Fitness update - new lifting approach and slight relative grip progress

Saturday, 7 June 2014 
60 min., 225 lb. 

walking - 10 min. 

db incline press: 20 x 5 @ 20, 20, 30, 30, 30 lb. 

db press: 20 x 5 @ 40 lb. 

guillotine: 20 x 5 @ 105 lb. 

- 

short head EZ bar spider curl: 20 x 5 @ 40 lb. 

long head EZ bar spider curl: 20 x 5 @ 40 lb. 

underhand curl: 20 x 5 @ 20 lb. 

-

[Later that evening I took a nice 30-35 min. walk with my wife and the kids. My legs actually feel a bit sore today from it. Walking is a great, great thing. If only I could find a good trail to hike....]

+ + + 

For the above, I did the three chest exercises, followed by the three bicep exercises, with moderate rest between all exercises. 

As of today, Sunday, I can report  pleasing soreness in all the right muscles, and a desire to keep this up and see what results I get. My next "pump" workout will be like so (until further notice): 

db MP
lateral delt flye 
neutral grip sternum PU
Pendlay row
Kroc row
CL-P

On my way out yesterday, I spoke with a former trainer at my gym, and I learned two things. 

First, next time I do the chest/bicep "pump" workout, I will raise the weight by about 15% on each lift, and stick to 16-rep sets (allowing for lower "failed" sets towards the end). "20 reps seems like a bit much," he said. And he's huge and vital, so I'll listen. 

Second, as I described what happened to my quad last week, he said, "That's probably an adhesion." As the article just linked notes, 

"[Adhesions] are places where the muscle has become chronically contracted. It can be an entire muscle, but more than likely it is a small band within the greater muscle. ... Things that cause adhesions are dehydration, overuse, and injury. ... The best way to treat an adhesion is with massage and stretching." 

Guilty as charged on the overuse front. And, as I suspected, what happened last week is that my "adhesion" (finally brought about by dead squats) was released under high tension on a front squat. My leg feels better already, but I am taking my time getting back into squatting. 

---------------------

Sunday, 8 June 2014 
Grip training PLUS
25 min., 226 lb. 

warmup - space mace, stretching, ghetto grippers

CoC #2 - 1 close (?) L, 1 close R

CoC #2 - 1 close L, 1 close R

CoC #2 (with chalk) - 1 near-close L, 1 close R

CoC #1.5 - 8 closes

CoC #1.5 (inverted grip) - 7 closes

ab wheel - 12, 12

forehead bridge - 20 sec., 30 sec., 35 sec.

+ + + 

Compared my last grip session, that is progress, though I'm still behind where I was a couple years ago.

It's a shame I don't get called up for battle duty, because, if I could find a compelling reason to avoid alcohol completely, I would be beastly.

For now, though, it's much better to remain...

Patient... Humble... Simple... 

AYCE was nice but...

Yeah. 

But seriously, AYCE quickly became an addictive program, but... 

I want to have more time for other training modalities. 

I'm just not enough of a gym rat to do a daily gym session. 

Perryman helped me exorcise the specter of "overtraining" but I found AYCE too hard to program, and I wasn't seeing the gains I expected from it (blame my poor sleep lifestyle, I know). 

So I'm going back to what I know works for me: Even Keel! 

This will give me more time for recovery, more time for grip training, and more time for "just messing around" with plyometrics, kettlebells, tires and hammers, sprinting, handstands, and so on. 

One adjustment I'm making compared to how I did Even Keel in Taiwan, is the rep scheme: for big, compound lifts I'm using a 5x5 scheme, while for smaller exercises I'm going for more volume. Another change is that I'm switching over to dumbbells on as many exercises as I can. One more tweak is that I will throw in unilateral lifts and compounds at times. I also struck upon what I hope is a sustainable and successful programming method, albeit with help from an old stand-by, the deck of cards conditioning challenge. As my millions of readers know, I am prone to adjusting things from one week to the next, as I love to try out new exercises and methods. For a while this adaptability was making me insecure and confused, but then it dawned on me that I should just work with my impulse for novelty. So, this weekend I wrote down my favorite exercises, divided into five groups (squat, deadlift, pull/row, press, and curls [because even I am allowed a little lifter's vanity]). I will be making cards (or straws or tickets) for each exercise, storing them in five different cups (or buckets or whatever), and then pretty much drawing them at random to fill in the following grid: 

A
squat (heavier)
chest/triceps/shoulders
deadlift (lighter)
chest/triceps/shoulders
back/pull
biceps

B
deadlift (heavier)
chest/triceps/shoulders
squat (lighter)
back/pull
chest/triceps/shoulders
biceps

The hub of the workout is the squat and deadlift, so I can always expect to do those lifts every time. I think this will keep things mentally stimulating, and will prevent muscle adaptation. I like the idea of not knowing exactly what challenge I'll be facing until about an hour before I get to the gym. I realize that "imaging" is very important, but this program does not work against imaging. Everything I'm doing here is to help me a) get better at squatting and deadlifting, and b) get stronger overall. Imaging is there to help me become more and more efficient with the first parameter. The variations on a muscular theme are there to achieve the second one. 

Anyway. 

Until I make my Lifting Lotto, here's what I've got projected for tomorrow: 

FSQ: 5x5 @ 265 
db BP: 5x5 @ 90 
SDL: 6, 4, 2 @ 225 
PU: reps x 3
db MP: 12, 9, 6 @ 60, 65, 70 lbs
spider curl: 12, 9, 6 @ 50, 60, 70 lbs   

I'm excited about presenting some exercise that will crop up in the upcoming workouts--I discovered some very neat ones this weekend, as a matter of fact--but I'll let the pattern emerge over time. If I lay it all out now, I'll just look even worse for, inevitably, changing it in a couple weeks. ;) 

Patience... Humility... Confidence...