Sneak peak at my next 12 weeks: Hybrid Strength Training

The last 8 weeks have been great. I can tell that my legs are responding to the increase in volume, and my upper back is much more filled out and functional because of the cleans, snatches, and high pulls. All in all, I am right where I expected to be.

But with race / competition season right around the corner, it's time to dust off the running shoes and round timers for some serious Stamina work.

Here's a quick recap on the last few months of learning for me; maybe even years.
  • In 2007-2008, I did a lot of fight training and my endurance was great, but I was very small/light for my height. Also, I wasn't as strong as I should have been
  • 2009, I focused mostly on strength training with some small degree of running, and got stronger, but not much bigger
  • Some where between late 2009 and mid 2010, I fell into the bodybuilding trap. It was great to see increases in body weight, training weights, 1RMs, but my conditioning / stamina reached a low
  • I worked in some CrossFit style workouts, and felt immediate changes to my stamina
  • Around AUG 2010, I started training CrossFit exclusively and noticed great improvements in body comp and stamina, but my strength dropped off rapidly
  • I got surgery in OCT 2010, and stopped CFing
  • I switched gears to prep for Highland Games and hit a strength peak in NOV 2010
  • I stared this current 8week program of Hybrid Bodybuilding and have gotten even stronger, and bigger than I've ever been, while maintaining a respectable level of Endurance/Stamina through the inclusion of small doses of CF style WODs and weekend endurance playing (hiking, biking, trail running, etc.)

So now I want to step it up. The first race of the season is 19 MAR: Warrior Dash in Conroe, TX. After that it's Highland Games on 2 APR in San Antonio. Then it gets busier from there. As you can see, I need to make major improvements in my running endurance early without compromising strength and explosiveness. All that without loss of muscle mass. Sound tricky? It is. But I have a plan which covers training, diet, and supplements.

For the purposes of this blog, I'm just going to cover the training, and might touch on diet and supplements if I don't get tired of writing.

This training plan is comprised of four three (3) week phases. Phases I and III follow one template, and Phases II and IV follow another. This will allow for some variety, but enough continuity to see measurable progress. The thing I have found I dislike about CrossFit is that there is simply too much variety. If every workout is different, how can you measure progress? Sure, you might do a baseline every few months, or a repeat one of the named WODs every few months, but that just doesn't motivate me like seeing increases from workout to workout.

Variety is good, and is built into this plan, but building strength takes a commitment to plugging away at the basics: Squat, Chinups or pullups, Deadlift, Bench Press Overhead press. These are what build big strong men and women.

Phase I:

Here are the key features of this phase:

  1. Whole body strength training twice a week, Monday and Friday
  2. Metebolic Conditioning ("MetCons") training on Tuesday and Saturday
  3. Specialization training day on Wednesday. In my case this is arms, as my torso and legs still dwarf my arms
  4. Thursday and Sunday are off.

Whole Body Strength Training.

Nothing special here, just sticking with the tried and true strength builders. Volume is moderate, but the intensity is high, and frequency of twice a week make this ideal. Here are the specific of Strength Training day:

  1. Squat: 5 x 5
  2. Bench press: 3 x 5
  3. Chinup: 5 x 5
  4. Overhead press: 3 x 5
  5. Dumbbell shrug: 5 x 5
  6. Deadlift: 1 x 15

MetCon Training

I learned about fitness and athletic training from three crusty old boxing coaches. They never once said MetCon, but they talked at length, and trained us for hours on "stamina". To me, stamina is the same concept we refer to today as Metabolic Conditioning; that quality of working in both the aerobic zone and anaerobic zone. The term "strength endurance" is often used as well, but stamina is succinct and carries a certain old-time connotation with it. I have found that variety is best employed when developing stamina. If you do the same training too often, you simply get efficient at performing that particular training. That isn't the fastest way to improve your stamina.

My MetCons will all follow the basic CrossFit methodology of performing a set work output in progressively less time OR performing progressively more work output in a set time.

I have come up with 12 MetCon WODs that I'll work through in sequence. Over the course of this 12 week program, I'll perform a given WOD no more than 2-3 times each.

Specialization Day: Arms

This can be different for each person. For me the specialization goal is aesthetic. My arms are disproportionately small for my torso. So I'll be doing direct arm work specifically to develop hypertrophy.

  1. Tricep cable pushdown: 3 x 10
  2. Neutral grip skull crusher: 3 x 8
  3. Reverse-incline hammer curls: 3 x 10
  4. EZ-bar preacher curls: 3 x 8
  5. Alternating Zottman curls: 3 x 10
  6. Barbell forearm extension: 2 x 20
  7. Barbell forearm flexion: 2 x 20

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