October-December Training

After a power lifting meet in September I needed a new training goal since I'm not planning to compete until late spring/ summer 2009. Since I'm becoming OCD with what and when I eat as it relates to human performance and body composition I came up with a goal for this training period. I haven't been in the low single digit body fat range since last september so I figured I'd get back down there WHILE maintaining or increasing my max strength on the big three lifts. Here's a base of the program and the results:

October 2008: 210 lbs at 14 percent body fat
December 5th, 2008: 201 at 7 percent body fat
(according to brozek 7 site skin fold equation done by exercise physiology professor)

Training Protocol:
disclaimer: this training program is not specific to any particular sport, so don't get your panties in a bunch. This was for the sole purpose of recruiting lots of muscle twice per week and training anaerobic glycolysis 2-3 times per week. If you're not familiar with anaerobic glycolysis, you may have experienced it after running a few sprints or playing drop in hockey for the first time in a while and felt some flegmy waste products build up in your throat.

Weekly Split:
Monday: Heavy Bench/ Upper Body Strength
Tuesday: Heavy Squat or Dead Lift/ Lower Body Strength
Wednesday: Off or recovery drills
Thursday: Barbell Complex Workout
Friday: Off or Recovery Drills
Saturday: Full Body Circuit Lift
Sunday: Off for the first few weeks/ DB Complex starting mid November

Sample workouts:
Upper Strength
A1: Bench Press: work up to 3 rep max
A2: Pull Ups: work up to 3 rep max with added weight
B1: Dumbbell Floor Press 4 sets of 4-6 reps
B2: Face Pull: 4 sets of 10-12 reps
C1: Dips: 3 sets of 8-10 reps
C2: Hammer Curl: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

Lower Strength
A: Barbell Back Squat: work up to 1rm
B: Knee high step up: 4 sets of 6 reps
C: Back Raise: 4 sets of 8-10 reps

Barbell Complex sample
A1: over head squat x6
A2: military press x6
A3: good morning x6
A4: high pull x 6
A5: bent over row x6
A6: romanian dead lift x6
done in a row with no rest, used between 85-115 lbs
This did not tap into my recovery much if at all and I usually came out feeling better

Full Body Lift
A1: Squat or Dead Lift Variation x 10-12 reps (heavy as possible)
A2: Weighted Chin Ups 8-10 reps (heavy as possible)
A3: Lunge variation x 8 reps
A4: Standing DB Push Press x 8 reps
I rested between 30-60 seconds between subsequent sets and rested 1-2 minutes between sets. Ten minutes of this will have you breathing harder than a spinning instructor flipping a tire for the first time.

B1: usually a walking lunge or pull through x 10-15 reps
B2: bodyweight chin ups x as many reps as possible
B3: usually a pull through x 10-15 reps
B4: push ups x as many reps as possible

Lifts:
Squat: Maintained a 505lb 3 rep max
Bench: 330 3 rep max (10 lb increase)
Sumo Dead Lift: 510 training max (pulled 507 conventional style in september)

Diet:
The diet was/is pretty much what I've outlined in previous blog posts. My breakfast and first couple meals consist of dark meats, eggs, nuts, oils, cheeses while the meals later in the day consist of lighter colored meats, salad greens, brocolli, greek yogurt, cashew butter, occassional apples and blueberries

sample day:
Breakfast: 10 oz. burger patty, small bowl of cashews, fish oil
Snack between class: Roast Beef, Walnuts, Mozzarella Cheese
Lunch (usually pre workout meal): 4 eggs w/turkey and chopped veggies, fish oil
Post workout drink: 50grams whey concentrate, 30g bcaa/glutamine, 10-20g glycine
Dinner: Turkey or Chicken, large salad
Snack: Greek Yogurt, Cashew Butter, Blueberries (all mixed together w/cinnamon on top)
Last Meal: (i work late at night so I'm up for this usually) chicken or turkey at work with a large plate of broccoli, walnuts or cashews on the side and fish oil capsules.

Not to mention plenty of water ALL day long.

I'll post some pictures next week of the body composisition progress from the training experiment.