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Getting back to and keeping an ok level of strength

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IainTIconFun lifting, and not so fun cardiac output training03-03-2014 @ 12:37 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Post Edited: 09.11.2014 @ 16:20 PM by IainT
Not been keeping a log here for some years, so started a new one. Priorities have changed, I'm no longer chasing big (for me) numbers or stupid numbers of reps in the squat. Just trying to maintain some decent numbers and improve weaknesses, like pressing and power.

Reading a lot of Dan John, and am working on his strength standards - http://danjohn.net/2013/04/strength-standards-sleepless-in-sea... filling in some gaps and making sure that the 5's or 6's are never more than a short specialisation away, olympic lifts aside.

Come up with a few little versions myself and will have an annual testing week in June/July to try and hit at 80kg:

Squat - 100kg front squat (should be easy), 120kg paused back squat (should be easy), bw x15 back squat (should be easy)
Press - floor press bw x15 (might not happen), OHP 60x5 (should be fine), 32x10 KB push press per arm (might be tough)
Hinge - double bodyweight deadlift (will take a short training cycle)
Pull - pull-ups x15, +32x1+. Both should be ok. Front lever x10s
Carry - bw suitcase carry x25m, 2/3rds bw each hand x50m farmers carry

That's a level of strength at which I should look at conditioning and perhaps some other sports.

At the moment I'm doing easy front squats, floor press, pull-ups and swings 4-5x a week. Then:

Tuesday: 5/3/1 floor press+volume, heavier front squats/paused back squats and heavy-ish swings.
Fri: Heavy swings/snatch-grip block pulls, 5/3/1 OHP+assistance, front lever
Sun: carries and one arm overhead

On the front lever - I've seen a few people say that getting a solid front lever got them a long way towards a one arm chin. As I can hold a shaky one, I decided to give a one arm chin a go - starting with a partly flexed arm, I managed to get 4-6 inches of movement, which isn't bad.
IainTIcon...03-03-2014 @ 23:14 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Daily training

Goblet squat practice
Pull-ups (wider than usual) - bw 3x3
Front lever practice
Thoracic mobility work

Front squat - 70x5 2 sets
Close-grip floor press - 60x10. Bit rushed, so lighter and more reps


Swings - 24x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 15, 15 done throughout the day
IainTIcon...04-03-2014 @ 19:23 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Post Edited: 04.03.2014 @ 19:24 PM by IainT
Ok session, not feeling 100% today

Daily work
Pull-ups - bw x3, 3, 3
Swings - 24x15, 15

Main session
Front squat - 70x5, 85x3, 95x2. Right knee not completely happy for some reason. No belt.
KB OHP - 20x5x2 each arm between sets of above
5/3/1 close-grip floor press - 70x5, 80x3, 88.5x4 (lost groove, cost me a rep), 61x22+7
Swings - 32x 5, 10, 15, 5, 10, 15, 5, 10, 15
Offset KB carries - 20 in rack, 32 suitcase
IainTIcon...05-03-2014 @ 22:13 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Not much today, some knee pain so need to back off on the squats a bit. Double KB for a while.

Goblet squats - 2x5
Pull-ups - 3x3
Front lever work, up to a max advanced tuck hold
Foam roll quads
IainTIcon...13-03-2014 @ 19:06 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Post Edited: 01.04.2014 @ 22:55 PM by IainT
Saturday - finished the 5/3/1 OHP cycle, and not much more.
Sunday - suitcase carries, one arm KB push press and light farmers metcon-ish

Knee pain and recent fevers were a warning sign, been put on two weeks of IV antibiotics, so enforced lay-off.
IainTIcon...24-04-2014 @ 22:10 
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Member 2325, 550 posts
Ended up in hospital. Slow return, on a basic A/B split. Last few sessions

A
24kg swings and warm-up work
KB push press - 24x4. 3 sets each arm, emphasis on power
Floor press - up to 70x5 x2
Snatch-grip high pull - 60x5 x2
Double KB front squat and carry - 20&24

B
Block pull* - 60x5 snatch grip (60x8 normal grip), 80x5 (x8), 100x5 (x8)
KB jerk practice - 20x 2mins. x2. Swapped hands every 30s, kept the tempo slow. Will up duration to 3mins+ before tempo.
Easy floor press - 60x5, 60x5
Will do carries here from next time

A
KB push press - 24kg 3 sets
5/3/1 close-grip floor press - no rep out/assistance
Snatch-grip high pull - 3 sets
Easy double KB front squats (no carries)

Last sun B+farmers
KB push press - 20kg 2x2min sets, swapping hand approx every 30s
5/3/1 snatch-grip block (very low) pull - no rep out/assistance
Carries - 3 heavy, 3 lighter on I go you go basis with training partner

Today
A
One arm 24kg KB push press - x5, x4, x4 both arms
Close-grip floor press - bar x20, 40x5, 50x5, 70x3, 78.5x3, 76x3x3 *
Snatch-grip high hang high pull - 50x5, 70x5, 70x4
'Eagle' work - 2x20kg KB front squat + carry EMOM (every minute, on minute) - squat x5 + short carry. 7 rounds (longer carry on 7th round)

* - my brother used my weights at the weekend and put them back in a different fashion than I do. I meant to load 60, 68.5, 76 for the 5/3/1 work, but thought the 68.5 felt oddly heavy. Checked it and it was 25kg plates not 20kg, so just stripped back to the intended load and did 3 more sets.
IainTIcon...25-04-2014 @ 14:00 
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Member 2325, 550 posts
Got piddled on training outside, going to be all I do as I'm tired today.

