Training 2007 - Planning

Since the beginning of the year, I have gone from a high of 120.1kg (265lbs) down to a low of 114.2kg (252lbs), not really much of a change, but its a change in the right direction, and down from a bit closer to 125kg last year.

In this time I have not really gained any strength, but I haven't lost any either. But that is not progressing me towards my goal any quicker.

I have started creatine again, which should bring me a small gain in performance, and put me within a few kilograms of my all time best, but that still is not bringing me to my best performance.

The weight loss is something that cannot stop, at least until I maintain a consistent 105-110kg (231-242lbs). So I need to have a program that will allow a consistent performance gain, especially a good bang for my buck.

The Sheiko program will be repeated, but I don't think doing it in the next few weeks will be suitable, because extreme volume, dieting and life stresses generally do not go hand in hand.

I have also been thinking about a couple of old style programs I performed, and actually gained reasonable well on.

The first one was simple periodization over 4-6 weeks.

I would train bench Monday and Friday, starting at 75-80% 1rm, and linearly increasing the load until I hit ~95/100% 1rm. I would then performed 85-90% 1rm for 3x3 on the Monday, and hit a PR load on Friday.

The reps I would do would be taken from Prileprins table, based upon the load used for that day. The amount of reps I would use would ultimately depend on the speed of the movement. If I was feeling slow, the reps would be low, if I was fast, the reps would be high. The bad days would mean I would do the minimum number of reps, and on the good days I would go higher.

A simple form of auto-regulation, but without the insane DB Hammer babble.

On the Wednesdays, I would perform speed work. This consisted of ballistic benching, with 20-35% 1rm, and plyometric/isometric pushups. I did 3-6 sets of the ballistic benching, for 2-4 reps. The plyometric work ended up being 3sets of 3 in the end.

The other program was adapted from a Christian Thibaudeau article, before he turned all Bbing weird.

It was a four week block, which went
These are the main days, with a similar speed workout done on the Wednesday. The reps are the figures off Prileprins table, showing first the range of reps, and the the range of desired reps.
The third week is a heavy week with wave loading frame, working in the 100+% 1rm range, which may or may not be feasible. I do remember working in the 97.5-100% range on this day though. Followed by a lighter week and a 1rm test.

I may play with these programs, later in the year. I think that it would be best to include some simple 2-3board work afterwards to enable some decent load work to be performed in the desired range.