I think this is the third workout log I’ve had on the Testosterone forums. Maybe the fourth.
Anyway, lots of new faces and no one knows who I am. So, here we go.
I’m 48. I’ve been lifting continuously since my mid-30’s with only a few breaks here and there. I’ve tried a lot of different routines and approaches and most of them didn’t do much for me. I’ve been a regular on a lot of different weight training and powerlifting forums and newsgroups over the years.
This past year was not very good to me training-wise. I think my squat 1RM has gone from 440 to about 360. It’s probably the biggest drop in strength I’ve ever faced and it’s sad because I was making progress on 5-3-1 right before the shit in the fan.
I had a liver infection that totally wiped me out. While treating me for that, the doctors found that my gall bladder wasn’t really working and decided to take it out before it exploded. And I had to change my diet and that (along with stress at work and probably a supplement I tried) brought back an old problem that I’ve had with irritable bowel syndrome. And getting that under control has been a beyotch.
So, the first step of my master plan is to get my strength back. I know that I generally respond best to full body workouts 3x per week. I also like Thib’s autoregulating approaches. I was a HUGE fan of his old Canadian Autoregulating Routine and reading his latest article on the Perfect Rep really brought that whole thing back. So I’m doing a version of the first phase of that old routine melded with the Perfect Rep stuff.
So, my exercise selection is about as basic as you can get:
Squat
Bench [+ Pullup]
Row [+ Crunch]
My loading parameters will go like this:
1 exercise will be worked with singles. The idea is to accelerate the weight. I will increase the weight each set until I start to grind and then I’ll stop. There will be 1-8 work sets.
1 exercise will be worked with triples. Again, the idea is to accelerate. I will increase the weight each set until I start to grind and then I’ll stop. There will be 1-6 work sets.
1 exercise will be worked as speed doubles. The weight will be around 40-50% of what I think my current 1RM might be. I’ll do 10 sets of 2. The idea is to explode on each set.
For the exercises in the brackets, I’ll just do some of those as light supplement work.
Each workout, the exercises will rotate loading parameters. For example,
Day 1: Squats for singles, bench for triples, rows for doubles
Day 2: Bench for singles, rows for triples, squats for doubles
Day 3: Rows for singles, squats for triples, bench for doubles
Repeat.
I’ll do this for a month or so trying to get some strength built up and then go back to my old classic brawn sort of thing (which this isn’t too different from) or back to 5-3-1.
At least, that’s the plan.
And I’ll be taking next week off because I’ve got a business trip to LA.
