_tim's Log

[TunnelRat]

Sorry to hear you've been ill, _tim. Apparently Lol and I aren't the only ones...

With regard to Vibrams, I eventually decided to forgo the internet route. I went to a real brick and plaster store, with real live people, and bought my shoes off the shelf. I'm glad I did, since the fit is quite particular. I felt much more comfortable having the pros do the measurements, than me trying to do them at home. They make terrific workout shoes.

[_tim]

Try #3.... (formatting was a mess all other times)

Lol - Thank you! This has been a tremendously hard few months health-wise. To your question - my Vibrams are still my favorite footwear to train and run in. I don't have any calf, ankle or foot issues to report - but I very strongly advise people from running on pavement in them. My doctor suspects that my broken foot was due to undue stress from repetitive running in them on pavement. I now run on treadmills or off-road (hills, yard, woods, etc.) exclusively with no issues whatsoever - and I train in them exclusively without issue.

G11 - Thank you for your WS suggestion. I had solid results with the method - but the one thing that I need badly right now is conditioning. As such, I'm going to use a 2-style approach like WS, but as you'll see based on my WO from last night, the work is nothing like the WS template.

Metabolic Bench Day:
Treadmill Run: 6:30 @ 6.5 mph - .8 miles
Pause Bench: 6 x 3, 1 x 2 @ 185
Treadmill Run: 6:00 @ 6.5 mph - .79 miles
DB Incline Press: 3 x 8 @ 50
Kroc Rows: 65 x 25

OK - so here's the thought behind the first of the two approaches using the above as reference: the metabolic days will focus on volume for the primary exercise and sets will be done to form breakdown. Last night I wanted to do 5's but it wasn't in the cards. Yes, I could have decreased the load, but didn't want to; it was bad enough that 185 was the load I worked up to and could only hit triples. I digress - the rest of the workout was a derivative of the primary lift (the inclines) and an opposition lift (the Krocs). The runs amid the lifts were intended to solely do one thing - empty the tank - and would have been miles had it not been for the pneumonia that I'm still fighting. I used this method when training for a race a while back and it was profoundly successful in both killing fat and increasing endurance.

So - to summarize - the metabolic days will focus on volume with moderate loads that are determined each workout using rep ranges of 3-5; at least one lift related to the primary lift using a higher rep range and fewer sets; and at least one opposition lift, which is either using an opposing muscle group to the primary lift, or an assistance lift that in some way balances the primary lift (like ab work for lower body lifts). Lastly - there will be something that assists in making the experience metabolic. Runs, multiple Tabata sessions, Crossfit lifts, Olympic lifts, etc. - something focused on power, aerobic endurance, or just pure energy burn will be interspersed between lifts. Again - this is a strategy I've tested in the past with great success.

Strength days will be much simpler, and sorta similar to the WS Max Effort day. Mine will work the primary lift down to doubles or singles, sometimes perhaps using rest-pause sets with a maximal load. At most, 2 assistance lifts will follow; the only other sets will be drop sets of 10-12 reps each.

OK - this is the first stab at detailing the method, and I'm fairly certain it will evolve as I see what works and what doesn't. For the next week at least, the workouts will be solely metabolic. I'm very, very untrained - and still sick. I'm hoping that a little bit of torture will go a long way for both items.

[_tim]

Thank you, TR - much appreciated.

For anyone looking for Vibrams, check out City Sports - www.citysports.com. That's where I got mine and they were the lowest price I found on the net at the time.

[_tim]

Thursday and Saturday WO's...

Thursday:

Pause Squat: 5 x 4 @ 205
Attempted Bulgarian Split Squat - fail due to foot cramping
Hanging Ab Raise - Knees to Chest: 4 x 10

Saturday:

Treadmill Run/Jog/Walk: 1.25 miles, 15:28 total time; running speed 6.5 MPH
Pause (Supinated Grip) BB Row: 8 x 5 @ 135
Dips: 3 x 10 @ BW
Cable Row: 117.5 x 15; 97.5 x 10; 77.5 x 8 SLOW

OK - neither of these really fit into my new experiment, with the exception that I did two lifts that were related and one that was an opposition lift. On Thursday I felt like garbage, but forced my way through. Friday I had a followup with my doc and it is theorized that I have persistent bronchitis, and that I may have developed asthma over the past several months. So - today was my first workout on the albuterol that I was given, and though the run took some mental pushing, I did notice a difference. Lovely.

