I figured it might be an idea to lay down my current training goals, that way some of the stuff I say in the future will have some context.
All of this refers to my current cycle which I started 3 weeks ago.
Starting Point
I like strength. I like power. You’ll see that my goals are mainly focused on these two areas.
My level of strength is relatively solid but I hold to the view that I can always be stronger.
As far as strength goes my relative strength is good, but in absolute terms could be better i.e. I’m strong for a light guy, but compared to big dudes could do better.
Before going into this cycle my lifts were as below, bodweight at 65kg:
- Back Squat 122.5kg / 188% Bodyweight
- Deadlift 170kg / 262% Bodyweight
- Overhead Press 65kg / 100% Bodyweight
- Floor Press 107.5kg / 165% Bodyweight
- Clean & Jerk 75kg / 115% Bodyweight
- Snatch 57.5kg / 88% Bodyweight
I feel like my Oly lifts should be higher and I think this is technique not strength related. Gymnastics stuff is fairly solid with me working towards more advanced strength moves.
My conditioning sucks. No further explanation required.
Goals
I wanted to take a more balanced and steady approach to my barbell lifting, whilst improving my gymnastics strength and still getting some Oly work in. I also needed to get my conditioning up for the sake of recovery and generally not feeling like s**t
I was worried that I was perhaps trying to do too much at once.
Robb Wolf recently talked about skill acquisition as a workout goal instead of just hammering yourself with trying to improve work capacity. This struck a chord with me as I felt it might be a good way to focus and not lead me down the overtraining route.
As Pavel says “Strength is a skill”.
So, my general goals are as follows:
- Take the time to improve lifting technique across all lifts
- Learn and develop new gymnastics strength skills
- Keep up progress on the Olympic lifts focusing on technique
- Do some form of conditioning 3 times per week with a focus on rowing.
The specific goals:
- 130kg Back Squat (200% Bodyweight)
- 180kg Deadlift (275% Bodyweight)
- 75kg Overhead Press (115% Bodyweight)
- 90kg Clean & Jerk (138% Bodyweight)
- 65kg Snatch (100% Bodyweight)
- Full Planche Hold
- Freestanding Handstand Push Up
- 7:30 2000m Row
Timescale
I’m aiming to achieve all this by the end of this year – 31st December 2010
I’ll outline my training plan in the next post.
