This blog is slowly turning a workout blog. While I’d like to find the time (outside of my academic work, to write about other topics) I’m going to attempt to embrace this as a method of keeping myself accountable. My semester ended well as far as my academics go, but a variety of life stuff derailed my training. Melissa Urban‘s advice on the topic is good advice, but it also turned out to be easier said than done, at least in my case. After two weeks of next to nothing to eat and very little sleep, I had lost over twenty pounds of bodyweight, and had done next to no training to speak of. Needless to say, my return to the gym has been very humbling. I’ve seen decreases of at least 50lbs on my maxes, and my conditioning is non-existent.
At the same time, I’d spent the last four months focusing on lifting, and ignoring crossfit in general, and in the process, while I’d gotten stronger, I’d also gotten fatter. While I want to rebuild my strength, I’d like to do it without the fat. As much as I liked being able to pull 465lbs, I didn’t like having a gut. I used to be able to run a 5k or row a 2k in a respectable amount of time. I want that back. To that end, this is a new beginning.
I’m setting a number of moderate goals for myself, with the goal of completing them by the end of April.
Deadlift: 500 lbs.
Squat: 405 lbs.
Press: 165 lbs.
5k: 21:00m
2k: 7:20m
For lifting, I am using Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 approach. It’s a four-week training cycle where you do 3×5 for the first week, 3×3 reps for the second week, and 5/3/1 for the third week. The fourth week is a deload week. You then add weight to your maxes, and repeat this until you stall, and calculate a new training max.
Above is the spreadsheet for my first four-week cycle, with my best guess for my current maxes (based on the fact that I’m definitely not where I used to be.) Training maxes are .85 of my max, with the exception of squats, which are .9. These are the numbers that my reps are based off of. Based on this approach, it will take some time before I can lift even what I was able to before, but checking my ego at the door is the only way to get back to that point.
My conditioning is aimed at competing in C.R.A.S.H.-B.s, the indoor rowing world championships, next month. I don’t expect a month to be enough time to make a showing near my goal, or comparable to what I pulled in college, but the competition is something to set my sites on. I’m deviating from the rowing orthodox (at least as it I learned it in college) and developing metabolic conditioning based around crossfit and the erg, that emphasizes the movements and explosiveness needed to row a 2k. For example, today’s workout:
Five rounds for time.
5 Power Cleans @ 135lbs
10 Push-ups
250m erg piece
Most of my workouts will fall along these lines. That workout took me 18:56.6. I don’t know if that means I’m slow, or that workout is brutal. I’d like to think the later, but it is most likely the former.
This approach, along with a semi-paleo diet (more in another post about that) will get me to where I want to be. I’ll log my progress here.
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