The whole thing with the Bulg. Split Squats was the resultant from my first workout, I think. My support foot kept cramping to the point that I couldn't do more than a rep or two before caving. These will be a fixture in the experiment - as will the rev. grop rows. My biceps need massive help before doing any true chinning - and these did the trick a couple years back.

[_tim]

Back, again

Treadmill: 1:00 WU; 14:00 jog @ 5.5 MPH; 2:30 CD. 1.49 total miles

Pause Deads: 5 x 4 @ 225

Put together a five to six word phrase of expletives and that's about where I'm at. So - two things stalled me this time. A bruised rib, and a very nasty cough. The bruised rib is just about healed now, and the cough is subsiding - still, I have been completely devoid of energy these past couple weeks. This WO was quite the wake up call, and come hell or high water I'm going to fight my way back.

[grunt11]

You’re really having crappy luck Tim I sure hope you can get back into the groove soon.

[_tim]

OK - so I ain't dead, but I sure as hell thought this site was.

I tried for a couple months to post progress but every time I tried, the forum was down or just wouldn't let me log in. So - I sorta wrote it off, but Lol let me know that he'd been able to log in a bit ago, and for the heck of it I gave it a go today.

So - the past few months have been lots upon lots of experimenting to try and find a programmatic (progressive) workout paradigm that works with my schedule. As such - I'm still looking. I'm currently doing a sort of one-off experiment with "strength endurance" where you do a ton of doubles with heavier loads and small-ish rest times. I'll post a WO later tonight - which will be the first in about 2 weeks due to schedule woes. If any of you lads out there have wacky schedules that disallow a regular pattern of workouts and have found something programmatic that works for you, I'd love to hear it. I'm very close to just working out for working out's sake without any sort of programmatic sense whatsoever; I'm finding that it's a whole lot easier to adjust within a workout to appropriate loads and volumes when a regular routine isn't present than to try and work within a progressive structure and essentially struggle because the progression in place simply doesn't fit within what the body expects.

Regardless of anything else - I'm quite happy to find the forum up and active. Hope all of you lads are doing well.

[grunt11]

Welcome back Tim!

I tried for a couple months to post progress but every time I tried, the forum was down or just wouldn't let me log in. So - I sorta wrote it off, but Lol let me know that he'd been able to log in a bit ago, and for the heck of it I gave it a go today.

I’ve been having the same problems which is why I’ve not been logging as much too.

I doubt my program will help you since it’s focused on powerlifting now but I just make sure I hit my Max Effort and Dynamic Effort lifts which doesn’t take to much time and then just fit in the Repetition Effort lifts whenever I can.

One thing that has helped out a lot is having bodylastic bands which allow me to sneak in workouts almost anywhere. I’m not sure if something like that is an option for you but they’ve really helped me out especially when traveling.

[_tim]

Hey G11 - thank you so much for the suggestion. Do I understand correctly that you do bench, squat and dead days and then fill in repetition where you can? That sounds like a bit of a sub-Westside model, and I kinda likle the sounds of it. Can you fill me in a bit more?

I tried to log earlier in the week to no avail. Not cool.

[grunt11]

Yep Tim it is based on the Westside model, with a little bit of an HST frequency twist. I was finding that doing most of my volume on the 4 major days, ME Bench and Squat and DE Bench and Squat was sometimes taking too long especially on the ME days when I want to get enough rest between sets, and leaving me feeling like I’d been in a train wreck.

Since the Westside model already suggests incorporating 2-10 mini (20 minute) workouts during the week I figured I could move some of the RE volume work off the main 4 days and onto the other days or do an AM/PM split depending on what fit my schedule. Note that to fit the RE work into 20 minutes I use Myo-Reps for almost everything the few exceptions are things like Shrugs and Calves.

The advantages I’ve noticed so far are that I don’t ever feel the need to skip a core lift (ME and DE Squat, Bench Deadlift) for lack of time since doing them only takes 15-20 minutes. I leave each workout including the RE workouts feeling energized rather than beat up and tired. I’m theoretically getting the advantages of doing an AM/PM split discussed here in some of the old posts. It allows me to workout both at home and at work which allows me to take advantage of the equipment unique to both places (e.g. no power rack at work but a variety of machines I can’t afford/fit at home.

I am also entertaining the idea of using some ideas from Cressey Performance’s take on the conjugate method which involves doing 2 each ME days for both Bench and Squat/Deadlift each week and incorporating Speed work into the warmups.

http://www.syattfitness.com/6-princi...y-performance/