Monday, February 26, 2024

Changing up the lifting

 So I'm at the start of week 2 of a new lifting regimen, called a Conjugate program. Read about it on Andy Baker's blog and thought it would be worth giving it a shot. It's a 4-day program and I've got time in my week to do this now, before swim season really starts in May. 

Monday:

Dynamic effort/volume overhead press day. First exercise is OHP, 10x3 with progressing percentage (60-80%) of 1RM. All on a 30-60 sec rest. Second comes a supplemental exercise for an OHP weak spot; for me that's from my forehead up. I do 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps. 

Those two are followed by a bunch of "body-building-like" sets: A vertical pulling movement (been doing pull-ups) 3-5 x 8-15; rear delts (face-pulls lately) 4x20; tricep extension movement  4x15; curls 2-3 x 8-15.

Tuesday:

Dynamic effort squat/deadlift. First exercise is squat, then deadlift, kind of like the OHP above, lower volume for the DL. Again, 30-60 sec between sets. Next is Goblet squats. All the way down. Those are killer. Next is a low stress hip extension exercise; I've been doing kettlebell swings. Both this and the Goblet squats are high reps. Finish with an abs workout. 

Thursday:

Max effort OHP. First exercise 5 sets of singles or doubles. Then a supplemental exercise, either press from pins or seated db press. Next up lat work, pull-ups for me. Triceps work then, probably kick-backs or triceps extensions. For rear delts it's face-pulls for me. Finally, hammer or regular curls. 

Friday:

Max effort lower body. First exercise alternates from week to week. One week squat, next deadlift. Then the second exercise would be the exercise that'll be primary next week, but in the 1-3 x 5-8 range. For instance, if this week I do competition squat first, then do sumo deadlift for the second exercise, then next week sumo deadlift I do heavy. After those two, I do lunges, then step-ups, then calf raises. 

So far so good. I managed a new 1RM of 300# for squat and 305# for deadlift. w00t!

Lifting week of 6 May

 Another good week. And I swam! (Once...ugh.) 6 May, H SQ: 4x5 @230 OHP: 3x5 @105, 1x5 @95 DL: 260x5 Ended up doing 5,3,3 for the 105 in OHP...