Thursday: Medium Day
Squats:3 x 6-8 @ 70% (245 lbs). 6,6,8
Incline DB Press 4 x 8-10 @ 55x10,60x10,65x10,70x6 (fail)
Chins or Lat Pulldowns 4 x 8-10 - Chins 8,6 Late Pull downs 2x10x130
Cable Pressdowns 4 x 10-15, weight whatever.
Squats were easy ish. Trying to work on hip drive. Fair to say I kinda ate feel like I can eat whatever shit I want right now. That's probably not true.
Friday: Cardio
Hands Free Tread Mill: 30 minutes, 10.5% incline, 3pmh, average heart rate 140-145. This protocol is turning out to be THE most sustainable, linear progression for cardio I have ever tried. Even at 3.5mph my tree trunk thighs rub together. At 4mph i'm kind of like a trotting Clydesdale. Thirty minutes is also a really nice amount of time where I only hate it momentarily at the end. Its also just long enough to clear my head and usually have one useful zen thought.
I would say DOING Andy's cardio protocol has resulted in the the most surprising epiphany thus far, followed closely by the benefits of 7 minute rest times between volume squats. Thats kind of remarkable because I have KNOWN about this protocol, and not used it for at least 2 years, and probably even much before that. The magic is slowing it down, not touching the damn handles, and letting the incline do your work. Amazingly simple, and so easy to miss if you don't try it yourself for a month or so.
How many times per week for cardio?
Right now its 3x a week on alternating days with lifting. Current schedule is a full body HML.
Sunday: Heavy Day
Monday: 30 min cardio
Tuesday: Light day
Wednesday: 30 min cardio
Thursday: Medium day
Friday: 30 min cardio (or sprints, which I haven't done yet)
Saturday: Complete rest.
Week 4: Heavy Day
Squats: 4 sets x 6 reps x 80% (280). 6,6,6,6 pretty clean. Belt tightness varied a notch on a few sets...still not sure what my sweet spot is there.
Bench Press: 4 sets x 6 reps x 80% (220), 6, 6, 6, 6 - more of a grind. the 5 minute rest is invaluable.
DB rows (strict form): 4x10 ramping, last set at w/ 65s - I'm supposed to "feel these" and I gotta say its hard. Considering subbing in cable rows.
EZ Bar Curls 4 x 8 - 10 @ 65 lbs.
This lift takes nearly an hour and half. Great move putting it on Sunday. Also makes me feel like I'm ahead going into the work week.
Yeah I'm doing a sort-of Texas Method and I do my volume squats on Sunday. I like it both because it's the only day I have time and also because it's a good start to the week.
Couldn't agree more.
Update: I missed my first day of training for the year today. It was a travel day and I have a cold. Training was 30 minutes of Cardio - I'll probably just add 15 minutes to Wednesday and Friday's session. I take this as a omen that the New Year's Gym rats are about to wash out until next year. That will be a good day.