Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Become a Beast Program

I had thought I would stick with the strength program of the past few weeks a bit longer, but some changes in my schedule led me to dream up a new format. It will look a lot like what I've been doing, but the exercise pairings, set and rep schemes, etc. have been altered by necessity. The main force behind this change is the fact that I will now be working out at home on Mondays as well as Saturdays. I will still be training in the morning on the days I train at home, so I have to do things that are relatively quiet so as not to wake the wife and daughter. I have also given up the illusion of reserving a day for conditioning only. Only one thing really matters to me right now, and that is getting strong. For that reason the conditioning will be kept quite short, and if the lifting portion of a workout runs the whole hour, there will be no conditioning that day. Other than that, the schedule is- as Pavel puts it- "same but different." I plan to maintain this for 3 weeks at a time, then drop volume and intensity and come back for another 3 weeks for as many cycles as it yields gains. Gains will be measured by a testing day on the Saturday following the easy week. The test is still being formulated, but will probably involve max deadlift (or maybe 2RM), a pressing test, and maybe max dead hang pull-ups. I have also kicked around the idea of a standing broad jump. We'll see in 3 weeks.

Anyway, here's the new plan:
Every Day: Deadlifts using 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 set and rep scheme
Days 1 and 4: One arm press using 5,4,3,2,1 set and rep scheme

Day 1: (Monday)
TGU
Pistols
This will be a relatively high volume day. I'm contemplating warming up with 10 minutes of kettlebell and bodyweight practice, then going for 30-40 minutes alternating between one TGU on each arm and two pistols on each leg, increasing the weight as I am able. The TGUs will be with the Olympic bar, so that's already relatively hard to maintain for a long time. I may back off and use the kb if this turns out to be too much. I will then take a 5 minute break before the conditioning portion.
Conditioning: swings

Day 2: (Tuesday)
Snatch
C&J
The O-lifts will take on many different forms. I may go for heavy singles, ladders, complexes, etc. as I had been doing previously.
Conditioning: bodyweight ladders, EDT, etc.

Day 3: (Wednesday)
Back squats w/ chains or box squats
Weighted pull-up/ Press supersets
This should be a relatively slow and heavy day. Mainly upper body to reflect the fact that if all goes according to plan I will be about half dead from Monday and Tuesday. Hence the optional conditioning.
Conditioning: either do swings as a second workout of the day or let it go

Day 4: (Friday)
OHS
Powerclean
The OHS will be working toward a goal of 15 reps at bodyweight, but I have a long way to go before then. The powercleans are working up to a goal of 225 for reps.
Conditioning: Tabatas

Day 5: (Saturday)
Front squat
HSPU
Sets and reps will vary. Probably a lot of medium singles in the Front squat to work on proper recruitment. HSPUs are likely to be a lot of ladders.
Conditioning: kb snatches

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