Week 2/3 — The streak continues!

I’ve not missed a workout in 6 2/3 weeks… pretty awesome. Cardio & weight lifting… I found a way!

I just finished up cardio session 2 of the week. It felt really good. Easy cardio keeps getting easier, despite increasing the incline on the treadmill. The whole workout today was at 6% incline and then the bike. I started at 5% , then moved to 6% as the regular this past week or so, I occasionally up to 7%. I think getting it up to 8-12% should be the goal, beyond that not needed. I do 3.0-3.3 mph typically. Keep making incremental improvements and keep it up through December.

I have my plan going through December now, adding in a bit more rest in between the end of this block in week 9 and the start of week 1 of the ‘mix it up’ block. How I program early next year will be highly dependent on how the tests perform. If I see improvement of 3 or more reps on the tests, then I will likely just do Alpha again. For the bench that is roughly 1RM increase of 20lbs. That is good bang for the buck where I am at. If I am double…well that’s just insane… more like a 35lb 1RM increase over 8 weeks. Same sort of thing with the pullups. I could see doing a round of this where I am doing 230+ lbs on the bench press, and 20-25lbs on the pullups. The deadlift I could see doing 275 or more the next go around.

The 3-4 weeks I have programmed up next adds in internals… but probably not a ton. Lots of BW pullups for higher reps, and pushups for tests. A fairly normal amount of pressing and rows in higher rep ranges. No lower rep ranges. I imagine I will do a slightly faster tempo on exercises, like 1-3

So the niggles… The hip, yes still… BUT. I got this hip symmetry thing and the rogue mobility hand. I am going to continue to do this hip activation routine, and using the hand on the Psoas and Iliacus. Maybe something is happening, hips feel awesome today. The left hip has a little niggle on the deadlift… it’s mobility isn’t as good as the right, and I need to keep on it. Hopefully all this stuff will even out. I am really feeling optimistic.

Week 6 start & a real discussion of my current weight

Starting weight 6 today. Hooray. Feeling really good with these workouts. It just all works so well with me. I get a nice warmup, by the time I am hitting longer sets I am really moving well. Moving slow through the sets is good.

So lets talk weight. I am ignoring the scale at the moment… bad bad bad…

Lets take a healthy range. Lets just take CM – 100 +/- 5 KG as a recommendation. That would leave me at a high end of 216. 205 lbs is the right weight (this is good for me in the past). 194 lbs low end. This is not me, but very lean below 200. I hate the idea of dieting right in the middle of testing some strength things. Sucks, sucks, sucks. I need to get going on this, but I hate the idea of losing strength with weight. It shouldn’t be that bad though… it will only be my bench press where I have a problem, maybe a little on the deadlift. I had a 1200 calories pizza yesterday and a ton of other crap. It’s just crap leveled on crap, on crap.

I bet all these niggles go away as soon as I start dropping some of this weight. I think a high protein lowish carb diet can do the trick for me for awhile. I am super muscley now… it’s not bad, but definitely not healthy. I am gonna bet at 210-215 for me right now would still be big, and probably be pretty lean.

Week 5 Complete

Cut today’s cardio a bit short. I did 55 on the treadmill, and then expected to do 20 on the bike. The bike was hurting my butt a little too much, so I had to cut it short. Couldn’t get comfortable. I ended up doing some yard work and then walking the dog afterwards… so enough right?

Last lift session went fine. I was able to hit the lower end of the reps on the incline bench (8 reps on the last 2 sets). I see trouble going from here to 12-15 in a couple weeks. We’ll see.

I’m hungry all the time, and diet has been mostly crap. Tomorow is a rest day. Next week we add a relatively large amount of sets. 5 sets on the main lifts 1,2,3,1,3, and then 4 sets on the other lifts in the 8-10 range. This should make for a challenge. By the way… I would say the 3 rep sets equivalent to an old 6-8 rep set. This is all a lot of time under tension.

Week 5 halfway

Doing well overall, elbow has really flared up though, and hips are a little wonky again. Left hip is starting to bother me during deadlifts. I’ve neglected it too long since trying to fix my right hip. What a mess… I took an anti-inflammatory today just to see if I can get things back on track a bit.

Yesterday’s workout was good except for the elbow. I’ve got all sorts of mobility stuff to poke and prod myself, including a new thing on the way to try to get at my psoas… we’ll see how all this works. I’m going to temporarily throw the elbow brace on for daily use. I believe the elbow pain is somewhat related to cell phone usage. It would be good to head into these higher volume weeks with less pain. No more extra cell usage for the next 5 days.

Yesterday’s workout having a little trouble hitting reps on the inverted/Ausie chin-ups. I wish I had started with these instead of chin-ups. Moving to 12 to 15 reps of this exercise seems impossible, and will likely be closer to 10. We’ll see. I think I have the same problem on the incline bench press with the dumbbells.

