I’m back again after a while away (from the forum, not training, god forbid) and want to set up log to mainly keep an eye on how I’m progressing from block to block. I had a log dedicated to my goal of boosting my overhead press ( The Year of the Overhead Press (...goes on hiatus) ) which went really well. I didn’t make it a whole year focused on the OHP, but I kept at it solidly for 6 months and increased my e1RM for OHP by 11.9kg, and the e1RM for Chin-ups by 17.4kg. These were really good results, but I’ve had a couple of lines of reasoning that have changed my approach to training.
First up, as fun as it was to try out programming for top-end strength, I’ve been realising that it just doesn’t align with my goals as well as more generic, bodybuilding-style training. My main goals are to put on muscle and build general strength. I still do have top-end strength targets in my mind, but I don’t have the high-rep foundation to get there now, so why am I straining with all these heavy weights when I could just focus on building the foundation and look towards that when my base is more appropriately built.
Second, I find it demoralising to go to the gym and have my everyday weights be so far off the weights I did when I was peaked. I find that my day-to-day enjoyment is better when I don’t compare myself to a peaked version of me.
Third, time. To do this top-end work, I’ve got to do spend more time in the gym overall, and while I really like the gym, I can’t justify spending a bunch more than 4 to 4.5 hours in there per week. Especially so when I can get the same muscle-building stimulus from the 4-4.5 range.
From here out I’m focusing on higher rep (6+) training and on week-to-week progression (mainly focused on the dynamic double progression model). The idea is to set a training block and see how long we can push the progression. The idea is to switch the rep ranges whenever progress slows down/stop, or after 8 weeks. Tbh though, if everything is cruising up nicely, I’ll play it week-by-week and just let the progress continue. Due to the dynamic double progression model, I’ll be reporting on the progress of the first set of each exercise, but I’m thinking that I might keep the total loads and reps out of the log except for a block review.
The plan I’ve been following recently has been:
Mon: Lower
Tues: Upper
Thursday: Full
Saturday: Upper
I’m still recovering from the knee problems I had through the last log, but things have definitely improved, so I’m able to do Bulgarian Split Squats, and my quads are the point of failure, not my knee health, which is a big improvement. I still do have to start my lower body workouts with slow leg extensions, which is a pain, but as long as they keep helping me along my recovery path, I’m going to keep using them
I’ve recently returned from a little while overseas, during the end of which, I wasn’t able to get to the gym, so a bunch of my progress over the last few weeks has just been regaining strength, and I think I’ve got a couple of weeks of regaining to go, but it’s been good to move around what feels like a normal amount of weight again