I just finished my testing phase of my last training program. Everything went well as I hit a ton of PRs. This upcoming week is a deload week and I had planned to take the entire week off like I did last time, but I’m currently in a fat loss phase so I’m going to get in the gym a few days to do something. I won’t be doing anything heavy though because I am still going to deload. For my fat loss phase my training will still be focused on strength. I’m not one of those guys who does a ton of metabolic circuits, etc. in the gym. The gym is where I get stronger. I lose fat though nutrition and I’ll also be adding in some hill sprints once a week at the beginning. This may be bumped up to two days, but it may not. This will be dependent on my fat loss progress. I actually started my fat loss phase two weeks ago when I hit an all time high bodyweight of 220. That was a goal of mine, but that’s pretty far from the weight I compete at – 200. Plus summer is coming up and I spend every weekend on our boat at the lake and we are going to Riveria Maya, Mexico in July. So I don’t want to look too “soft” with my shirt off. So part of my fat loss phase is vanity and part is to be closer to my competition weight.  For nutrition I’ll be following the same style of eating I’ve been doing for the past year. Jason Ferruggia just came out with his book “The Renegade Diet” and I can’t recommend this book enough. This is how I eat at the moment and how I’ve been eating for the past year. I actually got a copy of the rough draft of this book a year ago and have eaten this way every since. It’s worth checking out. Click here to check it out: The Renegade Diet

Now onto my training log from the past week:

3/7/12

Box Jumps – 3×3

Back Squat – Worked up to 500×1 – PR

Reverse Hypers – 3×10

Suitcase Carry – 95x40ft. x 2

Straight Leg Sit Ups – 10 lb plate held behind head x 8 x 3

3/10/12

Log Clean & Press – Worked up to 330×1 – PR

Yoke Walk – Worked up to 700×50 ft. in 18 seconds. – PR

My next training phase will begin next week after this week’s deload. It’ll run 15 weeks before I deload this time. That’s longer than I’ve gone in a while without a deload and I may change my mind, but I’ve been reading some stuff from Paul Carter (look him up) and he’s influenced me in going a little while longer before deloading. I’ve got my training mapped out roughly all the way up until NAS Strongman Nationals in November. I’ll probably compete before then, but at the moment none of the competitions fit my schedule.

My training set up will look like this over the next 15 weeks:

Sunday – Hill Sprints + “Extra Workout”

Monday – Upper Body

Tuesday – Off

Wednesday – Lower Body

Thursday – Off

Friday – Off

Saturday – Strongman Event Day

Any Questions? Comments? Let me know in the comments section.

This past week has been pretty damn good for me in the gym. I was actually programmed to begin my testing phase this week, but since I had two friends to deadlift with on Saturday I changed up my plan a little bit. I knew the atmosphere would definitely make for a great day of deadlifting. And it did.

3/3/12

Deadlift – Worked up to 635×1 – PR

And for anyone interested this is how my warm ups looked:

135×5

225×2

315×1

405×1

500×1

585×1

625×1 – PR

635×1 – PR

3/4/12

“Extra Workout”

3/5/12

Overhead Press (Strict) – Worked up to 265×1 – PR

SS Bench Press – Worked up to 425×1 – PR

Chin ups – BWx8x2

Get Better Every Day

I’ve had a pretty busy last week and slacked on updating my training log. Here are my last few training sessions:

2/25/12

Log Clean & Press – Worked up to 250×8 – PR tie

Yoke Walk – Worked up to 610 x 50ft. in 8.1 seconds – PR

GHR – BWx8, 10 pound plate behind head x8x2

2/26/12

“Extra Workout” – After reading through the “Westside Book of Methods” I’ve started adding in an extra workout on Sunday’s while training my wife. I’ll go into more detail about these in a few weeks.

2/27/12

Incline Bench – Worked up to 235×10 – PR

SS Bench Press – Worked up to 310×12 – PR

Chin Ups – BWx8x4 – (I’ve cut back on my volume on pull ups/chin ups for now. My bicep tendon was getting a little aggravated.)

Face Pulls – 80x18x3

Close Grip Push Ups – 60 total

Hanging Leg Raises – BWx10x3

Alternating DB Curls – 35x10x3

2/29/12

Clean Grip Hang Snatch – 105×2, 125×2, 145x2x2

Back Squat – Worked up to 360×10

RDL – 190×10, 230×10, 265×10

Kettlebell Swing – 50x15x3

Palloff Press – 3×8 each side

Get Better Every Day

Military Press PR

2/20/12 – Upper

Military Press – Worked up to 195×10 – PR

SS Bench Press – Worked up to 315×10 – PR

Chin Ups – BWx8x6

Chest Supported Row – 195x20x2

Dips – 15×2

Cable Curls – 80×15, 90×15, 100×15

Straight Leg Sit Ups on GHR – bwx12x3

2/22/12 – Lower

Power Clean – Worked up to 200×3

Deadlift – Worked up to 470×10 – PR

Front Squat – 185×10, 220×10, 260×8

Reverse Hyper – 3×10

Suitcase Carry – 85x40ft. x 2

Get Better Every Day

And here’s a video of my wife destroying, not one, but two PRs on bench press.

2/18/12

Speed Deadlifts – 275+EliteFTS short orange bands x 1 x 6 – r45s

Axle Clean & Press – Worked up to 235×3

Axle Push Press/Jerk out of rack – 270×3, 300×3 – PR

Farmer Walk/Tire Flip Medley – 50ft. farmers/5 flips tire – 220 farmers/550 tire – 24.52 second s- PR

Yoke – 390x80ft., 480x80ft., 530x80ft.

Stones

Shouldered – 165×1

Loaded – 240, 280, 300, 340

Glute Ham Raises – 15,15,12