B
Snatch-grip low block pull - 95x3, 110x3, 121x3
Semi-sumo low block pull - 121x6, 110x6, 95x6
One arm kettlebell jerks - 20x3mins (swapping hands every 30s), 20x3mins (1min each hand then 30s each hand)
IainTIcon...29-04-2014 @ 19:38 
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Member 2325, 550 posts
Sunday - A
Rained on again.

5/3/1 close-grip floor press - 63.5x5, 72.5x3, 80x1, 72.5x13
Double KB front squat - 2x20kg 3x8
32kg suitcase carry - 2mins on, 1min off, 2mins on
No farmers walk training, training partner wasn't around

Today - B
Snatch-grip block pull - 100x5, 115x3, 130x5
Semi-sumo block pull - 130x4, 115x4, 100x4, should really have been 4,6,8 but got distracted
KB one arm push press - 32x1 3 sets each hand. 24x2mins swapping hands every 30s. 20x4mins swapping hands every minute. Massively underestimated this, it was hard.

Close-grip floor press - 60x10 2 sets
Carries - 2x20kg x 1min on 1min off x4
IainTIcon...02-05-2014 @ 19:08 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
A - deload

KB swing - 20x 10, 15. Adding a few reps each session until I get 75 total.
KB one arm push press - 24x3, 32x3, 24x6
5/3/1 close-grip floor press - 55x3, 63.5x3, 72.5x3
'Eagle' work - 2x20kg KBs EMOM - 6 double KB front squats and short carry. 8 rounds, last round I carried until the minute was finished. Worked out about a 1:1 work:rest, until that last round.
IainTIcon...06-05-2014 @ 20:05 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Sunday
B - deload
5/3/1 snatch-grip block pull - 85x3, 100x3, 115x3
Close-grip floor press - 60x10
That was it, not feeling ace and neither was training partner. Didn't feel up to doing farmers walks in the street by myself.

Today
A - new 5/3/1 cycle
KB swing - 20x 5, 10, 15
KB press - 20x3, 24x3, 32x1 easy each arm
KB push press - 32x3 3 sets each arm
5/3/1 close-grip floor press - 58.5x5, 67.5x5, 76x5, 60x10x2
'Eagle' work - EMOM 2x20kg DKBFsq+carry - 8,7,6,8,7,6+carry for rest of minute on last round. Harder than anticipated.
IainTIcon...09-05-2014 @ 17:45 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Minor change to routine, timed carries dropped for complexes on the 'B' session. The timed KB push press is getting metcon-y itself, so only a couple for now.

B
Swings - 20x5, 15, 15
Snatch-grip block pull - 90x5, 105x5, 120x5, 105x5
One arm KB push press - 24x3mins (alt every 30s), 20x4mins (alt every 30s)
Floor press - 60x10 cg, 60x10 ng
Row-clean-OHP-front squat-RDL - 40x5, 40x5. Will add reps not weight for a bit.
IainTIcon...11-05-2014 @ 15:39 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Minimal A plus carries

Swings - 20kg x 15, 15, 15
KB push press - 24x3, 32x1, 32x1
5/3/1 close-grip floor press - 63.5x3, 72.5x3, 81x3

Farmers walk (total load) - 52x2 trips, 72x2 trips, 92x1 trip, 115x2 trips, 72x2 trips
IainTIcon...13-05-2014 @ 20:37 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Post Edited: 13.05.2014 @ 20:49 PM by IainT
B
Swings - 20x 5, 15, 15, 15 (50)
Snatch-grip block pull - 100x3, 112.5x3, (120x1), 126x8 no belt
KB push press - Double 20's x 1min on 1 min off 1min on. Hard. One arm 20x4mins
Floor press - 20x10, 40x5, 60x10 (first 5 paused)
Complex - 40x6 x2 rounds

Testing week mentioned in the OP is off. Going to be moving house and have other stuff on, plus the hospitalisation did a lot of damage to that plan anyway. Going to shift into Dan John's park bench mode completely through June.
IainTIcon...18-05-2014 @ 10:32 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
Not been all that well again.

A
Swings - 20x 15, 15
5/3/1 close-grip floor press - 67.5x5, 76x3, 85x4. 60x10 4 sets
Eagleish - EMOM 2x20kg KB 5 squats + carry. 8 rounds.

Hot (for the UK in May), full sun and not feeling ace.

Have quite a few stressful things coming up over the next few weeks/months. Going to shift down to 5/3/1 work + volume + metcon twice a week. Third or fourth sessions will be farmers or kettlebell or pull-up/dip bar only, or possibly climbing and will depend entirely on how I feel. May prioritise long duration KB jerks really, they seem to have caused some interesting physical changes (greater ab and arm endurance during everyone's favourite recreational exercise)
IainTIcon...21-05-2014 @ 21:46 
normal people, like me.
Member 2325, 550 posts
5/3/1 snatch-grip block pull - 105x5, 120x3, 133.5x3
Snatch-grip RDL - 60x10. 4 sets, starting every 2mins
Floor press - 20x10, 40x10, 60x10 (first 5 paused)
Complex (RDL, row, clean, ppress, fsquat, row) 40x5 x3


Don't know if anyone reads this, but I've decided to drop the barbell work down to twice a week at least until moved, and possibly all summer. Plan is

Sun - 5/3/1 block pull+some volume. Easy floor press. Farmers walks

Weds/Thurs - 5/3/1 floor press+volume. Easy squat. Complex.

Between that there would be optional sessions primarily of timed kettlebell jerk or EMOM double KB squat+carry. Short sessions designed to be finished and showered within 30-45mins.

I should then aim to boulder every few weeks when I have an utterly free Friday, or go for a run in preference to a KB session. Seem like a plan?

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