Phase 1 ended. Phase 2 starts 12 JUL

I made almost all of my workouts. Granted, I had to abbreviate some due to fatigue or schedule, but that is much better than skipping entirely. Here are some observations about the good, bad and unrelated.

Recap on phase 1 design:

-Three weight workouts per week, Mon-Wed-Fri. The movements were the same for each workout
-Two fight training workouts on Tue-Thu. Fight training was a mix of skills&drills and conditioning
-Weight workout set x rep scheme
  • wk1: predominantly 2 x 12
  • wk2: predominantly 2 x 10
  • wk8: predominantly 2 x 8

Observations:

The good.

My conditioning improved dramatically in the three week period. Sticking with the same volume of work from workout to workout was a great way to acclimate. My rest periods naturally got shorter and my systemic fatigue at the end of each workout was much less at the end of the phase than the start.

My strength improved through the two-fold load increases. Adding 5-10 pounds from workout to workout, and the weekly reduction in rep target made the strength gains nice and steady.

Starting with high rep squats was the smartest thing I could have done! It gave my lower back a chance to catch up to my legs. No more squat0induced back injuries for me.

The bad.

The whole body workout didn't supply enough localized muscular damage (micro-trauma) to induce significant size gains (hypertrophy). I did gain some size, but keep in mind it's been 3 weeks.

Three sets of cleans and two sets of squats EVERY OTHER DAY was too much for me. I had to reduce the sets of cleans to allow my back a chance to recover.

The unrelated.

It's time to start my food journal again. I'm ready to get back to 11-12% bodyfat. the only way i can do that is to start keeping a food journal again. While I am much fitter than 3 weeks ago, it'll take focus on my diet to see visible results. Diet control is the only way to get optimal results.

Phase 2 Overview

Phase 2 is sort of an eveolution of Phase 1. The basic idea is to shift the workloads around so that there is sufficient volume to induce size gains, but enough recovery to see strength workout from session to session. Also, I'm shifting the work volume to focus on arears I feel lagging. In my case, arms are perpetually lagging behind my torso. Also, I LOVE training legs, so they are getting two days each week. One day for "knee dominant movements' and another day for "hip dominant movements". What this means is a very basic split routine: upper body / lower body.


The workouts

I'm going to keep fight training as scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday. I may omit the conditioning sessions for a while as my focus will be strength and size.

Monday-Wednesday-Friday

I'll do an upper body workout three days each week. the volume of work will be much less for chest and shoulders than for arms and back. I'll follow the same weekly rep reduction plan:

  • wk1: 2 x 12
  • wk2: 2 x 10
  • wk3: 2 x 8

Tuesday:

Tuesday will be a squat-dominant workout that starts with calf work

  1. Single leg calf raise: 3 x 15-20
  2. Front squat: 4 x 10
  3. Back squat: 1 x 20

Saturday:

Saturday is deadlift day, but also starts with calves

  1. Single leg donkey calf raise: 1 x max
  2. Sumo deadlift: 3 x 5
  3. Snatch grip deadlift: 3 x 5

That's it. Nothing fancy, but a vary logical progression which will force my body to adapt and hopefully illicit some noticable size gains.

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