all posts post new thread

Operation Unicorn

  • Thread starter Deleted member 5559
  • Start date
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

Deleted member 5559

Guest
I have reached a new chapter in my life and, along with it, revised training. This will be the third significant shift in my training in the last five years.

Prologue
Military SOF training for close to 15 years - good and bad. Random pursuits and highly capable without much thought and consideration to training. Many programs, short and long duration, endurance and strength focused. Just lots of physically demanding activities, hobbies, and some injuries.

Chapter One: Pursuit of My Happiness
During this period of about two years, I was working in a corporate setting. I had previously been working in a military setting with pretty significant physical requirements and abilities. During this chapter, I didn't have a need for fitness at all other than for the enjoyment - and for some mountain hunting. I went through a lot of different programs (some generic, some custom) from some good outfits. Some of the programs I followed were:
  • Mark Twight programs from Gym Jones
  • Rob MacDonald programs from Gym Jones
  • Matt Owen programs from Project Deliverance
  • Rob Shaul programs from Mountain Tactical
  • S&S
I was pursuing "GPP" programs because I didn't have an actual need for fitness. Most of the programs were hard and that is what I was used to. I would go through periods of improving my fitness and then get bored or injured or something that would cause me to lose motivation. It wasn't an issue to be sore or tired because I didn't really have a reason not to be. S&S was a consistent "go-to" program between other programs. My fitness levels would drop and cause me to eventually pursue one of the more "difficult" programs to regain where I used to be - even though I had no need to be there.

Chapter Two: Pursuit of Ability
During this period of about two years, I made a significant change to the trajectory my life was on. I decided to pursue a new job more aligned with my old self that had a requirement for fitness. I started to program for myself by assessing my needs/wants. I started to shift my training toward the way experts in strength or endurance would train and treated them as separate programs run concurrently. I started to read more programs oriented toward strength only and more programs oriented toward endurance only and trying to dissect the elements that had high return on investment. Some of the programs and concepts I pulled from were:
  • Starting Strength
  • 5/3/1
  • Mountain Tactical - Liked the focus but started to be difficult to recover from
  • Training for the New Alpinism
  • Jack Daniels Running Formula
  • Matt Wenning (Westside Barbell) - Had good results many years ago running similar programming
I made decent progress on getting stronger and faster. Ultimately, this period unintentionally looked a lot like Tactical Barbell. I wasn't as good as I once was, but I was as good once as I ever was. The only real downside to this period of training was the time commitment. I was training six days per week and it took time away from other things like family or Family Guy. I felt like my life was all about training. The other downside to this period is that the methods were around periodization and I would go through peaks and valleys of performance. While it made sense at the time to train this way, it doesn't fit my needs anymore.

Chapter Three: Operation Unicorn
That all brings me to where I'm at currently: a professional. I have spent more time and given more thought to identifying my actual needs than ever before. The needs analysis considers more than the outcome but also a significant portion to the inputs available too. I have been able to use all the programs and training from the past to better identify what has created certain adaptations and the side effects associate to them. The big influences to this period are rooted in:
  • Periodization Training for Sports (reps/duration to target specific adaptations)
  • S&S (step cycle progression for strength)
  • Q&D (conditioning volume and work:rest ratios)
  • A+A (conditioning volume and work:rest ratios)
  • Jack Daniels Running Formula (Running paces, VO2 max and threshold volume and work:rest ratios)
My needs are to be as powerful as possible for up to ~3 minutes. I need to be close to a physical peak at all times and cannot be sore or tired. My constraints are the equipment/facilities I have available and a flexible schedule. I need to be able to shift my schedule around and six days per week doesn't allow any wiggle room for missed training days to shift the weekly microcycle. Less than two days of any quality and the quality doesn't seem to improve so the 4x per week training schedule seems to fit the best. The template and methods will follow:
Mon: Strength​
Tue: Conditioning (front load the back-to-back training day to prepare for schedule shifts later in the week if necessary)​
Wed: Off​
Thur: Strength​
Fri: Off​
Sat: Conditioning (weekend days offer opportunities for longer training sessions with very long rests if necessary)​
Sun: Off​

Strength
Mostly barbell training with 5 sets per lift. I want absolute upper body strength including hypertrophy and am focusing on 5s for the upper body. However, I have a large lower body that makes things more difficult and do not want the hypertrophy so will limit the reps to 3s. Pulls are to develop maximum power and the reps limited to 2s. The overall progression I'm working on will be based on S&S and will be replacing one set every 4 weeks with a heavier weight. I don't quite know what weight increment will be possible yet and it will likely be different for lower and upper body lifts.

