Looming pain

So here is the basic premise for why i do what I do. I want to kick ass in all situations and circumstances. I don't want to get a strong as possible as fast as possible at the expense of other athlitic qualities. Same for size; same for aerobic fitness and anaerobic endurance.

They way I see it, I need to slowly but consistently increase each of these 4 attributes. To that end, I came up with what is an ideal training framework for me. In brief, "A" represents a strength workout, and "B" represents a conditioning workout.

Depending on the phase, A workouts can range from developing solely limit strength (as in1 rep max), or explosive strength, or hypertrophy (muscle mass). B workouts are much more varied and can include sprints, long distance runs, fight conditioning circuits, or anything my sadistic mind concieves or steals from others.

On odd weeks, the schedule is:
Monday: A
Wednesday: B
Friday: A

On even weeks, the schedule is:
Monday: B
Wednesday: A
Friday: B

This is a built in limit against over training, and accomplishes my goal of building many qualities evenly over a two week period.

Now for the refinement
These last3-4 weeks were just preperatory. I had to get my core (specifically spinal erectors) up to where they can handle one of the most popular and effective strength building workouts in many decades.

Jim Wendler is a famous retired power lifter. He got away from the sport because he wanted to become strong in everyday life, not just 3 lifts. Needless to say, he knows a thing or two about how to develop strength. His 5/3/1 program is probably the simplest and most effective way to accomplish that.

That being said, it doesn't fit my ABA-BAB template, so I had to modify it a bit. Instead of 4 seperate strength workouts, I reduced it to 2 by eliminating some of the accessory work. Also, because of my rotation schedule, I have a bit long between repeating any particular workout.

The positives of this: Better recovery between sessions will enable me to increase weight more continuously. Ability to fit just as many conditioning workouts as usual.

The downside: Less emphasis on developing mass, but that isn't much of a downside for me.


My two strength workouts will cycle as follows:












If the image isn't clear, the 4th workout says deload. That is, I'll lift MUCH lighter than my 5 rep max to give me a chance to recover fully before starting the cycle over.

So the weeks will lay out like this:




The AM jogs are purposely light, to account for the fact that many of my conditioning workouts include some form of running or sprinting.

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