Coach Thib's Training Log #1

Training
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Thursday, July 21st

Felt better today. I still played it safe by programming less volume and I’m leaving the option open for a second session this PM, which would all be golf-specific work. It will depends on whether I can go to the range or not (it’s supposed to rain pretty hard, although it’s sunny now).

I also only did one couplet of exercises prior to my main lift, so that if Jayden once again woke up early, I’d have at least done my main lift.

Strength leaks 1 (“activation”)
A1. Neck extension 3 x 10-12 (increasing weight with every set)
A2. Wrist roller 3 sets of 2-3 up/down

Strength
B. Snatch grip high pull (2 lighter prep sets of 5, one “max reps” set… 5/3/1 format, basically) The only difference with “normal” strength lifts is that I stop my high pull set when speed slows down (eve though I might have 2-3 more reps left in the tank). I worked up to 235 x 6 reps.

Assistance & aesthetics
C. Snatch grip shrugs, 3 sets of 10 reps with my work weight on the high pull

D1. Trap bar shrugs 3 x 10
D2. Single KB hammer curl 3 x 6-8

E. Dips with 30lbs weight vest, 50 total reps

Strength leaks 2
F. Gripper 3 x drop set (max reps at 200lbs, max reps at 150lbs, max reps at 100lbs)

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CT, thanks for the thoughts. In regards to your youth training, our boys are 9&6. Both want to train with me in the morning and I have to hold them back. Every story about kids with weights is true, first thing they do is press it over head. My 9 year old pressed the 45lb bar off the j cups. Curious about your strategy with your kids. Are you waiting to strength train them until they hit early teens? Friend of ours is having their 9 year old daughter deadlift, probably too early.

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I’ll try to find the videos, but when he turned 3, Jayden was lifting medicine balls (8-15lbs) and loading them on chairs (like atlas stones), doing box jumps, hurdle jumps, rope pulls (I have a short/thick rope and I attach a weight on one end and he rows it towards him). He now (close to being 4) deadlifts a KB (I don’t have him go heavy, 25-30lbs) and “high pull” with a lighter KB (10-15lbs).

He also hangs on a pull-up bar and does knee/leg raises.

He started gymnastics at 18 months old.

Important is that I don’t force him, he actually asks me to train, and each sets need to be very submaximal.

I also have a rule: no more than 3x their age in training “time”. So at almost 4 my son will train no more than 10-12 minutes.

I think that the best introduction to training for kids are body weight exercises, jumps and loaded carries. I wish I could find a kid-sized prowler.

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I actually found (and just bought) this, which will do nicely as a kid prowler.

31kujNR3P4L.AC_SY355

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Great, thanks. Check out Kidstrong in Doylestown PA(USA). They make prowlers out of PVC pipes and put bumper plates on them for kids to push.

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Can I ask what this is? Is there a specific forearm trainer you are using?

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It’s just what it sounds like.

I have a gripper set of 6 different strengths (I use the Gripzilla set).

After a warm-up, I’ll do as many reps (I actually count a rep if I can get both ends within like 1/8th of an inch from touching, but still try to touch) with the 200lbs gripper (typically falls between 5-8 reps), then immediately (no rest) switch to the 150lbs one and again fo as many reps as possible, then finally switch to the 100lbs and once again get as many reps as possible.

Then I do the other hand.

I sometimes do the same thing but with max duration holds instead of reps.

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Friday, July 22nd

Madyson got back to sleeping through the night. I think the stint of constantly waking up was because she had the flu and a stuffy nose. Anyway, that gave me a better night of sleep. I woke up at 5:00am instead of 4:00 and trained at 5:20 instead of 4:30.

Note: I really find that starting my workouts with a low-stress pair of exercises (my neck and forearm work) improves my workouts. It gets me into the zone without fatiguing me for the main work.

As you might know from some of my previous posts, I have a very minimalist approach to warming up. I believe in doing the minimum that will allow you to turn in a good workout performance.

It really irks me when people use these super elaborate warm-up routines using stuff that they personally don’t need to perform. They end up doing a workout before the workout and create fatigue that might end up doing more harm than good.

Now, some people might really need a fairly thorough warm-up routine. And I’m not against it provided that the stuff they do is absolutely necessary to lead to their best workout performance.

Because that’s the purpose of the warm-up: to put you in the best physiological, mechanical and mental state to perform at the proper level during your workout.