I was 230.2 lbs this morning… I need to lose weight. I know I am stronger and carrying a bit more muscle. The mirror shows that, but the belly is concerning for long term health. It’s good that cardio is getting better. 30-40 minutes on the treadmill is easy, and the incline continues to go up. This is good. The bike feels good, and look forward to next month and doing some more pushes on the bike.

Lots of good stuff happening… think I would be super happy with all this if I were 220 instead of 230

Week 5 start

I’ve had 4 full weeks of this plan, and everything seems to be heading in the right direction. 4 Weeks, no missed workouts (a few doubled up), but in general, nothing missed.

Lets start with heart… actually working right at MAF seems to be helping, and allowing me to recover pretty well. What this means right now is usually an incline between 5-6% and speed average of about 3.1 mph. I’m adding in 15-20 minutes on the end of my cardio sessions on the bike so that I’m able to split the cardio a bit. It’s good as the time gets longer. Right now we are at 45 minutes on day’s 2 & 4, and 75 minutes on day 6. In 2 more weeks that moves to 60/60/90 for the last 3 weeks. No worries on that, just finding the time!

My HRV is steadily improving, my recovery is a little better each day, and usually in line of where I expect. Heart is doing good. It’s not quite what it is when I’m running regularly, but all things considered this is pretty good.

Weight training is good. My hip seems to be improving. Right now, I do the deadlifts. I spend some time with a band doing some distracted stretches which seems to get rid of the pinch, which in turn seems to be improving the hip flexor. I think the hip flexor strain itself needs to not be stretched or massages, and just let it be. I do some very slow squats now too with just bw. Lets see how that goes

The weight training sessions are a great ramp up. By the time I hit the deadlifts I’m usually feeling really good, and then the higher volume stuff goes easy. The big question on this routine is ‘how much improvement’. It feels so weird that I won’t do more than 3 reps, and then expect 8 to 15 when testing. The slow reps make a huge difference. We’ll find out ~5 weeks from now.

Having a little bit of elbow issues that have come back. I can deal with it. Also my ankle.. just a minor pain that needs addressing. And my foot.. same sort of think.

If I could just go into next year without any of these pains would be ideal. The strength training only seems to help though.

Weight… I don’t exactly know, but my diet could be better. I am doing okay this week, good tracking despite an uptick in cardio. I am paying less attention right now, and just really trying to be good. Just don’t go overboard, and I should see progress right now.

I could be doing a bit more of that yoga, but the more I did that stuff, the more my hip would hurt. So here I am, I should still be doing the ones that don’t seem to effect my hip (hamstrings, shoulders, wrists, lower back)

This weeks is almost a perfect clone of last week, except for one more rep on the last set of each big lift. This is all really easy at this point. Looking at those big lifts the progression on number of reps of each at 3-1, or 4-1 tempo is:

• 5 — 11 — 7 — 8 — 10 –13 — 8 – 0\Test

Week 4 half way, and planning the rest of the year

I am at week 4, and really happy with this program and way of lifting. It’s simple and to the point. So I have my plan going for the next 5 weeks. Really 4 weeks of training and a test week.

I then think I’ll roll over to one of my PB blocks for a month, and then back to this plan if it’s working the way I like. The PB blocks are 4 weeks, but I may shorten to 3, as the last week is just a mess of sets that I can’t seem to ever get through. It will be an opportunity to start working in my intervals. All the lifts will be much further from there typical maxes with the exception of the deadlift. I may cut out working up to a single… we’ll see. I will adjust. I still seem to be missing some direct ab work and back extensions… I may adjust some for that too.

I just like the planning for several weeks out. I think I’m in a good spot where I have a plan I can basically run for the next 6 months. Alpha 9 weeks + 3- 4 accessory block :||

That’s roughly 6 months planning if I can stay pretty healthy. I like it

Week 4 Start – Airdyne

So I’ve done Lift 1 and cardio 1 in week 4. I have not missed a workout since starting this plan! Lift 1 for this week was less volume on the main lifts, but slightly higher volume on the accessory. This time I swapped out the single leg squats for wall holds. Works the quads with a light isometric without any of the hip discomfort. Next up is back day, and will swap out the chin-ups for likely some sort of weighted inverted chin-up, or maybe propping my legs up on a bench. Unhappy that I didn’t start that sooner.

So, I found myself an Aridyne online used. I ended up getting the Schwin AD7! It’s very similar to the rogue, GGR rated them just about equal. I think the Aridyne’s computer is a little better, and I’m happy with my purchase. I now am working something like 2/3 Walk uphill, and 1/3 Ride on the cardio. This should keep things a little less boring. So today was 30 minutes uphill walk and 15 minutes ride. The ride is definitely a bit harder on my saddle area. I don’t plan on spending more than 30 minutes on rides , so hopefully will be able to adjust.