Conditioning
I need to develop my anaerobic and aerobic power more so than capacity. I want to be able to go from 0 to 100 repeatedly and 0 to 95 for a couple minutes. I think Q&D and A+A fits this well. I think there is also a need for longer VO2 max intervals and threshold tempos as well. What there won't be is LISS running. I just have not seen much improvement in my needs from LISS running. Any LISS will be out of boredom or for some recovery on off days but will be limited to low impact tools like the skierg or swimming.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Started the 5th week of chapter three yesterday. Replaced the second set with the heavier set. I added 20 lbs to both the bench and the squat which felt good. I also did a sixth set 20lb lighter for as many reps as possible. After 4 weeks, I got two more reps than when I did the same at the beginning, 4 weeks ago. I think once per month AMRAP when starting a new 4 week block, is a good way to stay motivated and see objective progress.

For the conditioning days, I really like the skierg simply because I can see the watts being achieved which provides objective data to see progress. I'm glad I spent the money on a decent home gym now that we're confined to the house for a long period. I may add some rucking to this just because I have so much time to kill and recover right now. Two movement Q&D on the 5/4 timing is just enjoyable for me and becoming my go-to conditioning session. I like doing alternating two-movement A+A sessions also. After primarily doing them though, I feel the need to do some threshold and VO2 intervals.

The below table is from Periodization Training for Sports by Tudor Bompa. I am using it for the template of choosing the intensity and reps for the strength work. This was the first time I've seen this presented this way which really hit home for me. I chose 5s for bench pressing because I want absolute strength and I am keeping the intensity between 70-80% to keep a 5% buffer. For squats, I'm keeping the reps at 3 to reduce the hypertrophy and keeping the intensity between 75-85% to keep a 5% buffer. Deadlifts are 2s between 75-85% to keep the same 5% buffer and emphasizing power.

For this S&S style step cycle progression, I started the bench at 77.5% and the squat and deadlift at 82.5%. I'm still not sure what weight I will ultimately be able to use for the increases but right now I'm just trying to use only 45, 25, and 10 lb plates as a constraint. I think using the AMRAP sets to estimate a 1RM will help ensure I stay in the 10% range of intensity to keep the desired effects. Considering there is only one weight increase every few months, I imagine some increases will need to be higher or lower depending on the lift, etc. Depending on where in that range the "S" weight is, will dictate how much the "S+" weight becomes I think.

IMG_20200331_092322422.jpg
 
Was able to spend more time with sprints for A+A and Q&D this week. I think using same-side foot strikes works perfect. 10x and 5x left-side foot strikes works out to about 45m and 25m, respectively, for me.

For Q&D, 10/2 and 5/4, using 10x and 5x same-side foot strikes is easy and drains everything about right and ignores the sprint duration time which is hard to measure. Distance is also hard to use because it's different for everyone based on their power output, anatomy, etc.

For A+A, I think 5/20 at 75-90" interval works well and 10/10 at 3' interval works well. Because sprints are so intense, I don't think one needs to extend the duration beyond ~25-30' total duration.

My warm-up runs are going a little down hill though. My heart rate gets higher than it used to when I was doing more tempo runs. However, warm-ups on the SkiErg take higher watts to get my heart rate up. I'm not sure how I feel about the running or if it even matters to me. I'm training for maximum power output which is improving so I don't think it matters given my objectives. I think part of it is I am heavier than I've ever been too and that is making the power output of the runs harder at any given pace and the additional weight increases the power output faster than my body is adapting to it to keep the pace the same. Hydration, sleep, etc. also play a role in heart rate during LISS so I think the only way to gauge my performance is to see how my 300m and 1.5mi time is effected over time.

