Training rejig

Have rearranged my training a bit. After trying to repeat the same cycle as detailed below, but not really making good gains (mainly down to poor diet and stress), I decided to change things up.

Three main changes. For a start I am going to give 20 rep squats a rest. Secondly, I am going to prioritse gains in the regular deadlift for this cycle. Thirdly, I am going to prioritise the overhead press over the bench press.

Stuart McRobert writes that your overhead press should be around 66 per cent of your bench (for the same cadence and rep range). With that in mind, my overhead press is currently around 59 per cent of my bench. I'm hoping that this will impact my bench positively.

Further changes: I am going to use the EZ bar for bentover rows, instead of a straight bar, and not use a fixed rep target each time but a range. Some refer to this as double progression. I am introducing this to add a further level of conservatism to my training, hopefully aiding regular incremental gains.

I did the first workout yesterday and it went well. I was particularly pleased with how much better the EZ bar seemed for bentover rows. I got a much better grip on the bar and a fuller range of motion at the top of the movement.

In other news, I have begun using chalk and am already pleased with its advantages.

New training cycle

I have returned from my holiday (and a period of wisdom toothache), and this morning I performed an 85 per cent workout using the final figures of the last cycle as a basis.

Felt very rusty!

Microloading

Towards the end of a training cycle, when the work sets for each main exercise are getting very hard, it is generally impossible to jump up in 2.5kg/5lb leaps each workout. This means most people have to 'microload', or use smaller poundage increments to continue gaining.

How can you get around this? It is possible to purchase beautifully engineered fractional plates from specialist suppliers, but many frugal people (like me) prefer to engineer their own solutions. In the past I have used smaller (0.5 and 1kg) plates designed for regular barbells. I simply hooked them over the ends of spring clip collars.

I am at the stage of my current training cycle where it will be necessary to employ these tactics once more. This time I am going to use twine to attach the plates to the bar to help get the right combination. More ideas here.

With the weights I have, I should be able to add 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2kg to the bar.

A change

Following a period of mild illness and a short holiday, I have had some time to re-think my training.

I feel that going 'full-bore' all the time is too much for my recuperative abilities, no matter how careful I am with rest and recovery.

Whilst I was on holiday, I took the time to re-read some of Stuart McRobert's excellent writings and have come to the conclusion that now is the time to begin cycling training intensity.

Watch this space...