A little bit of background:
Had a tough time in November. Was a week or two into getting back on my feet when I got taken out by the flu. For the past month and a half I haven’t been working out as often or as regularly and my diet’s atrocious.
I don’t expect to be fully back into the swing of things until after the holidays, but I’d like to start making plans and arrangements so the execution doesn’t require much thought. I’m also a selfish basted so I wanna start up this thread kinda as a journal to keep track of my plans & progress; without my train of thought getting interrupted by posts on fencing or Japanime. Don’t get me wrong, I would be ecstatic to hear any advice or comments, just want a little more coherency for being able to go back and read what I did than jumping on another training blog thread out there.
The Schedule:
Mornings:
I know I can work out Tuesday and Thursday mornings. These are skill workouts, with a lot of pad work, and some cardio. I also plan to work out Wednesday and Friday mornings; with more of a weights and cardio focus.
After Work:
Going to join the work gym at $15 a month because of the convenience. It’s not crowded like the Gold’s Gym normally is in the evenings, but they also don’t have all the equipment. I think I can handle a daily workout immediately after work; with a focus on weights and cardio (probably more weights than cardio).
Evenings:
Untill Chinese New Year’s; if I’m well enough to work out, I’m kinda stuck into going down to my kung fu school Mondays through Thursdays from 5 or 6 till 8. I’m planning to quit after Chinese New Year for a bunch of reasons. Mostly, it’s just too much. The drive down there is an hour, and I don’t get home till 9 or 10 o’clock, sometimes way later. The workout down there is usually counter productive to my goals, leaving me injured or overly sore/overtrained. Mostly into it for the skills work, but even that isn’t really consistant with my goals. It really grates to do something I don’t wanna do, that’s counterproductive, but I’m not gonna screw 'em over before Chinese New Year’s.
Weekends:
Friday nights from 6:30 to 8, Saturdays from 2 to 4pm, and Sundays from 2 to 4pm are san shou days. Sometimes the workouts go longer. I’ve tried adding weights around these workouts and it usually ends up being too much. Sunday may also end up being grappling day.
The Workouts:
Cardio:
Ideally I’d like to have 2 to 4 hours of pure cardio a week. Doing cardio before work kinda lets me go into work feeling warmed up; whereas lifting in the early morning sometimes feels like a heartattack. Also, I like elliptical, which is only at Gold’s, not at the gym by my work.
Weights:
After talking with Suntzu, I like the idea of having 1 mandatory workout and at least 1 open workout. The mandatory workout has some basic compound lifts that I need to hit each week. The open workout will consist mostly of compound, olympic, & kettlebell type lifts that I do as I can fit in. The point is to keep both workouts each balanced between upper & lower; pushing and pulling, so missing a workout doesn’t mean causing an imbalance.
Mandatory Workout:
Exercises include Dips, Pullups, Squat, Deadlift. 5 sets of each sounds about good as does 3 to 5 reps.
Open Workout:
Exercise Group 1 (classic lifts): Bench, TBar Row, Calves, Lunges, Ham Curls, Quad Kickouts, Reverse Flies, Military Press. 5 sets, 5 to 10 reps.
Exercise Group 2 (Oly lifts): Clean, Snatch, Clean & Jerk. 5 sets, 3 to 5 reps.
Exercise Group 3(KBell Lifts): Swings, Overhead Squat, anything else on the tape. 2 sets, 10 to 20 reps.
The Diet:
Gonna go back to my old diet of trail mix, peanuts, raisins, oatmeal, slimfast (for vitamins), and the weekly cheat day. This time I think I’ll supplement with more skim milk and peanut butter to add some protein. Adding a microwave meal midday didn’t work too well- though might be a future consideration- I see soup working better than a straight micro meal.
The Process:
Planning to post on here with daily results once I start making progress. I’m not the type that jumps into a plan all at once. I kinda gradually have to ease myself into it. So as I’m able to do more, it should be reflected in this log. Like I said, I appreciate any advice and comments. First day’s workout results, weight, and food log should be forthcoming.