The problem is that people see the warm-up as the time to work hard on stuff like mobility.

Hard mobility work, or at least the level of mobility work that actually leads to significant changes represents a training stress… everything that causes adaptations is.

As such doing full-on mobility work, with the intent of increasing range of motion over the long term, can interfere with your workout quality (mostly by reducing how much quality work you can do) and will lengthen the recovery period.

If you need to significantly improve mobility, you plan an actual mobility training session (or sessions) in your week. What you do in your warm-up is just intense enough to allow you to have access to your current full range of motion without effort.

Anyway…

Strength leaks #1
A1. Neck flexion 3 x 20-25
A2. Radial deviation 3 x 10-12/arm

Strength (main lift & main assistance)
B. Bench press (5/3/1 scheme… “3” week) 3 progressively heavier sets of 3, then one max reps set (265lbs x 8)… not huge numbers (I used to bench press 445) but I have suffered a shoulder/elbow injury doing gymnastic rings years ago and my pressing strength has been down since then.

C. Weighted dips 3 x 10 (adding weight every set)

Strength leaks #2 and aesthetics
D1. Cable crunches 3 x 10-12
D2. Wrist roller 2-3 ups and down + max wrist extensions at the end

E1. Cable upright row (yes, that makes me the Devil… hey, I know they are bad in theory but they work great for me) 3 x 10-12
E2. Rope triceps extension 3 x 8-10

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Sunday, July 24th

Yesterday was a confirmation of something I noticed in the past, especially when training athletes: your body adapts to the time you train and becomes at its best at that time.

In theory (meaning from one empirical experimentation done with Russian weightlifters and grip strength testing every waking hour) the best times to train are 3 and 11 hours after you wake up.

However, the body being a very adaptative machine, I suspected (and so did hundreds of coaches working with international level athletes) that the body would adjust to a specific training time and, over time, would perform best then.

That’s why a lot of athletes train at the time they will have to compete (when they know the time in advance).

Anyway, for the past 5-6 weeks I’ve been training at 5am (more or less 30 minutes). At first it was horrible but now not only am I perfectly fine, that’s when I perform the best and am the most focused to train.

Yesterday I had to train at 4pm (afternoon instead of morning), ironically it was exactly 11 hours after I woke up (so theoretically. the best time to train). Well, I stopped my workout after my main lift. I just had no focus or motivation (I wasn’t tired or in a bad mood either).

Something similar happened a few weeks back when I had to train at 9am. Ended up being a pretty bad workout.

Training adjustment: When I first started with the golf-specific workout I did a “Thib”… I was overenthusiastic about trying and creating specific exercises that I overdid it.

Now that I came back to my senses and am able to think like a coach again, I decided to use a more logical approach: I start with ONE specific exercise per workout during this block.

Then I will gradually increase the proportion of specific work (while decreasing the general work… remember, when you add something in, you must take something out).

My ultimate goal is to compete in long-drive next season.

Why next season?

  1. The last competition of the year (besides international competitions or out-of-country competitions) is this weekend and I’m nowhere near ready or competitive.

  2. Next season I’ll be 45 which will allow me to compete in the 1st masters class.

Strength leaks
A1. Neck lateral flexion 3. 12-15
A2. Wrist flexion 3 x 10-12

B1. Cable crunches 3 x 10
B2. Wrist extension 3 x 10

Strength main lift and main assistance
C. Snatch grip high pull (still 5/3/1 scheme). Did 3 progressively heavier sets of 3 then one “max reps” set… did 245 x 6

D. Snatch-grip shrugs 3 x 10 (I used the same weight as the max reps snatch-grip high pull set)

Sport-specific
E. Follow-through positional hold 2 minutes total (this is a corrective as I tend to finish my swing too far inside with a slightly out-to-in path, trying to correct it toward a slight in-to-out path).

Aesthetics
F1. Trap bar shrugs 3 x 8-10
F2. Preacher curl 3 x 6-8

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Tuesday, July 26th

I once again had to train later, which invariably affect my training focus and motivation.

Madyson woke up at 5am just as I was about to do downstairs to lift.

So instead I went to pick her up, put her in the stroller, put my weight vest on and went for a 60 minutes walk.

Then I went to hit some balls at the range at 10am and lifted at 1pm.

I might actually get some extra work this evening as my wife is going to her parents with the kids.

