Saturday, November 17, 2007

The Best Laid Plans

Lest anyone think that I have been lazy, It's been quite the few weeks.

I got my synthesizer back repaired after a long time of not using it and I've been messing around with a program made by Steinberg called Sequel (A loop based music program that can also record MIDI and instrument sounds). I feel like a music hobbyist again.

The biggest thing for me right now is that I am being recalled to the Middle East next year for a while. This alters some plans. About a month of that is to be spent in South Carolina training Army style which means a lot of running and moving around with an extra 50-60 lbs of gear. I've been messing around with the Westside for Skinny Bastards 3 program, Afterburn for fat loss (I'm at 236 lbs right now, so I've dropped some weight from the last PRT) but now, aside from March's Virtual Meet and PRT 3 weks later, I have to prepare my body for that, too (a lot of people come back from the Middle East with shoulder or knee problems because of the added weight of bulletproof gear, weapons, and other flotsam). Lastly, I have to get things in order so my family has little to worry about while I'm gone - - - my to-do list is being drafted.

But since this is a training blog, not a life blog, let's talk training. I love this template and plan to keep it but since I've changed a few things in it, I'll just blog the workout with no name for the template. The Elite Beginners Manual and WS4SB3 are so similar that I've been using a bit of both, essentially bastardizing them.

The first thing to go will be any sort of speed days. I feel that I've done speed work for so long but my squat and bench should be bigger than it is. I think I've gotten as fast as I could get at my existing level of strength that more speed won't make me stronger. So I will be doing more repetition work on those days.

Second, I feel like my squat should be a lot bigger than it is and even with a big deadlift, my back got humbled with 340 at the bottom. So I'm putting more effort into GMs and front squats and sled work. The repetition days for squats will be done exclusively with 14-inch SSB Squats with a different rep scheme each week, some high and some low. I will do speed work for deadlift, like the Elite manual, but using the sumo, which is my weakest deadlift. Historically, 14" has been best for my overall squats - - - thus the choice.

In the bench, and in particular my shoulders, I'll keep a 3 weeks bench variation/3 weeks shoulder press rotation. The past few weeks, I've been using a DB shoulder press/assisted pullup superset along with some trap work and incline benching on rep days and my shoulders have gotten thicker and been pain free. I will also be using pushup variations on rep days.

As for the fat loss, I'm going to keep NROL's Afterburn setup but will use running instead. I had planned on that 5 days a week using an elliptical AND running in the evenings but I could see where that was headed. I'll just start gradually. If I'm in shape, running at at my usual pace wouldn't be my biggest worry, it's when I start turning to my lactic acid system. I found that a 1.5 incline, and 7.6 MPH speed was a good beginning challenge for me, as was dropping the rest period and increasing the running period each week. On days where I don't run, I'll probably do the elliptical for 30 minutes or go for a long walk. I'll also keep using the heavy bag and jump rope for any other GPP work.

As for milestones or goals, we'll see:)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is going to be very interesting to follow. Do you want to be at 236 when you go overseas or are you planning to add/subtract before then?

Kris said...

Big changes indeed! Happy to see that you plan to do the March Virtual Meet, see you there. :-)

Christian D. said...

Just catching up here. Sorry to hear you'll be heading to the "Sandbox". but what exactly is an HR person going to do in the sandbox? Drop me a line when you get a chance.

Alberto said...

Mich:
I like the 1/2 lbs a week standard, because it's the easiest and safest. By March 21st, I want to be 225. By the time I leave, 220. I also want to be stronger, but with more endurance. Not the aerobic kind, though: as I learned today, an extra 50 lbs is a lot.

Kris:
I have a question for you: how far is Finland from Bahrain by plane?

Chris D:
Based on the orders, I'm not in the fight - - - not a lot,anyway. It is a manpower position, almost an evolution of what I do now - - - I mobilize and demobilize reservists. But I still have to do the training, which should drop me down some more in weight - - - I hear the runs are 3 miles vice 1.5 plus marching around and stuff with an M16, a 9mm, ammo, and more.

Kris said...

Sorry for the slow reply. Good question. If you are considering coming over you would be warmly welcome to stay with us! Meeting up (and training!) in person would be something...

Presumably you would be flying in from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and that's about a seven-eight hour flight from what I can gather. Direct flights are scarce, if at all available, a quick check showed a travel time of 12-14 hours in practice but I just checked two dates so this could vary a lot. If that's close or not depends on your perspective I guess... the good thing is that we are just one timezone apart (Helsinki is GMT+2, Bahrain GMT+3) so no jet lag.

In any case, drop me a line if you have anything in mind.