Heavy-Light-Medium
In a previous post, I talked about periodizing my year into some different training blocks. It turns out the coronavirus had other ideas and some of my plan has gone out the window. Most of my work travel for the year has been canceled, which means I have more time to work through a block of barbell training. My powerlifting meet that was scheduled for April 18 is no longer happening, and I am not sure about the kettlebell challenge in May. For now, I am just going to focus on using the barbell lifts to get stronger overall.
Gyms being closed out here in PA for the past week or so due to the coronavirus has made me even more grateful than usual for my home gym. My training has not missed a beat, and I am convinced that it’s the only thing keeping me sane. No matter what fear-driven headlines I read in the news or hear about online, I can always go down to the basement or out to the garage and get after it.
Since returning home from the Starting Strength seminar a few weeks ago, I have been running a Heavy-Light-Medium program, lifting every other day and doing my best to get some walking and recovery in between sessions. I am really determined to stay focused on lifting for a little bit here and not do my usual thing of adding in a ton of other crap that takes away from my current goal of getting stronger. I keep reminding myself that the only way I can screw this program up is by adding in extra work that will hinder my overall adaptation and recovery. My days have been broken down as follows with specific weights being used found in my Training Log. The (sets x reps) refers to the work sets and does not count warm-ups. Right now, the weight is held constant for all sets across.
Heavy Day
Squats - 3 x 5
Bench - 3 x 5
Deadlift 1 x 5
Light Day
Squats (with 80% of Heavy Day weight) - 3 x 5
Press - 3 x 5
Chins - Various grips, bodyweight, weight added, different rep schemes, doesn’t matter. I’m just doing a bunch of chins.
Medium Day
Squats (with 90% of Heavy Day weight) - 3 x 5
Close Grip Bench - 3 x 5
Power Cleans - 5 x 3
So far I am having a ton of fun with this program. I love doing all of these lifts, so the frequency is keeping me from getting too antsy on my rest days. The plan is to run this until it stops working and then make a small change to continue to drive progress.
I am working at home until further notice, which is totally fine by me. The fact that I have a stable job that is going to keep paying me during all of this turmoil has removed a ton of stress that many Americans are unfortunately facing at this time. One thing I do really miss is the social interaction of being physically at the office. I have a lot of great friends at work and it is definitely different interacting with everyone through a computer rather than face-to-face. My days now consist of working on the computer and answering a constant stream of dings, beeps, and other notifications on my phone and through various applications on my laptop. I’m definitely not complaining, but by the end of the work day, I am ready to unplug and lift some damn weights.
I wish you all the best during this crazy time.