Tuesday 26 February 2013

Strength Level 1 and 2

Strength Level 1 is not about what total weight you can lift nor how many years you have been working out for.  Its a combination of Strength to bodyweight and also fitness.

Level 1 is being able to do all of these within 1 month

Deadlift         2 x bodyweight
Squat             1.5x bodyweight
Bench            1.25xbodyweight
Push Press     1.25x bodyweight
Pull up           Bodyweight x10

and RUN/JOG 5k in under 30mins



Level 2 could take a year or 2 to get up to after reaching level 1

Deadlift      2.5 x bodyweight
Squat          2 x bodyweight
Bench         1.5x bodyweight
Pushpress   1.5 x bodyweight
Pullup         bodyweight x 20

Run /jog 5k in under 25mins

Monday 4 February 2013

Gym Plan February 2013

Currently My bodyweight is 85kg (13.4stone or 187lbs)
My Height is 181cm (Just under 6foot)
My age is 29
My current maxes are
48kg dumbbells incline bench
80kg military press
100kg push press
130kg squat
176kg deadlift

Over the last month I have been doing a challenge where I do squats everyday in an attempt to improve my squat performance, and for me it very much worked, however there were some negative sides to it.
1) total amount of calories burnt during a workout went down
2) appatite went through the roof
3) failed to keep strict on my 18-6 fasting-fed
4) failed to stay away from chocolate and crisps
5) neglect of other exercises such as deadlift, bench, and shoulder press,
6) massive neglect of Cardio - even though I covered around 100k in the month from walking and jogging, in general cardio was right down.

The result of which was an awesome gain of 10kg in Squat performance BUT also the disappearance of my abs, the emergence of Back-acne and a bit of a weight gain up to 86kg (starting weight was 84 and that was post xmas and newyear food and booze)

My lowest I'v ever got down to was  78.9kg but that only lasted a day as cravings for pizza and chocolate were almost/actually unbearable. So I want to loose some weight but at least keep the strength gains that I have at the moment.

Aim is to get to 'a stable' 81kg (12.7stone /178lbs)  and still have same PBs on the main lifts (DL, Squat, PushPress, Military Press, Benchpress,)
The important part of that statement above is the term STABLE, ie Not just 81kg for a day, or even 2 days but 81kg for a fortnight/month without suffering from huge cravings and dreaming of chocolate covered pizzas on a crisp base.

The Programme

I am a big fan of the Wendler 531 programme and its numbers it uses, it also just promotes the 4 main lifts and gives basic advise for auxiliary exercises, but generally leaves that up to you to factor in. Some times it could be another 5 sets of10 reps  60% of the max you just lifted, other it can be a drop everything and go home and sleep.

For me I can get to the gym every day of the week (providing life doesnt get in the way) So I am going to factor the 4 main lifts into having their own seperate day. Thus giving me another 3 days a week to either relax or do some Cardio.

As my aim is to loose some flab I will definitely be using those extra days to really bump up the cardio and fitness levels to really get burning some calories and promoting cardiovascular adaptations.

Basic Programme is this

Following the guidelines of Wendler 531 for reps and sets

Saturday (Lunch time)
Squats 

Sunday (Afternoon - after eating)
Deadlift

Monday (Morning)
Low intensity cardio
Cross trainer/AMT machine 60mins level 20 burn around 800kcal then sauna

Tuesday (Morning)
Incline Dumbell Bench press 

Wednesday (Morning)
HIIT Cardio
tredmill hill sprints 100m runat  5degrees up to 15 degrees (speed 10 to speed 15) (gradient increasing by 2 degrees each time, speed increasing by 1kph (interspersed with 100m walk at 3k and 3 degrees) 1k =9minutes 20seconds plus 260elevation)

Thursday (Morning)
Push-press - Military press
work up to a max on push press and then wendler 531 on seated barbell military press.

Friday (Morning)
Cardio + Plyometrics
Corebag throws, medicine ball throws, UFB-2s, muscle ups, clap press-ups/muscle overs, Rowing 1 minute challenge. 

Repeat


If for some reason I revist the gym in the evening during the week, which might happen if my girlfriend wants to go and do a workout, I shall do cardio on the cross trainer and sub90% squat training.

Video examples of workouts are below