Workouts for Saturday 2nd to Friday 8th January

Here we go again! Another new sequence of workouts. This is the first set of workouts after the Christmas break.

My goals

For what it is worth, my current goals are:

a double bodyweight pull up;
a 2.5x bodyweight conventional deadlift; and
bench 100kg (220lbs).

I am hoping to achieve these goals by Easter at the latest.

Progress so far and notes

There hasn’t been any progress yet as I’m stuffed full of Christmas Turkey and, er, stuffing. Stay tuned for next week’s installment, when I should have a handle on whether this programme is going to work…

Bench: I’ve dropped down from 10 x 3 reps to 10 x 2 reps so that I can keep putting the weight up. I am slightly disappointed that when I tested my 1RM before Christmas, I only managed 95kg. I got 100kg off my chest but it stopped after about 6″. I suspect that my weakness is probably a combination of lower back, scapular retractors and shoulders. So hopefully, adding in RDLs and more rows plus continuing with my military presses should help there.

Rows: Having written about how I can’t do the bent over row because it hurts my lower back, I couldn’t resist having another go at making it work for me. If you understand why I do this, then you have gone quite a long way towards understanding what makes me tick… I’ve added these in to strengthen my scapular retractors, which I think may be holding my bench back. I’ve kept the inverted (supine) rows but I’ve decreased the sets because I was getting really bored of them.

Hanging leg raises: I’ve dropped the sets here because I was feeling that there was a big difference between the first couple of sets and the later sets. I want to see what weight I can get up to if I reduce the sets before going back to doing work capacity again.

Deadlift: I’ve dropped down from 10 x 2 reps to 10 x 1 rep so that I can keep putting the weight up. I am slightly disappointed that when I tested my 1RM before Christmas, I only managed 170kg. I suspect that my weakness is probably my lower back. So hopefully, adding in RDLs should help here.

Military press: I can tell that my lower back is the only thing holding me back here so there is no point in increasing the intensity. I have therefore increased my reps from 10 x 3 reps to 10 x 4 reps until my lower back is strong enough to support the heavier weights.

Without further ado, here is the workout plan

Saturday – Upper focus

Exercise	Weight	Sets	Reps	Rest	Detail
Bench	82kg	10	2	1min30	-
Bent over row	60kg	10	5	1min30	-
RDL	60kg	10	5	1min30	-
Hanging leg raise	3.0kg	3	3	1min	-
Inverted row	-	1	10	-	-

Sunday – Lower focus

Exercise	Weight	Sets	Reps	Rest	Detail
Deadlift on 2” plates	155kg	10	1	1min	-
Glute bridges	60kg	10	4	1min	-
Elbow flexor pull ups	15kg	10	5	1min30	-
Military press	40kg	10	4	1min30	-
Inverted row	-	1	10	-	-

+ sandbag loading and lifting of course!

Tuesday – Upper focus

Exercise	Weight	Sets	Reps	Rest	Detail
Dip	30kg	10	5	1min30	-
Assisted one arm chin	-10.0kg	10	1	1min30	Both arms
RDL	60kg	10	5	1min30	-
Hanging leg raises	3.0kg	3	3	1min	-
Inverted row	-	1	10	-	-

Thursday – Lower focus

Exercise	Weight	Sets	Reps	Rest	Detail
Pistol	30kg	5	2	1min	Each leg
Glute bridges	60kg	10	4	1min	-
Elbow flexor pull ups	15kg	10	5	1min30	-
Military press	40kg	10	4	1min30	-
Inverted row	-	1	10	-	-

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