point to doing assistance; they'll just slow down your progress. It's only once you begin to plateau that you need assistance. The theory about 'confusing the body with variety' is thought to be nonsense by at least some people I've read. I think RDL says the progress from mixing things up is illusionary--you just adapt to the new stimulus, but don't actually get stronger overall.

For me, I think once I plateau, I may just work to maintain, reduce sets/reps, and do more plyo/mobility/agility/stabilizer stuff. I figure I can probably progress with my current plan up to about 405-455 on the deadlift, 365 squat, and 275 bench press. After that, I don't think I would really want to continue progressing so it would be pointless to do stuff like good mornings, or DB bench presses I think. I dunno.

However, that said, I do think there are some assistance lifts that work the muscles in ways the basic lifts don't, but which are beneficial, for general fitness/mobility and probably overall strength too. Things like loaded carries, dips, pullovers, hyperextensions, Russian Twists, and maybe a few others, like face pulls, crossover flies, lawnmower rows, etc. So I will be working those back in. I guess when I can get the three main lifts and the 1/3/5 scheme down to about 40-45 minutes, it will be time to work in 1-2 assistance lifts each workout. Yesterday's session took a whole hour.

I do have to say though after I read that DJ article, I've been doing BW+ farmers carries and they have made my traps blow up. It's probably one of the quickest transformations I have ever seen when it comes to the weight room.
Yeah, I've been meaning to work the loaded carries in. I think farmer's walks with dumbbells or a hex bar will work the traps better than the weighted vest. My traps have already been getting bigger though. It's probably the area where the added strength is most noticeable. I can hardly wait to hit the Y-Rows on Friday.
 
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I've transitioned from the short HIIT workouts to longer runs and swims each morning. I no longer feel the need to do cardio in the afternoon. Alternating running and swimming seems to optimize recovery time for both activities.

I think that the HIIT workouts were helpful in reducing the waistline and also improving my endurance. Cardio also seems to have an appetite supressing effect.

I'm going to try to focus more on doing some strength training, perhaps a few exercises in the afternoon. So, we'll see how that goes. Still need to get buy those dumbbells, but I can make do using the weight vest with DB squats, until my upper body exercises max out my current DBs.
 
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I am pretty slow and for the amount of work I have put into it, the payoff was minimal.
When you say that the payoff has been minimal for the amount of time you put in, I'm not sure what the values are for either variable, but my experience last year was that when I kept most of my runs to six miles or less, I began to notice improvements in pace, but then once I made a push for distance, my pace stagnated or regressed. I kind of got in an aerobic rut. So, after reading that the Kenyans, or some of them at least, work on pace first, and distance second, I wonder if it might not be a good idea for both of us to work on getting the pace down for 5-10k runs, before adding in more distance. This idea has been in my head for a couple of years, but last year I got into finding out how far I could run, and this year, for various reasons, I haven't been able to run consistently for more than a few weeks at a time.
 
When you say that the payoff has been minimal for the amount of time you put in, I'm not sure what the values are for either variable, but my experience last year was that when I kept most of my runs to six miles or less, I began to notice improvements in pace, but then once I made a push for distance, my pace stagnated or regressed. I kind of got in an aerobic rut. So, after reading that the Kenyans, or some of them at least, work on pace first, and distance second, I wonder if it might not be a good idea for both of us to work on getting the pace down for 5-10k runs, before adding in more distance. This idea has been in my head for a couple of years, but last year I got into finding out how far I could run, and this year, for various reasons, I haven't been able to run consistently for more than a few weeks at a time.

That is a good observation about pace vs distance. It is kind of why I am leaning on only running longer distances less frequently now. I have always mixed them in the past. I should point out that technically I did get faster and could run longer, so there were some results. The problem is the wear and tear on my body and trying to deal with minor and major injuries was a constant battle that I didn't want to have to fight. I know I could knock out a decent 5k time right now (sub 24 minutes) but I think that speed comes from biking more than anything. Also I have never had much success maintaining a steady but lower bodyweight on running and now realize that cardio has, if anything, a negative consequence on weight loss. This was surprising for me. So there were multiple variables that I was tracking, but the primary variables would be longevity and enjoyment, not necessarily speed and distance.

Mostly I am questioning the logic behind running 5-6 times a week and trying to focus more on the long distance longevity piece on a less frequent basis. Its one of the few things I haven't tried before. The low heart rate training focuses on training at low intensities but its still does not compensate for the repetitive issue. My idea does compensate for the repetitive use issues and also should allow a full recovery from them between runs. I also think variation of cardio excercises can be very beneficial. I have been reading and following Rob Krar for the last couple of years and he does a lot of MTB and SkiMo stuff in addition to running. He's our age too. Kilian Jornet does this as well. Here is an interesting read http://www.runnersworld.com/trail-runner-profiles/the-contradiction-of-rob-krar?page=1
However I also understand that I am 70 pounds heavier than them and built significantly different. I think I am going to focus on dropping down to 180lbs. (82k) by next summer and keep my deadlift gains, which might be the hardest task of all.

The two days of running won't be exculsively slow. I might work in a tempo type of run on the midweek one or maybe a negative split run after a month of getting into the rythm. The long run on the weekend is going to be mostly slow and involve hills and experimenting with hydration and food. Hydration is something I think I need to focus on even more than I care to admit. Nutrition as well.
I'll still be biking to work and will enjoy the occasional MTB ride while still lifting 3 days a week. And hopefully the result will be to run without injuries, enjoy it more and have consistency (less volume and frequency).
 
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I think that the HIIT workouts were helpful in reducing the waistline and also improving my endurance. Cardio also seems to have an appetite supressing effect.

It's interesting you see the appetite supressing effect. I see the opposite. Initially there is a supressed feeling but within a few hours my appetite grows like crazy. In fact I think I just ate 1500 calories of peanut butter...
 

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