Snowman
Level 6 Valued Member
I figured I’d finally put my log online, since that way it will probably be more organized and easier to track than just in my own poor handwriting. Also, it can’t hurt to open things up to other people and see what observations are made. I’m mostly writing all this down to ensure that I don’t get distracted from my goals, but if you want to read it, be my guest. There’s a an acronym glossary at the bottom.
My current stats are:
Goals, in order of importance:
The Plan: Bent and Sinister+some running
I chose this from Dave Whitley’s Taming the Bent Press because it’s basically S&S, but there’s a little more flexibility regarding swings, and I would like to learn the bent press. Why not the TGU? I worked on the TGU for a little over a year while doing S&S, and my best sessions were 8 TGUs @40K and 2 @ 32K in just under 10 minutes (I could easily meet the TGU standard for “simple,” but was quite a ways from it with the swings). I do like the TGU, and have done well with it, but (not to sound like the poster boy for that one Dan John article about things going well) I think I can indulge myself and do something else for a while. While doing Plans 103 and 104C, I focused on the military press (with pretty good results), but I definitely want something that, like the TGU, is a “bigger” movement (if that makes sense). So, I’ll focus on the bent press until the end of the summer or so, and make another decision then.
Execution of KB Program:
EDIT-Since the birth of my son in early March, I have found that I have needed to make certain adjustments to my program, though it still falls within the parameters of “Bent and Sinister.” I have decided to edit my introductory post to reflect these changes.
In theory, I will keep all the sessions under 40 minutes so I can fit them into my schedule 4-5 days per week, and training will look like this:
Execution of Running Program:
Acronym Glossary
1H-One Handed
2H- Two Handed
Avg-Average HR
BtP-Bent Press
HR-Heart Rate
KBS-Kettlebell Swing
Max-Maximum HR
OS-Overspeed. Or original strength. Use context.
OTM-On The Minute
OTHR-On The Heart Rate. For instance OTHR≈130 means I start each new set when my HR is about 130.
If I do 7 bent presses on each side, 5 presses @ 32K and 2 presses @ 40K, it will be written as follows:
BtP-7x1 @ 32 & 40K (5:2)
My current stats are:
- 24 year old male. 160 lbs (soaking wet after a big meal), 5'10"
- Full time student, but I do whatever manual labor jobs I can find on Craigslist when I have the time.
- Previous programs-Just got off Plan 104C, did Plan 103 before that, and S&S before that. I should note that I did both of Al’s protocols with 2H swings instead of 1H swings since my hips can out work my grip
- My eating pattern is this: On days I train in the morning, I eat 2-3 meals throughout the day. On days I don’t train, or train in the afternoon, I fast (e.g. undereat) for 16-20 hours, then eat 2-3 meals. If I train on a fasting day, I train, shower, and eat a meal in quick succession.
- The only non-training "athletic activity" I have is commuting around on my bike.
Goals, in order of importance:
- Maintain a reasonably high level of general fitness, both for health and so I can perform well during any athletic/labor intensive endeavor I pursue for profit or pleasure.
- Train for a Spartan Beast (a 12-14 mile obstacle race in the mountains) in early May that a buddy of mine convinced me to do with him. I don’t necessarily care about doing as well as possible, and I know I won’t be the slowest person on our team, but I still want to do fairly well.
- I need to have something flexible/recoverable enough that when my wife and become parents sometime this March, I will still be able to make progress on goals 1 and 2 with little sleep
The Plan: Bent and Sinister+some running
I chose this from Dave Whitley’s Taming the Bent Press because it’s basically S&S, but there’s a little more flexibility regarding swings, and I would like to learn the bent press. Why not the TGU? I worked on the TGU for a little over a year while doing S&S, and my best sessions were 8 TGUs @40K and 2 @ 32K in just under 10 minutes (I could easily meet the TGU standard for “simple,” but was quite a ways from it with the swings). I do like the TGU, and have done well with it, but (not to sound like the poster boy for that one Dan John article about things going well) I think I can indulge myself and do something else for a while. While doing Plans 103 and 104C, I focused on the military press (with pretty good results), but I definitely want something that, like the TGU, is a “bigger” movement (if that makes sense). So, I’ll focus on the bent press until the end of the summer or so, and make another decision then.
Execution of KB Program:
EDIT-Since the birth of my son in early March, I have found that I have needed to make certain adjustments to my program, though it still falls within the parameters of “Bent and Sinister.” I have decided to edit my introductory post to reflect these changes.
In theory, I will keep all the sessions under 40 minutes so I can fit them into my schedule 4-5 days per week, and training will look like this:
- Warmup: 5 minutes- a couple sets of Goblet Squats and some OS stuff.
- Bent Press: 10-15 minutes-Do bent press singles with weights that will let me do 10+ reps in the allotted time.
- Kettlebell swings: 15-20 minutes-Here is where I make a marginal increase in complexity, but I’m gonna try not to overthink it. I’ll have two different swing sessions, either heavy two hand swings or lighter one hand swings. I'll either be resting until I can pass the "talk test" between each set, or using a HR monitor to start each set at a certain heart rate.
- --Session A: 2H swings (32K or 40K), sets of 5. I will probably only do this once or twice a week, when I feel like I can recover well.
- --Session B: 1H swings (24K to start, progressing to 32K). This is going to be the bread and butter of the program.
Execution of Running Program:
- 0-3 short runs (10-20 minutes) per week. These will be low intensity, and purely for the purpose of working on technical aspects of running, such as cadence and foot strike.
- 1 long run each weekend (or a similar LSD type activity), progressing from 30 minutes to 2+ hours. I will spend most of my time in my MAF training zone, which is 151-161 BPM for me.
Acronym Glossary
1H-One Handed
2H- Two Handed
Avg-Average HR
BtP-Bent Press
HR-Heart Rate
KBS-Kettlebell Swing
Max-Maximum HR
OS-Overspeed. Or original strength. Use context.
OTM-On The Minute
OTHR-On The Heart Rate. For instance OTHR≈130 means I start each new set when my HR is about 130.
If I do 7 bent presses on each side, 5 presses @ 32K and 2 presses @ 40K, it will be written as follows:
BtP-7x1 @ 32 & 40K (5:2)
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