How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

**maverick** · 16-Apr-07, 03:51 PM

OK, time for a change of pace. I loved the workouts I've been doing for the last 5 or 6 months, but I think I need a change. The heavy workouts are getting a little grating, I'm feeling soreness too often and I'm starting to get that achy feeling too often. I wanna lower the intensity a bit and increase the frequency. To do this I'll be following this article:

Bodybuilding.com - Mike Mahler - High Frequency Training: Avoid Overtraining!

So basically I'll be doing the same 4 exercises day in and day out until its time to change them. Those exercises will be Squats, bench press, pullups, and clean & jerks. I will still be doing grip and core in my downtime. I actually usual just do grip whenever my hands feel up to it.

Like I stated in my post in general bodybuilding, I think I am just now mature enough to take a real stab at something like this. In the past I would have added stuff, tweaked too much, and probably got sick of it after 2 weeks. Hopefully, thats not the case here and I can make some real advances here. I feel my lack of "skill" in a lot of these lifts is whats holding me back, particularly on my presses. Practice makes perfect right?

Here's the first workout, its only 3 days a week for the first week. Working with your 7RM, you do 5 reps. Sounds easy right?

Squats
-------
- 135x5, 225x3, 255x1, 285x5
Notes: Felt just about right. Tough, but I definitely had more in the tank.

Bench Press
-------------
- 135x5, 185x2, 215x5
Notes: Felt a bit too tough. I'll see how I feel Wednesday and Friday, but I may drop this back another 5 pounds. God I suck at pressing.

Pullups
-------
- 0x5, 25x5, 55x5
Notes: Felt like a good weight, had very clean reps and it got tough on the last one.

Clean & Jerk
-------------
- 70x5, 100x5, 120x5
Notes: Never did these before so I took it easy. I actually did hang cleans for most reps cause the weight was fairly easy to handle. I will probably bump this weight up a bit before next week. I'm still learning this one.

And there you go. This is my plan for the next... well a long time. The program calls for:
- adding in another day next week (4 days a week)
- then another day the following week (5 days a week)
- then adding a set to each the following week (5 days a week, 2 sets each)
- then adding another set (5 days a week, 3 sets each)
- finally, go back to one set and bump up weight (5 days a week, 1 set, +5-10 pounds)

**gymgirl** · 16-Apr-07, 04:02 PM

Hey, Maverick

I read your post and article in the body building forum, but I forgot to comment. This should be an interesting change for you. Just remember, even if it seems like you aren't doing enough...still stop, don't do more!

You'll get the hang of the clean and jerks in no time. Are you doing split jerks or regular?

**maverick** · 17-Apr-07, 10:59 AM

Regular I think. I don't really know them that well, and I'm not using a ton of weight, so going deep to catch the bar isn't really necessary yet.

**maverick** · 17-Apr-07, 12:59 PM

4/17/2007 -- Cardio/Abs

Treadmill - 1 mile at 7 MPH
Heavy bag - 5 2 minute rounds, 1 minute rest
Hanging Knee Raises - 0x12x3

Still fighting a cold so I took it relatively easy.

**maverick** · 18-Apr-07, 05:18 PM

4/18/2007

Squats
-------
- 135x5, 225x3, 255x1, 285x5
Notes: Felt a bit easier than Monday, I guess thats a good thing.

Bench Press
-------------
- 115x5, 165x2, 195x1, 215x5
Notes: This felt MUCH better than Monday. I am comfortable staying at this weight now.

Pullups
-------
- 0x5, 25x4, 55x5
Notes: Easy like last time, but it did fatigue my lats a good bit.

Clean & Jerk
-------------
- 85x5, 115x3, 135x5
Notes: Felt tough, but I think that was more a factor of my crappy endurance for fullbody exercises. I'm gonna stick with this weight.

gcs118 · 18-Apr-07, 07:54 PM

Interesting scheme. I'll be keeping an eye on this.

**maverick** · 19-Apr-07, 02:56 PM

4/19/2007 -- "The Boxer"

- Treadmill warmup - 1/2 mile up to 8.0MPH
- 4 rounds of (about 20 seconds rest between each):
---- heavy bag - 1 minute
---- decline crunches - 0x12
---- jump rope - 1 minute
---- 2 DB Swings - 20x15

Awesome high intensity cardio. I will definitely be doing this again.

Mr VW · 19-Apr-07, 03:04 PM

That boxer workout sounds like something I'd love to do. What are DB swings though?

**Firehawk** · 19-Apr-07, 03:05 PM

Gonna give you some advice from as far as I've seen with bench pressing because it's very difficult for me to press as well. When you start a progressive overload type of workout like this is, start at easy weight. If you start somewhere that is too close to a max effort to begin with, it really leaves you nowhere to go.

This also builds confidence and you get mentally stronger at it.

**Firehawk** · 19-Apr-07, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maverick

4/19/2007 -- "The Boxer"

- Treadmill warmup - 1/2 mile up to 8.0MPH
- 4 rounds of (about 20 seconds rest between each):
---- heavy bag - 1 minute
---- decline crunches - 0x12
---- jump rope - 1 minute
---- 2 DB Swings - 20x15

Awesome high intensity cardio. I will definitely be doing this again.

Sounds like circuit training.

**maverick** · 19-Apr-07, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firehawk

Sounds like circuit training.

Absolutely, I like this type of stuff for cardio. Beats spending 30 minutes on the hamster wheel.

I will give serious consideration to dropping the poundage at least down to 210 or 205. It felt significantly better on Wednesday, but you are right in the sense of preapring for the progression.

**maverick** · 19-Apr-07, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr VW

That boxer workout sounds like something I'd love to do. What are DB swings though?

BODY BY FISH

I just started doing them abot a month ago, for endurance not for big weights. I really like them, they get everything involved and get your heartrate up in a hurry on the high rep sets.

**maverick** · 20-Apr-07, 01:49 PM

4/20/2007

Squats
-------
- 135x5, 225x3, 255x1, 285x5

Bench Press
-------------
- 115x5, 165x2, 195x1, 215x5
Notes: Sticking with this, I easily had 2+ left in me.

Pullups
-------
- 0x5, 25x4, 55x5

Clean & Jerk
-------------
- 80x5, 110x3, 135x3
Notes: I'm dropping this down to 3 reps for the sake of form. I feel like the more reps I do with these type of dynamic movements, regardless of weight, the sloppier they get. As I want to learn this movement and am not worried about weight so much, this is how I will do it. That said, these are getting much better.

**.V.** · 20-Apr-07, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firehawk

This also builds confidence and you get mentally stronger at it.

Right. I still don't know exactly how and why the light workouts help. But they seem to do something for the muscles and CNS to help the strength go up too. Remember, it wasn't so long ago that I was routinely getting pinned by 150. Then when I put 205 on by mistake, it went up 5 times quite well.

Maverick, these higher frequency workouts look interesting, I know how well increased frequency works from my own experiment with myself and 3x a week squatting. I'm really looking forward to your progress on this.

**maverick** · 21-Apr-07, 04:08 PM

4/21/2007 -- Cardio

Its sunny and about 70 degrees in Pittsburgh, something I haven't seen in a while so I took the training outside today. Though this was my workout, giving my dog (also named Maverick) a bath outside was no picnic either. I considered it my warmup for this.

- 4 rounds of:
--- 1 minute jump rope
--- 20x10 DB rengegade rows
--- 20x20 2 DB swings

followed by one more minute of jump rope and then a 1/2 mile run. I am pouring sweat and loving it. Now on to enjoying the rest of this beautiful day. I'm sensing one... no... two steaks on the grill tonight!