My Current Training and How It Is Evolving

So, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I’ve been training two days a week. Heavily influenced by the Dan John article I linked in my last post, as well as this article on Diesel Strength by Wil Fleming: http://www.dieselsc.com/the-simplest-weightlifting-program-ever/

After my meet, I started training as follows, essentially using the combos from the above article:

Day 1:

Snatch

Squat

 

Day 2:

Power Clean

Front Squat

 

Day 3:

Bench Press

Push Press

Bent Over Row

 

This was short-lived, and became this:

Day 1:

Snatch

Squat/Front Squat (alternated each week)

 

Day 2:

Power Clean

Bench Press

 

Occasionally I would (and still do) throw in a third day where I do chins and push ups, and maybe curls or extensions if I feel like it. So technically I am not doing just two days a week, but I also don’t stress if I don’t get this workout in or shorten it. It is also not a very stressful session.

While I was PRing on the bench press, I decided I was not interested in doing it right now. So what I have been doing in place of benching is pulls (clean pulls or snatch pulls). This has been working well. Training has been very fun. Even though I am doing very limited movements, I feel like I am working harder than I have in the past. I also try to limit myself to an hour and 15 minutes tops in the gym, primarily after reading this article: http://70sbig.com/blog/2012/02/hit-it-and-quit-it/

Since I don’t have any upcoming competitions or anything putting stress on me about my athletic performance, it is more about having fun and going in, getting the work done, and getting out. I feel good. I feel happy. I feel recovered. I’m not beat up or hurting all the time. And I am making progress.

I’ve been piecing things together from different readings, both what to use and also to validate my own ideas, and a couple that have really stuck with me are David Woodhouse and his System, and the fact that Jim Wendler has been doing two days a week for awhile now. Here is an example of Wendler’s training: http://www.jimwendler.com/2012/07/training-update-2/

and Woodhouse’s System: http://pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?t=2503

As of late, I’ve been programming my squats and front squats (and pulls) using Wendler’s Advanced 5/3/1 percentages and sets/reps schemes. For my cleans and snatches, I’ve been doing 8 doubles in the snatch and 8 singles in the clean and jerk, a la this article from Dan John: http://danjohn.net/beginners/

I have a few weeks more to go with the training cycle I have laid out. After this I may run some combos inspired by Wil Fleming, back squats, and push press to hopefully assist my jerk, still doing this over two days a week. After that I may go more strictly into Woodhouse’s the System. Either way, for now, until the unforseeable future, I will be sticking with two days a week (with my possible third day thrown in), as I intend to keep working on the olympic lifts and because my time is limited. It has work in the past, and it appears to be working now. Will it work forever? Probably not, nothing does. I may have to make tweaks, but I don’t necessarily believe I will have to add days. Especially since I am only going to continue getting older. Do I like being in the gym more? Sure. Do I feel like I should be in the gym more? Absolutely. Do I need to be in the gym more? Doesn’t look like it.

Again, is this for everybody? No. It is what is working for me and what I am enjoying doing currently. And maybe it will inspire someone to give it a shot or create their own minimalist training program.