Sticking to a plan
I seem to have difficulty maintaining forward progress when it comes to working out. I’ve started a lot of programs, made progress, but ultimately stopped. Usually sickness, or holidays, or some other “reason” gets in the way for a day, or a week. And that week becomes a month, and then a year. Not this time.
It’s easier to say that - especially since I’ve already been working out with some consistency for 6 months. One of the things that have made the most difference has been the guys at work. We try to keep to a schedule - and we’re fortunate to have a relatively nice gym at the office. Instead of lunch - weights. And the peer pressure and light competition helps with motivation.
At first, we stuck to standard 5x8 programming, on a three day rotation:
- Chest and triceps
- Back and biceps
- Shoulders
- occasionally, legs
But, after a while (and a break of another month or so), we picked up Wendler’s 5-3-1 program. We decided to give that a go, which focuses a lot more on the power lifts to the tune of one per workout. And the idea is heavy loading, rather than a ton of volume. This program works for us like this:
- Monday: Squats
- Tuesday: Bench Press
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: Deadlift
- Friday: Overhead Press
- Sat/Sun: Rest
I’ll get more into the details in the coming posts. We’ve made a lot of progress over the last 4-5 months. I’ve never lifted so much weight, and seen such rapid gains in terms of capability. A lot of it is neurological I know, but it still feels good.
Here are my targets:
- Squat: 405
- Bench: 300
- Deadlift: 450
- OHP: 150
So far my weakest lift by far is the Overhead Press - and its been making the least progress, but its also my least consistent lift.
I’m now thinking about competing in my first meet. It seems like there are some locally, and getting a baseline “on the books” seems like a good idea.