Strength leaks
A1. Neck flexion (lying down, plate on forehead) 3 x 15 + max duration hold
A2. Preacher curl 3 x 8-10

B. Cable crunches 3 x 10-12

Strength
C. Romanian deadlift (5/3/1 format)… I use the RDL rather than a traditional deadlift. As a short-legged/long torso lifter, the RDL is a more effective overall movement. Did 3 progressively heavier set, then one max reps set. Ended up at 365 x 8 reps

Assistance
D1. Cable upright row 5 x 10
D2. Cable curl 5 x 8

This evening I’m thinking of doing some more forearms and neck work.

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Wednesday, July 27th

Here are a few things I wanted to address.

  1. My low volume of work. As you might have noticed, my training volume is pretty low. Especially once you take out the neck/forearm work. As I explained in the first post in this series, the log is NOT a recommendation nor does it represent what I feel is the best way to train to maximize strength and size. Yeah, I know that it’s hard to comprehend how an “expert” would not train like what he considers to be optimal. That’s because building maximum muscle and strength isn’t always the goal. And at my experience level, I’m not going to add lots of muscle or strength anyway. As such, my training is a mix of maintaining (maybe increasing a bit) my muscle mass and strength, enjoyment and staying as functional as possible for as long as possible Furthermore, at the time I golf (play or range) almost every day. And these sessions can be really draining, especially the swing speed sessions (which are all out explosive efforts). I also do a lot of walking with my weight vest… today, before 10am I had already 7500 steps with my 30lbs vest. For those reasons, my capacity to tolerate lifting volume is very low.

  2. I train almost every day. This goes against what I typically preach of lifting 4 days a week or every other day. For the record, I DO believe that 4 days a week/every other day is best for most when it comes to maximizing gains. But personally, I use my lifting sessions as a way to get my day started, if I don’t train I’m much less productive. It is also my lab, where I experiment with various stuff. I DO accept that I’m likely leaving some gains on the table but I make the conscious decision to train more often for other reasons than gaining. If I wanted to maximize my gains I’d do things differently. Also, the low volume of work makes it possible to tolerate a higher frequency.

That having been said, here is my workout for today.

Again, I had to delay my session because Madyson and Jayden both woke up at 5:30am. I put both in the stroller, slapped my weight vest on and went walking for about 45 minutes. Jayden’s R/C car needed new batteries anyway.

Always fun to see the look of the people at the convenience store or grocery store when I walk in with tattoos, a bear, black shirt and a weight vest that looks exactly like a bulletproof vest!

Then Madyson had a doctor’s appointment and Jayden and I went to the grocery store (again a 40 ish minutes walk with my vest).

This afternoon I plan to hit the range for about an hour.

Strength leaks
A1. Neck extension 3 x 15
A2. Wrist flexion 3 x 12

Strength
B. Bench press (5/3/1 set-up) I did 2 progressively heavier but conservative sets, then one max reps set with 275, got 7 reps (again, I’m reminding you of a shoulder/elbow issue that prevents me from pressing heavy) then did 3 down sets with 260 for 7-8 reps.

C. Weighted dips 3 x 6-8

D. T-bar row 3 x 10

E. Trap bar shrugs 3 x 6

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Thursday, July 29th

Ok, I’m typing this Friday morning because I had tons of work to do yesterday.

I’m producing more content for Instagram. Supposedly, the key to getting more followers is “reels”, which I never did in the past. I spend a lot of time learning how to do them properly and did a few of them as a test, still working the kinks out.

Also had a challenging client (I don’t take many “in-person clients” anymore, only special/interesting cases). A soccer player who had a SEVERE concussion a few years ago and keeps getting neurological issues. He has seen several experts in the medical field, ranging from a sport doctor to a neurologist as well as physical therapists, psychologist and several other “ists” to no avail. So I make it my personal mission to fix him.

I also have a long range session. I’m playing today (Friday) and had to work on a technical issue.

We also were not able to send the kids to daycare as there were some reported COVID cases and they have to close when that happens.

For all of these reasons I really didn’t have tons of time or drive to train and I also didn’t want to do lifts that would make me sore or tight this morning (Friday) for my golf game.

So I ended up just doing biceps/triceps.

It looked like this:

A1.1 Preacher curl 1 rep (heavy but not maximal)
2 minutes of rest
A1.2 Preacher curl 6 reps
2 minutes of rest
A2. Triceps extension (rope) 8-10 reps

I did that 4 times, increasing the weights on every set.

