Just trying to work out how this works. Injured at the moment anyway, but almost recovered so plan to start the log from Monday 19th.
The Plan
I have three goals in the short-term, which are somewhat affected by the fact that I’ve agreed to run a half marathon on October 6th. I suck at running and I hate it, so a lot of my training over the next seven weeks will be geared toward making me able to actually run for the whole 13.1 miles (I don’t give a fuck about my time, but I don’t want to be humiliated either!).
So anyway, goal number one is running.
Goal number two is to sort out the fact that I’m shit at pull ups. I can do like, three or four tops. That has to change.
Goal number three is to sort out my form in squatting and deadlifting, so as to avoid injuries like the one I just had (lower back/glute strain).
A more in-depth plan is thus:
Running
I plan to run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The distances I’ll be running (in miles, for each of the four days) are thus:
Week 1: 3, 2, 3, 6
Week 2: 3, 2, 3, 7
Week 3: 4, 2, 4, 8
Week 4: 4, 3, 4, 9
Week 5: 4, 5, 5, 11
Week 6: 5, 5, 5, 7
Week 7: 3, 3, 4, 2, 13.1!!
Pull Ups
I’m going to do the Armstrong Pull Up Program to attempt to up my number of pull ups. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it goes like this:
Monday: 5 max effort sets (90 second rests)
Tuesday: Pyramid of sets of 1, 2, 3, etc. until missed set, then one more max set (10 seconds’ rest per pull up in previous set)
Wednesday: 3 training sets (initially singles) of pull ups, 3 training sets of chin ups, 3 training sets of wide-grip pull ups (60 second rests)
Thursday: Max number of training sets. If 9 or more are completed, add one rep to training sets next week (60 second rests)
Friday: Repeat whichever day was hardest
Saturday and Sunday: Rest
Upon waking every morning (Monday to Friday) three max effort sets of push ups are completed to strengthen the shoulder girdle.
Form
For this I’m going to start the Stronglifts 5x5 at the very beginning. By the time I get to the half marathon I’ll be hitting my current numbers, but with seven weeks of working at lower weights and really concentrating on my technique behind me.
Schedule
Overall my schedule will look like this:
Monday
Morning - Push ups
Afternoon - Stronglifts 5x5 and pull ups
Tuesday
Morning - Push ups
Afternoon - Short run and pull ups
Wednesday
Morning - Push ups
Afternoon - Stronglifts 5x5, pull ups and short run
Thursday
Morning - Push ups
Afternoon - Short run and pull ups
Friday
Morning - Push ups
Afternoon - Stronglifts 5x5 and pull ups
Saturday
Long run
Sunday
Rest, maybe some yoga or light stretching
Nutrition
Nutritionally, I can’t really be fucked with in-depth calorie/macro counting. I know, I know, the gains! But fuck that.
What I will be doing is very roughly following John Kiefer’s Carb Backloading. By very roughly, I mean I’ll be using his morning, pre-, intra- and post-workout shakes, I’ll be fasting through the morning, and I’ll be avoiding carbs until I train in the evening. The usual day will look like this:
8am
Morning shake (Cal: 150, Pro: 12g, Car: 1g, Fat: 12g)
1pm
Low-carb lunch
3pm
Protein shake (Cal: 114, Pro: 24g, Car: 2g, Fat: 2g)
Around Training
Pre-workout shake (Cal: 394, Pro: 24g, Car: 2g, Fat: 36g)
Intra-workout shake (Cal: 175, Pro: 40g, Car: 1g, Fat: 1g)
Post-workout (Cal: 724, Pro: 78g, Car: 97g, Fat: 3g)
Evening
Evening Shake (Cal: 69, Pro: 15g, Car: 1g, Fat: 1g)
Whatever the hell meal I fancy
All of that gives me a total intake of 1,626 calories, 193g of protein, 104g of carbs and 55g of fat. Add to that the two meals I’ll be eating and I’ll be hitting enough protein and calories to grow.
Okay, so first day complete.
Morning (at home)
Push Ups
1 x 21
1 x 18
1 x 16
Evening (at gym)
Squat
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
Bench Press
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
20kg x 5
Barbell Row
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
30kg x 5
Pull Ups
1 x 3
1 x 2
1 x 2
1 x 1
1 x 2
Notes
Insultingly low weights of course, so no problems there. Seemed to get a second wind on the last set of pull-ups and managed to knock out two. Feeble, I know, but at least there’s plenty of room for improvement!
I’ve just come off a low back/glute/hip/groin injury so that whole area is a little restricted at the moment. Was good to be able to squat to depth without a huge load on my back, and I was really able to concentrate on my form. Hopefully the hip’ll still be working when I wake up tomorrow, and I’ll be able to get it through the first run in one piece!
The foam roller at the gym was in use, so I couldn’t use it. Gotta get me one of those.
I’m off to a festival on Wednesday evening, where I’ll be until Monday. As a result I’ll miss the Friday weight session and the Thursday and Friday pull-ups (unless I can find something there to hang off). Hoping to still get my runs in but that depends on how hard I’m still tripping when I wake up. In the worst case scenario I’ll call this a warm-up week and start fresh next week.