In the last post, I shared my goals for the next six-months or so.
Now, I’m gonna discuss the plan I’m using to get there.
The training can be broken down into 4 main sections:
- Barbell Strength
- Gymnastics
- Olympic Lifting
- Conditioning
Barbell Strength
In order to be able to make progress over the long haul without burning out and leaving energy for other training, I decided to run with Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program for the main lifts – namely the Overhead Press, Deadlift, Back Squat and Floor Press.
Jim advocates starting too light and this is fine with me. I’m willing to be patient to ensure long term improvements.
This is basically a 4 week cycle. I’m following a 4 day training week and I’ll be training on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Week 1 is 3 work sets of 5 reps. Week 2 is 3 work sets of 3 reps. Week 3 is a work set of 5 reps, a work set of 3 reps and a final work set of 1 rep. Although a number is specified, the last set each day is for max reps. Week 4 is a deload week.
After each cycle, your lift numbers are increased a little and you start over again.
If you want to know more, buy the ebook. Its inexpensive and its awesome.
Gymnastics
I love gymnastics work and I’ve chosen to use this modality as my assistance work for the main barbell lifts.
I’m doing 2 days of upperbody work and these coincide with my Overhead Press and Floor Press days.
Day 1 is my volume day and I’ve chosen a pushing and a pulling movement to do for 3 sets of 10 each. I plan on changing the exercises each cycle, but within each cycle, increasing the resistance week to week assuming I make all 10 reps each time.
Day 2 is my strength day and again pushing and pulling movements will be selected each cycle. I plan on combining a static hold with a dynamic movement for each push/pull block. i.e. 3 sets of planche hold for 10secs followed by 5 reps of ring push ups or 3 sets of back lever hold 10secs followed by 5 1-arm pull ups.
Olympic Lifts
I will be Snatching and Clean&Jerking one day each per week. C&Js on the Deadlift day and Snatches on the Squat day.
I’ll be doing singles every 2 minutes for 20 minutes – hence 10 lifts each day.
I plan on starting off light and adding weight for each successful, snappy lift. This will dictate my maxes for each day and I will only push it when I feel completely confident.
Conditioning
I plan on doing this 3 days per week, but this will be dictated by recovery needs.
These will be mixed modal crossfit-esque workouts but kept short in duration and at a comfortable pace. 1-2 workouts each week will be more rowing-centric as this is a major weakness of mine.
These will be fairly randomised but designed to shore up any weaknesses or areas not addressed by the rest of the program as I go through.
I plan on transitioning from more aerobic-based WODs to increasingly glycolytic anaerobic as I progress. This will be over a 16 week period to ensure adaptation at each phase.
In the next post I’ll post the current template…