Today (Friday) I won’t lift as I’m playing golf then have a podcast with Mike Mahler.

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Saturday, July 30

Ok, changes in situation require changes in training approach! More on that in a minute.

I also. decided to beef up my journal entries and give more explanation regarding why I’m doing, and the choices I’m making. So that you will actually learn something ratter than just looking at what I do.

I hate to give a bad example and change my program too often, but when things in my life change; different priorities, scheduling, etc. I feel that it’s smarter to adapt the plan so that it better fit the new set of parameters than just continuing with what I feel is less adequate just to avoid looking like a program hopper.

Two things prompted my program change:

  1. I went to play golf yesterday and found that I suck at transferring my golf swing from the range to the course. And the only solution to that is practicing less and playing more. Now, I can get away with lifting and hitting balls on the same day because I can go to the range for 45 minutes and have a good session whereas even if I only play 9 holes, I’m still in for 2 - 2:30 hours and will be a lot more tired.

  2. Our daycare provider is on vacation for 3 weeks. All the more reasons for not being able to justify golfing and training on the same day.

So I will have to split my days between golf and training which means that I will need a stronger stimulus per lifting session (because I’ll have less sessions).

But I’m also limited in time for my lifting sessions because my kids are on a stint of early rising at the moment and my wife is having breastfeeding withdrawal syndrome… which is essentially an oxytocin withdrawal that can cause depression symptoms and fatigue.

So I’ll try to be as efficient as possible.

Oh yeah, because I suck at playing golf (compared to hitting balls) I see no justification for golf-specific training at this point: my physical capacities far surpassing my skill on the course.

Today’s workout was:

Activation/Strenght leaks
A1. Lu raises (full range lateral raises all the way with the arms overhead) 3 x 10-12
A2. Wrist extension 3 x 8-10

Main lift
B. Seated overhead press
Note that I much prefer the military press (standing) but my ceiling is too low for that.

1/6 contrast: I selected this method because it always work very well to develop both size and strength… again, all about being efficient right now.
3 x 6 gradually heavier weights/preparation sets (95lbs, 115lbs, 145lbs)
1 x 1 @ 175lbs
1 x 6 @ 155lbs
1 x 1 @ 185lbs
1 x 6 @ 165lbs
1 x 1 @ 195lbs
1 x 6 @ 175lbs
1 x 1 @ 205lbs
1 x 6 @ 185lbs

Main assistance lift
C. Isochain overhead press overcoming isometric (start position)

I’m super weak in the starting position of a shoulder press, in part due to my injury. Even if it doesn’t hurt anymore, it still causes inhibition and weakness in specific pressing positions. Overcoming isometrics allows me to focus on strengthening these positions.

I like the Idsochain because it gives me data about my force production during the set.

One thing I noticed is that I produced significantly more force when I squeezed my glutes as hard as possible and crushed the bar. I didn’t think of doing that on the first 3 sets but did so on the last 3, you can see the difference:

Set 1: 159.6lbs
Set 2: 148.6lbs
Set 3: 159lbs
Set 4: 177.4lbs
Set 5: 189.8lbs
Set 6: 177.8lbs

Note: *yes, these measures are slightly lower than my results on the press itself. I reason that it’s because of the standing vs seated position. And also because in the isochain press the bar is a bit further away from my body (because of the chain).

Aesthetic/secondary assistance
D1. Lateral raises 3 x 10-12
D2. Rope triceps pressdown 3 x 10-12

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Hi CT - In one of your first posts, you mentioned using one serving of Surge with every lifting or golf training session. If you don’t mind sharing, what does your “workout nutrition” look like for an actual round of golf? Thanks!

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1.5 servings of Surge
3 liters of water
5g of creatine

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Very interesting insight!

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Sunday, July 31st

I was supposed to deadlift today but my back and hip flexors were tight and sore from the high volume of golf balls I hit yesterday (wasn’t supposed to go, but there was a technical issue I wanted to address and it ended up being a 2h session!).

Honestly, had I waited later in the day I might have been able to deadlift (surprise your body tends to feel the aches and pains more at 4:30am!) but decided to include horizontal rowing in my rotation, which I have neglected these past months.

