I’ll be wrapping up my current training block by the start of the new year, and have been thinking about what to do next, eventually settling on:
- Pursuing size gains. I’m 5’8 and have never been above 175-180 (my current weight) my entire life. I’d really love to push 200.
- Getting the biggest power clean and push press I possibly can. I’ve been a closet weightlifter for years, but I’m too much of a meathead to dedicate myself to it fully. The power clean and push press are probably my top two favourite lifts, and hit that sweet spot between weightlifting and brute-force for me.
I’m thinking of structuring things as loosely follows:
Day 1
- Power clean (5x3 block 1, 5x2 block 2, 5x1 block 3, followed by 1RM tests)
- Deficit deadlifts block 1, low rack pulls block 2, hang clean high pulls block 3
- Front squat (3x3-5?)
Day 2
- Push press (5x3 block 1, 5x2 block 2, 5x1 block 3, followed by 1RM tests)
- BTN press block 1, military press block 2, pin press block 3
- Back work (high-ish volume)
Day 3
- Lower body hypertrophy (squat focused)
Day 4
- Upper body hypertrophy (bench/arm focused)
I would probably run things in 4-week blocks — 3 weeks work, 1 week deload — as this is what I’ve found works best for me for recovery and motivation. A full cycle would run as 3 4-week blocks, plus 1 week of testing for new 1RM.
For sets and reps/progression, this is where I’m getting a little stuck; I’m not sure if I want to keep the same rep scheme week by week, and getting progressively heavier block by block, OR just change the set/rep/weight scheme week by week.
As you can see, I’m also torn on how to structure my sets/reps for the various pulls and presses I want to do. Possibly higher volume/lower intensity for the deficit deads and BTN presses, moderate volume/moderate intensity for the rack pulls/military press, and low volume, high intensity for the hang pulls/pin press.
I was thinking of keeping them the same for the whole block, and rotating them as I transfer between blocks, instead of week by week. But that could work too.
The lower body hypertrophy is squat focused because I enjoy squatting, and nothing has helped me put on leg size like lots of squatting. Upper body day has an arm focus because I have never cared about training arms up until recently, and they’ve lagged waaaay behind the rest of my body. I’d probably rotate special methods (drop sets, super sets, rest-pause, etc) block by block on the hypertrophy days, just to keep things interesting.
I’m probably missing something, but that’s all I can think of now. Any help from the T-Nation collective brain would be greatly appreciated!