For this workout I will continue doing the MAF work as I go through the rest of the plan, next cycle I will work back in some intervals. 30s/30s , 60/60 or something along those lines. I’ll do a bit of research and find a good benchmark. I see a 10 minute for calories appears to be a standard one. Again, for now, just nice a light for the next 4 weeks… I’ll probably test going in to my rest week around Thanksgiving.

Jacks Jacked

So ignoring the weight around my belly, I am looked jacked at the moment. Muscles are very full after today’s workout. I look enormous… now take away the belly, and I think I have something to work with. It’s sad, but I know that it is at least 20-25 lbs away from where I can start seeing abs again. It’s so hard, especially when a routine is going so well to not just eat. It’s hard to say how this will turn out in 5 more weeks, but all signs point to something extraordinary at the moment. I have lifted more in the past, but not at these slower controlled speeds. Will be interesting to see at this tempo how I do upon test. Hitting close to prior relative maxes at this slower tempo will be good. Anything better than 8 I consider a success. I imagine deadlifts will be in the 15 range since I started a bit low. I think bench press will be 10, and maybe pullups 10 slow. Those are really good numbers. If I’m able to lose weight the bench goes down, and the pullups could go up.

My only concern is that I won’t have worked up to more than 3 reps on any of these exercises before attempting a longer set… so we’ll see.

Now, planning ahead. Lets see how much success we have here. Do I run it again right after. Depends on how things go. Maybe some slight modifications. I really need to cut though. I could run PB again, but last time I burned out quickly. Perhaps just one block of PB , and then back to this alpha thing. PB served well during a cut before. Has built in recommendations for cardio + intervals too. Likely going to grab a Rogue Echo Bike for different cardio… I think I mentioned that I HATE the spin bike.

Week 3, Workouts #1-3

Workout #1 : Slight back tweak on the last set of the deadlifts. Muscle thing. I feel fine now. 1,2,3,1,2,2. Took me about 1/2 hour to get through the 18 sets with a few interruptions. I should try to get that down some. I do a bit of a rotation between working the lift and then warming up the next or some mobility in between.

Everything else went well, except for the split squats being kind of weird at the end of the workout. It is always tough, especially when your at the end of the workout. I am considering changing this exercise back to the hip thrusts. But then I really don’t have any direct quad work which is no good. Will have to think on this one.

Hip things are complicated. I feel like I am getting better results from the lateral distraction on the leg with the band.

Next workout on Sunday. Looking forward to some improvement on the chin-ups. I feel like pullups are getting easier each week. Those weighted negatives are tough but good.

30 minute cardio was easy. 3.3 at 5 mph seems to be the max to keep in MAF range at the moment. Still considering an air bike. I hate the spin bike.

Workout #2: First 18 sets go well , having a little bit of elbow discomfort. One more workout with the 18 sets tomorrow. Hopefully the elbow will clean up a bit next week. All these niggles.

The bad part, the chin-ups. I did 7, but that is just not good enough. I need to figure this one out. I think going forward I will do one set in the range required, and then some slow reps underneath the bar, the Ausie pullup/chin-up thing. It’s probably a bit more complicated than I think. I need the straight bar to do this right, but that’s a pain in the ass. So maybe a very closed grip neutral thing nice and slow. Will figure out this adjustment next Sunday.

The bent over rows are the right weight. So starting this plan, it looks like each day I’ve screwed something up. The single leg squats are no good on day 1, day 3 the chin-ups are too hard. On day 5, you got the weight right, but you tend to f-up the incline. I was too steep last week. Opportunity to fix that tomorrow.

Keeping an eye out for an air bike to replace the spin bike. Thinking that I will start shifting from tread to air bike once or twice during the cardio days.

Week 3

Starting week 3 today. This is a challenging week, and then the following two I back off, then 2 more push it, backoff ~2 and test. This puts test week during Thanksgiving week.

My HRV soared last night. I woke up with a 30ms avg, which is way higher than normal. This is typically a good sign. 3 days of cardio, consistent. I did a very slow walk yesterday as recovery. Lower stress.

Cardio this week stays the same. Gotta stay on the treadmill, as I think the slight incline is key for the heart and keeping the heart rate in a good range for a longish period of time.

Not going well… weight is stuck at 230. I am eating right. Maybe a little high on the calories. Hitting protein marks of 175+ many days. Much cleaner overall. My hip too… never good. The walking I believe is the culprit here. Perhaps the air dyne will be better. I just can’t stand the spin bike.