Volume and frequency
My bench is doing fine, I don’t have a measure for squat since I’ve only started after 3 months of no back squatting. I’m taking things slow at this point so my TM is 20kg under my previous 1rm
Figure out if it’s working or not before you change it
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I’m not planning on changing anything if you guys don’t see any glaring issues
Unless your goal is specifically about having the highest numbers on those lifts, I wouldn’t sweat frequency. Frequency is how you rapidly develop skill, which is how you can make numbers rapidly grow, but it doesn’t mean a rapid growth of strength. Strength is more general and, in turn, is developed by muscle rather than movement training.
Like, if you squat on Monday, front squat on Wednesday, and Safety Squat bar squat on Friday, your frequency for the squat is screwed, but your frequency for the squatting MUSCLES is great. Your squat may not increase as fast as if you had squatted all 3 days, but you will most likely have gotten stronger with that approach as you trained the muscles with some different emphasis and angles, shoring up weak points.
@dagill2 has the right idea. I don’t believe in evaluating a program on paper. Some Rainmanesque guy out there might have that talent, but there’s such a “human” element to training that gets missed when you just look at the 1s and 0s. I could make a program that was just one movement done for 20 reps and have it be more effective than some trainee’s fully fleshed out program simply because I’m busting my butt on all 20 reps while they’re just going through the motions.
I would also argue a program can’t be considered to be just sets and reps. How you execute and the stuff you do in the 23 hours outside a gym will also have a big effect.
noted I’ll just keep on with the program then
Week 4: Day 5- conditioning
3x(15m sled push-7.5kg on sled+500m ski+15m sled push)
DB hamstring curl: 1x15+3x5 cluster w/5sec rests-10kg DB
Rope climbs: 2x15ft!!!
Felt pretty crap today. I actually had to drop the weight on the sled… not fun
I think I’m pretty solid. I avoid processed crap 95% of the time, I’m getting in 17-20k steps every day, school’s over so pretty much no stress and I sleep at least 8hrs a day- 9:30 to 5:45 (although quality is questionable)
I also don’t drink or ingest questionable substances
That sounds like a good set up. Only slightly jealous. What’s your nutrition like? I get it’s not processed, and from what I can tell high on vegetation, but how do calories, macros etc. Break down? How does your weight change?
Honestly my parents don’t let me track calories/ macros, but here’s what I eat each day:
Breakfast: 2 slices of sprouted grain toast, 2 egg whites cooked with about a lb of jalepeños that I roast until pretty much burnt
“Lunch”: 1 scoop protein powder+ 1 container greek yogurt (150g)+ a bowl of steamed innards (usually fish, sometimes chicken)- I know it’s disgusting, but I really like it and it’s basically getting free fish oil
Dinner: 2/3 cup red rice (I measure this)+ a huge pile of stir fried veggies (ie I polished off a 700g radish last night +1/2 plate of other greens)+ 6-8 oz lean meat or fish or poultry (skin removed) cooked without fat, usually steamed or stewed
If I were to guess, I’m probably averaging 1200-1500 calories a day depending on what’s for dinner and whether or not I slip in the odd roast duck neck.
My weight doesn’t really change, but it sometimes randomly jumps a lb or 2 for a few days. It’s actually pretty frustrating because my stomach still looks softer than pre- surgery even though I’ve been working out consistently and I’m actually about 1lb under. I’ve also increased daily activity since I’m not sitting in a classroom for 8hrs now
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Week 4: Day 6
Bench Press: 1x5-35, 40; 1x8-45kg; 5x6-40kg w/3sec pause at bottom
Wide Grip Bench: 2x10, 1x12-35kg - my rests were WAYY too long since I got into a debate about Japanese food with one of the trainers
Conditioning: 40 strict press-20kg w/ 7 burpees every minute- 9:07
-wanted 50, but my arms were not moving and wasn’t feeling it.
Week 4: Day 7
Front squat: 1x5-40,45-50; 5x5-40w/40sec rests
Back Squat: 1x12,11,10-50kg
Conditioning: 5x(20alt pistols+battle rope in remaining minute+30sec rest)
Core: 90-90 work
Week 5: Day 1
Press: 1x3-25,30,35; 5x(5-25kg+10 lat pulldowns-35kg)-90sec rests
DB incline bench: 3x15-12.5kg Dbs
Conditioning:
AMRAP 5min: 500m ski+max distance row-333m
rest 2min
AMRAP 5min: 500m row+max ski-380m
Apologies, I don’t know how I missed this one.
I’m no expert on nutrition so I’m not going to try and lecture you on this, there’s far more qualified people than me.
The reason I asked the question is simply to get a picture of whether you were eating enough. Saying “I eat a load of veggies” is great for your health, as long as you have enough calories as well. If your food intake is pretty consistent, it might be worth plugging it into a calculator one day on the sly to see if you’re actually getting as many calories as you think you are.
“The mirror always lies” rush, war paint. Awesome song that just happened to be playing.
Anyway, my point is that you should be going by measurements and results wherever possible. Subjective measurements like “looking softer” are notorious for allowing people to delude themselves. The numbers don’t lie.
Are you sure you’re eating enough?
From what I recall, you’re not a big person but you’re young and you seem to be very active.
I did and got between 1200-1500, the problem is that Idk the calories in the aformentioned guts (!'m guessing around 100-300 calories) or the actual amount of veggies/ stir fry oil (I usually add another 200 calories just to be safe), so I might be over estimating or way underestimating.
honestly, idk. I plugged my stats into an online calculator and got everywhere between 1400-2000 as my TDEE. Of course, those calculators are BS, but I’d sure love to be eating more
Eating enough…I wonder it, too.
Have you gotten stronger/some clear improvement in what you’re training for?
Have you made some visible change that you can see in the mirror recently?
My bench has gone up, but that’s probably because I really focused on it for a few months while squatting was out. I just started squatting again, so I can’t really judge. My press has stalled somewhat.
No change in mirror. I wish the puffiness would go away though. I’ve been looking quite a bit worse in the mirror since the surgery and that hasn’t changed despite the training and lack of real weight gain (scale fluctuates for a day or two sometimes, but usually returns)