One of my favorite aspects of this routine is the 4/week schedule. It gives me so much flexibility with my week with so many combinations. The only constraint I have is that I don't want to train more than two consecutive days in a row and not training on Sunday. The weekly combinations available become:
  1. +/+/-/+/-/+/-
  2. +/+/-/+/+/-/-
  3. +/-/+/+/-/+/-
  4. +/-/+/-/+/+/-
  5. +/+/-/-/+/+/-
 
Yesterday, everything felt heavy! Every time it feels heavy, it feels like the program is to blame and in the past, has actually caused me to make changes. Luckily for me, I've seen this happen and let it play out enough times to know that some days just feel like that. The same exact session last week felt easy and I know that future sessions will also feel easy. As long as I show up and do the work, the body will get stronger. Also, it feels like the same 20# increase in all three lifts feels equally difficult or even harder on the squat than the bench press which is unexpected being the relative percentage of increase is easier in the squat than the bench. I hypothesize two possibilities, 1) using 5s on the bench creates enough hypertropphy that it can outpace 3s in the squats, and 2) the intensity is higher with the 3s and therefore the buffer to max being less has less margin of error for improvement to occur. Perhaps both but I absolutely believe 5s are the king to making absolute strength gains. It can still happen with 3s but it's noticeably less.

I've decided to get into ketosis for a while so instead of any Q&D sessions, I'll be doing A+A conditioning sessions exclusively for a few weeks. I haven't done an A+A as a ski/swing session in a while and the one this week, was awesome. My average max watts was higher than my previous bests. I am consistently above 700 watts on the skierg now. A few months ago, I was getting just above 600 watts and a few months before that, I was struggling to see 550. In the grand scheme, that's 16% more power!! What I do notice is that I don't notice the difference in the swing. It's there and likely in the same percentage of improvement but it's much harder to quantify without something that can calculate the watts. I imagine if I didn't know any better, it might appear there is not progress occurring with the swing. I don't know what 16% more power looks like in the swing, is it getting the bell 1" higher, 2" higher, half inch higher...I don't know. What I do know is that it is difficult to tell with the swing and likely even more difficult with the snatch because it has a finishing point the swing doesn't have. Not being able to calculate the acceleration makes it difficult to quantify.

I also notice is that I have had my 32kg for about 2 years and I have not outgrown it. I had access to 36, 40, and 44kg bells a few months ago for a few months and I could work with those just fine. It's incredible how low the weight can go and still be hard with ballistics. Ballistics are so self-limiting they can be done with a pretty decent range of weight. It's hard to see wattage differences because they are a product of both force and time. I know I can't see the difference even though I know it's there. After working with the bigger bells and going back to a lighter bell, I see bigger bells more of mental improvement than an actual performance improvement - for ballistics anyway. It would be really easy to let two different things happen, 1) think that a bigger bell means more power, and 2) use a bigger bell and actually reduce power and ultimately regress by increasing the load.

It's been a bad, yet good, week of training. Show up and do the work; in time, the rest will work itself out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I missed a week of training due to some hip pain I was having. I don't know if it was my mattress or what but I didn't want to aggravate it by training. Got back at it yesterday though. Being in ketosis really zaps my strength. The bench press was the worst it's been in a long time. I got all my reps but barely. It didn't help that my 3yr old smacked me in the crotch during one of the reps and almost caused me to guillotine myself ?. However, the squat felt good. I have a few theories of what's occurring.
  1. The body isn't adapting the entire body as a single unit and instead only able to adapt and improve one thing at a time. Depending on the caloric intake, etc. it has to allocate resources as it deems appropriate and some weeks it's the bench, other weeks it's the squat.
  2. I decided to try a belt. I haven't squatted with a belt in 20 years and thought I would try it. It does provide a good cue for maintaining tension which could have been leaking and why it felt easier.
  3. Being in ketosis, the squats are triples and don't quite start asking for that glycolytic energy support. The bench is 5s and after the first few reps, got much harder than normal.
I suspect it's some combination of them all. However, I do think that ketosis is the wrong place to be for performance. The last time I was in ketosis, I remember my running pace slowing dramatically but I could go for longer. I think for strength and power, I think ketosis really hurts performance though. Last time, I thought the body would adjust but even after 3-4 months performance didn't pick back up until reintroducing carbohydrates. I'll continue with this experiment for a little, but I think I will abandon ketosis sooner rather than later if I don't start seeing my performance start to return.
 