My training was:

Activation/Strength leaks
A1. Neck flexion (plate on forehead) 3 x 12-15 with max duration hold at the end of the set
A2. Band pull-apart 3 x 12-15

Main lift
B. T-bar (landmine) row
I made a conscious effort to keep my torso lower, closer to being parallel to the floor as I tend to rely on my traps too much with any horizontal pulling. Also avoided any change in torso angle as I pulled (no cheating)

I kept up with the theme of using the 1/6 loading scheme, which is one of my favorite (3/2/1 waves being my favorite for strength, 1/6 is one that I really like to focus on both strength and muscular development).

Sets 1 & 2: lighter preparation sets for 6 reps
Set 3: 6 reps @ 140lbs (this could be called a work set but really it’s more like the last prep set)
Set 4: 1 rep @ 180lbs
Set 5: 6 reps @ 155lbs
Set 6: 1 rep @ 185lbs
Set 7: 6 reps @ 160lbs
Set 8: 1 rep @ 190lbs
Set 9: 6 reps @ 165lbs

Main assistance lift
C. Seated row (mid parallel grip)
Here I’m somewhat limited by the weight stack that I have so it won’t stay in the plan for too long. Once I can do all my work sets with 15 reps I’ll have to change the exercise. I could keep going until I can do the stack (plus all the platemates that I have) for 20 reps as strictly for hypertrophy purposes pretty much all rep ranges work equally (provided that you reach the same effort level) but mentally I lose focus with high reps. Even 15 reps is a stretch for me!

4 sets with the whole stack + 15lbs in added magnetic platemates (12, 10, 9, 9 reps)

Secondary assistance/Aesthetics
D. Preacher curl
Ok, bear with me… I used the 1/6 scheme again, which might not be great for single joint work. But sue me, sometimes I just want to do stuff that I feel like doing lol!
I did three 1/6 contrasts (6 total sets)

E. Close-grip cable upright row 3 x 10-12

Rest intervals: In case you are wondering, my rest intervals tend (I don’t actually time myself, that actually kills my motivation as it feels like my training is too rigid) to be around:

Main lift: 2 minutes (it really should be 3)
Main assistance: 90 second (it really should be 2 - 2:30 or even 3)
Minor stuff done by itself: 60-75 seconds (it really should be 90 sec to 2 min)
Exercises done as a superset: 30 sec between the 1st and 2nd exercise, 90 seconds between sets (it rally should be 45-60 sec and 3 minutes)

Let me be clear, the theory (supported by some studies) is that longer rest periods lead to better results. But that never really worked well for me, except when doing high reps squat or deadlifts. I just lose focus and drive when I rest for too long. As such, even though in theory, longer rest periods are more effective, for me it leads to worse workouts and thus a lower stimulus.

Plus, don’t forget that I’m on the clock as I need to finish before my kids wake up. Actually, I failed at that and Madyson woke up after my activation but she likes being in the gym so it still worked out.

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What is your preferred progression from session to session using the 1/6 scheme? Add weight (2.5 or 5lbs each session to each workset), decrease rest intervals, increase TUT per rep or add another wave (although this might seem like the worst progression using such an advanced and demanding scheme).

I’m curious.

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Add weight.

The purpose of this method is mostly strength development, so reducing rest intervals wouldn’t be the smartest option.

I never like progressing by increasing TUT as I believe that TUT actually plays a VERY limited role in hypertrophy and pretty much non-existent one for strength. The only time I use an increase in TUT as a way of progression is with accentuated eccentrics during an accumulation phase. But the goal is not so much to increase TUT (although it will happen) but to be able to perform the eccentric slower with the same load, which requires more tension.

Basically with the 1/6 method. I can add weight at the next session IF I complete all 3 “waves” with gradually more weight on each one. In which case, at the next workout I’ll start with the second wave.

For example, in the workout above I did:

Set 4: 1 rep @ 180lbs
Set 5: 6 reps @ 155lbs
Set 6: 1 rep @ 185lbs
Set 7: 6 reps @ 160lbs
Set 8: 1 rep @ 190lbs
Set 9: 6 reps @ 165lbs

So I completed all sets (did 6 reps when I was supposed to and didn’t miss a single) while adding weight on each wave.

The next workout will start at the second wave (1 @ 185lbs / 6 @ 160lbs) and the goal is to go a bit heavier with each wave.

If I can’t…

  • Hit all the required reps on every set…

or

  • Can’t go up on all the waves…

I keep the same weight at the next session

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Thank you for this reply coach. I got my answer and on top of that answers to questions I still had.

Awesome.