Medium Pressing Day, Some Programming Thoughts

10 May 2015


Bench press 275 lbs. 3s x 5

Standing front overhead press 170 lbs. 3s x 3

Pullups, various grip 50 reps total

Overhead tricep extensions 50 reps total

DB lateral raises 50 reps total

Incline bench DB curls 50 reps total

Low pulley rows with rope 3s x 20

25 minutes cycling

Looking over my logs, I see that my lifting program has changed a lot. I've been making little changes here and there, trying to work around my hip and back injury, and the little tweaks have added up to something quite different from the modified Texas Method I've been running over the past couple of years.

While I still want to get back to that original template (because it's very productive as far as heavy lifts go), I'll have to do so gradually in order to accommodate some changes to my lifting and overall health goals, such as:

• Five lifting workouts per week. If I can't go heavy on squats or pulls, I should at least focus on pressing strength, especially my neglected overhead press. Maybe something positive will come out of the back injury after all.
• Less fat - no use carrying bulk around if I'm not going to use it to lift heavy weights. Plan is to get my bodyweight to under 210, then to around 200 this summer. Then if I feel like my BF% is where it should be, gradually start to add weight. At a little under 6', 210 is more than enough BW, and a lean 200 would be great.
• More cardio work - I want to aim for 2-3 sessions of 20-30 minutes, plus 2 sessions of 60 minutes per week. The short workouts will be done after lifting and the longer workouts on my two days off from lifting. I've been pretty consistent with these, I just haven't been logging them.
• No more deadlifts. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again. Or something. My deadlift journey has always been one of one step forward, three steps back (and months taken off training as a consequence). The only serious injuries I've ever sustained from working out and playing sports have been deadlift-related. The deadlift is the only lift in which the starting point is determined by manufacturing standards (plate diameter), rather than the relative length of your own body structures (in competition, you can adjust the height of the squat stands and bench uprights if you're taller or shorter, but you ALWAYS start with the bar at EXACTLY the same height off the floor, regardless of whether you're 6'7" or 4'11"). Seeing as I don't compete in powerlifting and have absolutely zero need to practice heavy deadlifts from the floor, mid-shin pulls in the rack will do me quite nicely. I'd like to still be lifting weights in my 60s, and snapping my back up time after time isn't really conducive to that goal.
• More SlingShot bench pressing. I have been using the two SlingShots for a while now, with good improvements on my "raw" bench press. I want to see what effect (if any) a period of SlingShot-dominant work would have on my bench press 1RM. So most of my heavy work will be done with either the Reactive or Original SlingShot.

So for the foreseeable future the plan will be:

Day 1 - Lower Body Volume - Squat sets of 5 + Pull singles + Leg Exercise 1 for 50 total reps

Day 2 - Heavy Bench Press (SlingShot) + Back Exercise 1 for 30 heavy reps + Seated DB press 4sx6

Cardio Day

Day 3 - Heavy OH Press + Close-grip Bench Press + Back Ex. 2 for 30 heavy reps

Day 4 - Heavy Squat (up to triple) + Pull singles + Leg Exercise 2 for 50 total reps + Shrug 50 reps

Cardio Day

Day 5 - Medium Bench Press 3s x 5 + Medium OH Press 3x3 + Back Ex. 3 for 50 total reps

With small exercises (arms, shoulders, upper back, calves) added throughout the week.