Bro Mo said:
I missed a week of training due to some hip pain I was having. I don't know if it was my mattress or what but I didn't want to aggravate it by training. Got back at it yesterday though. Being in ketosis really zaps my strength. The bench press was the worst it's been in a long time. I got all my reps but barely. It didn't help that my 3yr old smacked me in the crotch during one of the reps and almost caused me to guillotine myself ?. However, the squat felt good. I have a few theories of what's occurring.
  1. The body isn't adapting the entire body as a single unit and instead only able to adapt and improve one thing at a time. Depending on the caloric intake, etc. it has to allocate resources as it deems appropriate and some weeks it's the bench, other weeks it's the squat.
  2. I decided to try a belt. I haven't squatted with a belt in 20 years and thought I would try it. It does provide a good cue for maintaining tension which could have been leaking and why it felt easier.
  3. Being in ketosis, the squats are triples and don't quite start asking for that glycolytic energy support. The bench is 5s and after the first few reps, got much harder than normal.
I suspect it's some combination of them all. However, I do think that ketosis is the wrong place to be for performance. The last time I was in ketosis, I remember my running pace slowing dramatically but I could go for longer. I think for strength and power, I think ketosis really hurts performance though. Last time, I thought the body would adjust but even after 3-4 months performance didn't pick back up until reintroducing carbohydrates. I'll continue with this experiment for a little, but I think I will abandon ketosis sooner rather than later if I don't start seeing my performance start to return.
Click to expand...
Just wondering what your macro's look like. I've had similar experiences but after going from keto to low card (100-150 grams) things got much better.
 
ShawnM said:
Just wondering what your macro's look like. I've had similar experiences but after going from keto to low card (100-150 grams) things got much better.
Click to expand...

I don't track macros other than I have four different general eating methods
  1. no carb, mostly fat
  2. Carbs near training only
  3. Fruit and vegetables focus
  4. Don't track at all
I do 1) when I'm trying to cut fat, 2) when I'm maintaining a performance level, 3) when I want to be "healthy", and 4) when I want to get strong.
 
Bro Mo said:
However, I do think that ketosis is the wrong place to be for performance.
Click to expand...

I believe this very firmly, about any sort of calorie restriction. I don't think I've ever quite made it to full-bore ketosis, but a few years ago I had good success cutting some weight combining calorie restriction with a lot of metcon work - basically daily TRX or calisthenics burn-out sessions. When I transitioned over to strength-focused training, I couldn't maintain the calorie restrictions - my eyes literally stop working and I get a weird tunnel vision when my calorie intake drops too low, which seems like it's probably not good for my health. I've tried a few times over the last couple years to reintroduce calorie restriction, but always with the same result. I've thought about putting in a cycle of calorie restrictions with metcon training, but I'm too much of a performance junkie right now to give up the heavy stuff.

I think it's possible to cut weight and build peak performance (not just endurance) at the same time, but I think it must take surgical precision - getting exactly the right intake to support training but create a deficit. And I suspect that you can tolerate less deficit in combination with performance training than with other training.

@North Coast Miller seems to be a student of this kind of stuff...
 
@WhatWouldHulkDo

when it comes to cutting weight while improving peak performance can only be done one way - reduce body fat. There are a ton of opinions on how best to do this, but if one has no health limitations re diet the easiest way to do this is simply restrict ingested fat. I know this has become somewhat controversial of late, but the facts are pretty clear - carbs by themselves contribute almost nothing to fat stores even when well into a surplus.

Some very interesting studies have been done on obese and median weight people, your body will increase resting energy expenditure by up to 30% and top off every possible glucose storage site before it will convert any carbs to fat. In a regularly exercising person this is pretty much impossible.

