OziSaxon

Just received an email detailing some extra training scheduled with the Rangers. That combined with the Comments above I propose the following Programm:

Day 1: Legs & Chest (Monday/Friday)

Squat
Leg Press
Leg Extension
Leg Curl

Benchpress
Incline DB Press
Bent Arm DB Pullover
Dips - Chest
Tricep Pulldown

 Day 2: Shoulders & Back (Wednesday/Sunday)

BB Deadlift
BB Row
Seated Cable Row
Pull Ups
DB Shrugs

BB Military Press
See Saw DB Press
Lying DB Raise
Front Plate Raise

It seems now that at least during the rest of January the Rangers will be training on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

I can imagine that we will be doing a lot of technique and some cardio work to finish. So basically movement and Gassers. given that I dont think that the training will cause extra stress on me. What I am worried about though is the very little downtime I have.
That means quite literally missing all the good shows I want to watch or the playing around with various other Hobbies. I have to exercise and sleep these next few months through. Oh, and Eat of course

Keep Kickin!

Ok, I am hoping that someone can perhaps help me out, some constructive but hard criticism is what I am after. Not just a "Yeah great man keep it up style". More of a "this is a better way…." style.

I am going to be concentrating on Doing my training in phases. I will split the year into 4 terms as such. With 3 trimesters focusing on Resisitive training and Cardio work. The last term will be a recovery stage with a little increase in the Resistive area.

So Here is what I planned:

              JAN-FEB-MAR      APR-MAY-JUN     JUL-AUG-SEP     OKT-NOV-DEC
              Pre-Season         Season start      Season end
                                      APR                  AUG
Resistive: Bulk                   Maintain            Maintain            Bulk        
Aerobic:   Build                  Peak                 Maintain            Recovery

I will tweak my Diet to match each of the four terms. But that is another post.

For the Bulk I plan on the following Routine:

Day1: Legs
Full Squat
BB Dead Lift
Leg Press, Seated
Leg Curl

Day2: Chest
Benchpress
Incline DB Press
Bent Arms DB Pullover
Dips - Chest
Cable Pulldowns (Triceps)

Day 3: Shoulders
Upright Row
Military Press DB
Front Plate Raise

Day 4: Training

Day 5: Back
Seated Cable Row
Cable Pull Downs (V bar or Wide Grip)
Shrugs
Wide Grip Chin Ups

Day 6:
Training

Day 7:
Rest

Regarding Sets and Reps:
I am looking do do 4-5 Sets per exercise and focusing on a 10-12 Set warm up. this will be followed by a 4-6 rep Set.
This should allow me to hit a higher weight over a shorter time but still exercise with Intensity (Intensity being a Product of Weight and Total Sets). I feel this should allow for a better bulking process as the heavier weights should cause the Type II fibres to stimulate.
At the end of each month I am looking do do a Muscle Fibre Sweep (Pyramid) for the Body Parts, focusing on a compound exercise. This should help keep the muscles stimulated.

I am a little concerned about the order of the routine, I am wondering wether it is a better idea to swap the back and shoulders around. That way the Triceps have more recovery time before they get hit again.

Each day after Resistive training, I will be jogging home (around 1.5 - 2kms), on the way there is a park where I can do some sprint training as well. That will be posted in the Cardio section.

Regarding the Training Days:
These are days that I go to practice and we will be focusing on Sport specific exercises.

This gives me only one day of rest however. If this proves too stressfull, then I may compound the Shoulder and Back day together. Though the goal really was to keep the Gym time to a maximum of 60mins.

This last Season took its toll pretty heavily, I moved twice during the course of it and changed jobs etc etc etc. Before I knew it I wasnt going to the gym anymore and ran only sporadically. But still ate like a Horse. Luckily I havent put on too much weight. Up from 15.5 to 16.3 or so. I can live with that.

This Season I have decided on something Different. I want to play both ways. That means Top Shape. Mentally I know I can, but Physically… Well I did it a couple of times last Season and it hurt. Simply so exhausted by the 3rd quarter you start to slip in performance.

So I have decided to go on a bulking diet and Regime. Simple sort of stuff. Concentrating on Legs, Shoulders and Chest. I will be doing Compound movements with a Barbell and the following day using Isolation movements.

On Compound days I will rest a couple of minutes between sets and on the Isolation days I will have very little rest between sets.

My diet will also  take a shift into the Positive. Taking Sups to work instead of pilfering the Choccy Fridge (which is licking distance from my desk ). Managing Macros and Supplementing will help me achieve my goals, at least in teh short term.

