Going Intermediate - very slowly
Greetings everyone,
I've decided to start a training log, to coincide with the beginning of my intermediate program. As it is customary, I'll spend the first post introducing myself and giving some background. It's going to be fairly long, and I apologise for this in advance. Future posts will be more concise.
I am 40 years old, 6' tall, and weigh around 192Lbs (87Kg). I am based in London, UK. I began Starting Strenght in June 2009, and at the time I weighed around 167Lbs (76Kg).
Why strength training ? I think it all started a couple of years ago, when I attended a motorbike training day at an old, disused military airstrip in Essex. As a drill, we were asked to to lift a motorbike off the ground. As bikes go, mine (a Yamaha Fz6) is fairly light; I saw others grab it and yank it upright with seemingly little effort, but I could barely get it off the ground, before getting pathetically stuck.
It was a humiliating experience.
Some time later I started to experiment in the gym with lifting a barbell with mixed results. But the seeds of curiosity had been sown, and eventually I came across Mr. Rippetoe's fabulous book. And with that, it all started.
I admit to having made slow progress. My lifts are:
Deadlift = 250 Lbs (set of 5)
Squat = 202.5 Lbs (3 sets of 5)
Bench = 152.5 Lbs (3 sets of 5)
Power Clean = 146 Lbs (5 sets of 3)
Press = 100 Lbs (3 sets of 5)
Reading my gym book, I can see at least a partial explaination for these very unimpressive numbers. I strained some muscle in my left leg twice, just a few weeks after starting, and that meant a few sessions spent recovering with small weights.
I lost two weeks in August because I went on holiday. When I came back, I reset all lifts by 10%, and it took a while before I could set new PRs.
Then, in November, while attempting a set of 5 deadlifts with 275Lbs, I injured my back fairly bad (lost the lumbar curve, and ended up lifting with the back flexed), and it took about a month to recover. My deadlift is still not at the level where it was.
In the meantime I've had at least one reset on all the lifts. And I've also realised that every session was leaving me more and more tired. I thought I could not keep making linear progress for much longer; also, I thought starting a new phase in my training at the beginning of a new year would be quite neat.
Hence, here I am, with a new program based on the Texas Method template. Here's the outline of my planned training.
Week 1
Volume
Power Cl. - 7 sets of 3
Press - 5 sets of 5
Squat - 5 sets of 5
Recovery
Power Snatch - initially I'll just learn the movement
Bench - 3 sets of 5
Front Sq. - 2 sets of 5
Pull-ups - I'll just start with some singles
Intensity
Squat - 5 reps max
Press - 5 reps max
Deadlift - 5 reps max
Week 2
Volume
Power Cl. - 7 sets of 3
Bench - 5 sets of 5
Squat - 5 sets of 5
Recovery
Power Snatch
Press - 3 sets of 5
Front Sq. - 2 sets of 5
Chin-ups - singles again here
Intensity
Power Cl. - 6 sets of 2, max
Bench - 5 reps max
Squat - 5 reps max
There's a lot of fast lifts, because they are the ones I like most. It's also the reason why I put them first in every session.
I've put the deadlift on the intensity day, and then only one every two weeks, because I am not sure I'll be able to do it at the end of the volume days. They are going to be pretty hard, and after the injury I've had I am wary (read: very scared) to deadlift when I'm tired. Things might change of course.
For chins and pulls, I'll try to increase one set a week, by one rep. Again, if I see I can go faster I might make changes.
Last but not least, I've set myself a very slow progress rate. I plan to increase the squat just 2.5 Lbs every week, and the bench/cleans 2.5Lbs every two. For the deadlift, I'll try to keep a 6Lbs increment every two weeks.
It's very conservative, but if I can keep these rate of progress, in 20 weeks (5 months) my squat will be up to 250Lbs, and I will be very happy with that. I think lifting might be part of my life for a while, probably for a few years to come. I've got plenty of time to make gains, and I'm happy to go slow.
And this is pretty much everything I wanted to say. Thanks a lot for reading so far, I wish everyone a good day.
IPB