After reading the book several times, and reading these forums a ton I decided to start my second cycle/month using only the Triumvirate, First Set last setup. For the first month I was somewhat skipping around trying to figure out which would be best for me.
With that being said, I have found multiple answers about including arms in the workouts. Would it be better to include them fully on one day like press day or bench day? My arms are very small I feel like for my size and wanted to do some occlusion style training to them.
Also, for conditioning, what is a good alternative to the prowler? I think I saw hill sprints as a good option? And is the conditioning done on days you do not lift? Thanks!
Here are my real 1 rep maxes @ 195 lbs and I will try to update through my cycles!
Bench: 230
Press: 140
Squat: 260 (Not really sure so I went light)
Dead: Ive hit 405, but I marked it as 365 to start light
Not Jim but been doing this for a while.
My favorites and thus my recommendations:
1.Prowler is awesome, I own an Econo; BUT I prefer dragging a sled but that’s only because It’s smaller and I can leave it in the back of my car.
2. Hills and any sprints work well.
3. Weighted Vest: I either walk normally or I walk up the hills that I ordinarily run. If you don’t have one and don’t have the money, buy a 50-100 pound bag of sand from Home Depot and stuff it in a backpack. It’s crude but works real well.
4. If the weather is shitty: sprints on the tread mill.
The lessons I have learned: It’s best when I do them after squats or deads. Either right after or the next day (It all helps with recovery anyway) I do not have good results conditioning on the same day before lifting at any time. The day before is OK but I try not to especially if I am going for a PR.
If you follow JW’s advice in the books, you will reach your goals. He’s got some great ways to mesh conditioning with lifting.
Happy Trails!!!
Barbell complexes are good ‘fun’ conditioning, DeFranco has some great examples of BB and DB complexes, and probably KB complexes too, on youtube.
Give 3-5 rounds of 10x deadlift/bent row/hang clean/push press/back squat a go. I usually use between 50-70% of my OHP weight, but it’s really the speed that matters here and not so much the weight.
Treadmill pushes (if the gym allows them) are good. Its basically a treadmill sprint but the treadmill is turned off so you have to push it with your legs, and you can lean in to it like a sort of ghetto prowler.
Battling ropes, farmers walks, boxing are all also favourites
also, my arms benefited greatly from doing a set of 5-10 chin ups after EVERY pressing movement…even the warm up sets, and it made my shoulders feel great too.
So for instance if you did 3x warm up bench, 3x working sets of bench, 5x close grip bench and 5x rows you would end up doing 11x chin up sets…so you can eek out between 55 and 110 chins this way, mixing grips and widths as you please
[quote]Cisneros0 wrote:
After reading the book several times, and reading these forums a ton I decided to start my second cycle/month using only the Triumvirate, First Set last setup. For the first month I was somewhat skipping around trying to figure out which would be best for me.
With that being said, I have found multiple answers about including arms in the workouts. Would it be better to include them fully on one day like press day or bench day? My arms are very small I feel like for my size and wanted to do some occlusion style training to them.
Also, for conditioning, what is a good alternative to the prowler? I think I saw hill sprints as a good option? And is the conditioning done on days you do not lift? Thanks!
Here are my real 1 rep maxes @ 195 lbs and I will try to update through my cycles!
Bench: 230
Press: 140
Squat: 260 (Not really sure so I went light)
Dead: Ive hit 405, but I marked it as 365 to start light[/quote]
What kind of conditioning you do will be based on these things:
Your current state of “fitness” now.
Your conditioning goals.
No one here can your question until you can accurately answer the second (performance or consistency). However, it would be hard to say “do this” without anyone knowing your fitness level - which really can’t be measured in anyway. But think about it like this: you wouldn’t have a sedentary person go out and jog a few miles the first day in the gym. And you wouldn’t run hills unless your ankles and calves and knees are prepared for it. Simple as that.
Thanks everyone for the replies! I recognize no one can tell me exactly what to do. I was mostly wondering how other people are doing it to gauge what I should do. I come from a basketball background and have pretty good cardio as is but I sit around 16-17% body fat. It may even be a little higher now. My main thing was what to substitute the prowler with.
Couple more questions did come to mind though. As for those of you doing prowler or simply dragging a tire around: what do you do exactly? A timed amount like intervals with 15 seconds all out and 45 secs rest for a certain amount of minutes or what? I’ve been simulating the prowler on a treadmill that’s not powered on and running all out for 15 seconds then stepping off and walking around for 45 seconds. Anyone have any examples?
I drag the length of the dirt and gravel lot I use or I run up the hill. I am guessing that the gravel lot is 30 yards. When I use my sled I sprint to the end of the lot and walk back - with the sled harnassed to me of course. I wait until my heart stops convulsing and the stars go away before I go again. I do between 10 and 20 (down and back = 1) trips.
As you can see I am not real anal regarding the numbers because with this type of conditioning I know what I have to do and the reaction I am looking for. Like I said before though, I have been doing this for awhile thus I know my limits. Good Luck
Remember though that the heavier weight the longer the times - I know this is common sense but that’s why the shorter distances - like 20-30 yards - work well.
[quote]Rave2.0 wrote:
Remember though that the heavier weight the longer the times - I know this is common sense but that’s why the shorter distances - like 20-30 yards - work well.[/quote]
Thanks for the input! Lately I’ve been doing sledgehammer hits and pushing a Ford Ranger for prowler work.