After I have gone through this for 3 months I am expecting to have put on a decent amount of Lean mass. Thereafter I will hit a Maintenance Level for the next three and then rotate to the next phase where I should be needing to up some intensity again.

During the Strength and Bulking stage I am going to be critically aware of the Bodyfat. I dont neccesarily need it to go down as such. But eventually I want to hit 12%. During the Season I think that ought to be doable.

Todays training went so well I thought I would write about it.

The form I managed was fantastic. PLenty of grunting and wheezing, and loads of failure. Exactly what I am after.

Really trying to focus on the form during the reps, keeping the head up and the butt out. felt much happier with the belt today. And regarding energy was really happy too.

I did have NO-xplode and a big chunk of fullcorn bread. So the extra carbs etc will have served me well.

The big BUT however is: It is time to get more plates. I can lift with good form and am happy with techinque, but not happy with lack of hemodilation (man what a word). I really want to get in the gym and go on The Rack and test my max effort for deadlift and squat, both overhead and full.

So today I worked on legs, and for some reason. It just didnt really work. The more I pushed the worse it seemed to become.

I felt little to no pump, with exception of the small of my back. Even with the belt I felt form problems and overall today SUCKED!!!!

So lets review this half of February:

I must be honest and say that Cardio has suffered. At the end of January I managed to get Turf Toe on one foot and then while continuing practice damage the other aswell. The first looks pretty bad but the other is ok. The arches also suffered from stiffness and the mtarsals feel stiff when I extend my feet (tip toes etc)

This was further aggravated by a 20km run through my Schienenbergs. I thought that I should just put up with the discomfort and get my lazy ass out there. So I took it really slow for the first period to give me more time to warm and loosen up. After that period I was right, the pain just went away and all was well.
After supplementing with Creatine I found that I managed to maintain a damn better pace over double the time, so I guess that must mean it is working. So that makes me happy. Although I noticed that whilst going down a long descent all that jingling and jangling started to batter around my rear waist line causing some discomfort around my kidneys. But that soon went away after hitting the straights and going back uphill. So I was stoked with that. Otherwise I trip to a medical pro might have been on the cards to check for intolerance or overdosing of Creatine.
On the way back however I hit the next village and my MP3 battery finally went dead. Damn, but it did allow me to evaluate my feet. And man where they hurting. Not just from the long time on the road but from the pre-existing injury also.
For the last 500m-1km a just walked fast and strode out and for the last 100-150m I walked on tip toes and heel walked. This last section really hurt.

So I had decided that Cardio was not on and also lifting barbells was a no go. The feet where just not up to it.

Benefits noted however was that I recuperated pretty much the day after the run 100% and that I am months ahead of what I had expected to do.

As of today I feel my feet have had enough recoup time. However something to learn is to do as much cardio on softer ground as possible. Thus being able to minimize risk and maximize results.

Another lesson to learn: update more often leads to less reading time!?!

Ok, so while this month has not been as wholefully succesfull as I wuld wish I can rest assured that I have done enough research that I feel that the Cardio should work well enough and the weights could really use a stable platform like a bench.

At the moment I am making do with what can be described as a makeshift bench but it does not allow for full movement below the chest, for example.

I have found that the MultiVitamins and B complex are good and have located a decent source of Maximuscles Viper and Creatine that is not too expensive. After researching the  effects of differing protein powder bases I think I will stay with Whey.

So in January I have managed to increase my overall fitness and recovery ability. I already feel stronger than last year and have proved that I can still train on sundays well enough - I thought after a long break I would be hurting abit - and that I have a lot less aches and pains at the end of the session.

So in February I will be able to look forward to some big gains, I hope to lose more fat and increase lean mass. So extra nourishment from supplements and a better analyzed diet should so me good I reckon.

So, I have decided to keep track of what I am doing.
Today being a rest day I thought i would be good to start a blog. You never know I might learn something from it.

Anyways, today my legs feel exhausted from yesterday and I am pretty aggro about my work day. I am looking forward to tomorrow when I can lift again.

However, this time around I have done a lot of research and have decided to restrict myself to only barbell workouts. Once a week I will incorporate Muscle Sweeps. Every day I will run for 3kms. And in the offseason I will run for 6kms on Sundays and will build up the Sunday run to 12kms.
A goal for the cardio is to buy a Heart Rate monitor and work out in the aerobic region constantly.

The other action is all about food. I eat pretty healthy. But after many years of eating boring and practical I crave something that tastes. Im sick of tuna sandwiches without butter.