But it will reduce the amount of fat you burn for maintenance, so eliminating fat on your frame is best achieved by not adding to it. Axing all added fats and increasing protein is the fastest, easiest way to improve body comp. In practice I have found it to be very difficult to get much below 20% fat macros without using a very restrictive diet, so well within any healthy amount of fat overall.
 
Strength still declining this week. Max power on the SkiErg sprints was ok but a little lower than normal. I have also been doing more warm-ups again which could be exhausting me a little prior to the strength work. I did some Wenning warm-ups before the bench press and I think next week I'm going to skip them and see if there is an appreciable difference. At least I will reduce from 3-4 exercises to only one.

I do like doing some warm-up/prehab stuff prior to lifting. It reduces tightness and strains by training some of the ignored muscle groups. I really like band pull-aparts as a bench press warm-up. Then I like doing banded walks during the bench press rest to warm-up for the squat. I still don't know what I like best during squat rest to prepare for deadlifts though. Maybe swings, pull-throughs, or ring rows. TGUs between deadlift sets felt like a childs toy though. For a while, I only did antagonistic supersets of deadlift with TGU and felt indestructible at the time. I think that might be one of my favorite tools in the toolbox. I think doing deadlifts with TGUs for a little while would help anyone increase their TGU weight rather quickly.

I've only been doing strength days and A+A days for the last few weeks to align with ketosis. I think I might try an aerobic power day with some longer intervals and see how they go. The last time I was in ketosis, my heart rate would increase much faster and my pace needed to be slower but I felt like I could go forever. Not sure if it was because the body was fueled from almost an endless supply of fat or simply a slower pace being easier. Maybe both, probably mostly the latter.

My schedule has been pretty laid back lately due to COVID so I've been getting in some LISS on the skierg too. It's nice to just put on a podcast and pull. My wattage is a bit lower than normal to sustain a lower heart rate though. I think it was the best when I was doing one lift per day with A+A or Q&D conditioning after the lift. During the COVID schedule is probably the perfect time to have 6 training days per week instead of only 4.

Full Schedule (Peaking)Reduced Schedule (Base)Alternative Reduced Schedule (Hybrid)
Mon: Deadlift (H) + Swing
Tue: Bench Press (L) + TGU/Crawl
Wed: Squat (M) + Swing/Ski
Thur: Deadlift (L) + TGU/Crawl
Fri: Bench Press (H) + Ski
Sat: Run (M)
Sun: Off		Mon: Bench Press + Squat
Tue: Swing + Ski
Wed: Off
Thur: Bench Press + Squat + Deadlift
Fri: Off
Sat: Run or Ski
Sun: Off		Mon: Bench Press + Swing/Ski
Tue: Squat + Ski/TGU
Wed: Off
Thur: Bench Press + Swing/Ski
Fri: Off
Sat: Deadlift/TGU + Run
Sun: Off
 
Replaced another set yesterday. I can get the reps but the max rep set was worse than a few weeks ago but better than the few weeks before that. I'm also noticing that I stay fatigued and sore longer. Hitting even lower watts on the skierg too. This ketosis thing is not looking to be good for performance so far. This is only week four of it so perhaps it just needs even more time but I suspect that's not the case and that performance might bottom out and start getting better but will be about 15% below where it would have been had I kept training with carbs for the same period. Instead of declining 10%, it would be improving by 5% making it a 15% swing in performance.

Even if strength and power are fueled by ATP, it's not solely alactic production that fuels anything more than one rep from the jump I think. The time frame of 7 seconds being the alactic system isn't looking like it's solely alactic from this little experiment. The recovery between sets is not sufficient without carbs either. My heart rate stays higher longer and never really recovers fully. The strength sets take longer to refuel. In another thread there was a comment about carbs replenishing ATP faster than ketones and I'm experiencing exactly that. Carbs seem to help recovery in addition to helping the energy production during the activity. I don't doubt that ketosis is an adequate way to fuel the body for a lot of things but I would never compete at anything without carbs and my day job is always a competition so I don't anticipate doing this ketosis thing for long or very often.

Some things that are still going well or that I still like about what I'm doing are the exercise selection and weekly schedule. I think having a few "mandatory" training days and then filling in with supplemental training if the schedule allows is the best way to prioritize the weekly microcycle. I think the barbell is key to performance of everything else. I think five sets of the desired reps and intensity are a great way to organize training load. The SkiErg is proving to be my favorite piece of conditioning equipment I've ever used. I am able to do high intensity training and low intensity training equally well for any duration without discomfort or impact.

For the kettlebell, I really only like the swing and TGU because they seem to be the only two kettlebell movements that can't seem to be replaced by anything else. I don't really like heavy snatches because of how they tear up my hands. Perhaps lighter snatches like the snatch test have their place but I don't like performance being limited based on blocking out the discomfort of blisters, etc. Sure snatches are the "tzar" of kettlebell movements but I have no reason to self impose a single movement constraint to my training, nor does anyone. It's a fun experiment and challenge but doesn't really serve a purpose other than to claim it can be done. Ultra-minimalist training isn't really an accomplishment to me.
 
I tried the hybrid schedule this week with one lift per session followed by some conditioning afterwards. I like it quite a bit. The only down side is that it is not quite as flexible for missing days as separate strength and conditioning days.

Made all the scheduled reps but the bench press is still feeling weaker than it did a few weeks ago, pre ketosis. The squat is feeling good; I got 15 reps at 275 which I am pretty happy to back up to. I got 16 reps with 185 on the bench which I'm glad to be back to also. I feel like those numbers would be a little better if I was consuming carbs too.

I did a 20' tempo ski which I really liked. Usually, I do either longer easier or shorter harder on the SkiErg. The SkiErg is simply the best piece of conditioning equipment I've used. I feel like a broken record about it but it's the only thing that has allowed me to train every conditioning method all with one tool and is lower impact than running and it's space efficient. Some of the best money I've spent.

I've been contemplating getting a 40kg bell lately. The 32kg I have still works fine for ballistics because it just accelerates faster but I wouldn't mind having a heavier bell for TGUs. I had access to a 44kg for a while and that felt good for TGU. Also, kettlebells are durable goods so it's not like it would be frivolous.

I've been adding in a prehab movement between barbell sets. I feel that it's a little more time efficient and makes my whole training more holistic.
 
Giving another week of the hybrid schedule a go. I like getting in more conditioning through the week. Yesterday I tried 20 sets of 5x ski pulls every 30". It seemed to behave similar to a threshold pace. I read a favorite threshold session of Jack Daniels for high winds was to do 20x 40:20. This seemed similar but the short sprints allowed a little higher average power output. Over the course of the intervals, I dropped from ~700 watts to ~590 watts. I like 5/20 reps and that I can use two different rest intervals to target different adaptations - 75" rest for alactic power intervals and 30" rest for aerobic power intervals.

5/20 [30"] Aerobic Power Intervals (Average ~625 watts)
Ski_20x5_30s.PNG

5/20 [75"] Alactic Power Intervals (Average ~700 watts)
Ski_20x5_75s.PNG
 
BLUF: Need to have test sessions once every 1-2 weeks. Every session is too often and once per month is too little.

I feel like strength is still declining. Hitting PRs on the SkiErg though. Doing conditioning sprints in A+A or Q&D fashion is maxing out every set vs the step progression of the strength training and perhaps that 0% buffer is necessary for adaptation signals. Perhaps i need to perform max rep tests more frequently. Perhaps every other week or once per week rather than every session like 5/3/1.

After a few months of what feels like slow steady decline doing step progression, it is a little disenfranchising. However, I'll still hit a new rep max PR periodically which indicates it is working regardless of how it feels.

Today, deadlifts felt like strength training instead of power training like they should be. The bar felt like it was moving slow. The TGU between sets felt ok albeit not quite as toyish as before. The 5x pulls every 30" is hard on a back-to-back training day but go well on an individual day.

I have to remember there are good days and bad days. I'm still hitting all my reps while not eating a surplus. However, I felt I could have hit all these reps even easier two months ago.

The good is the shift to a four days per week training schedule, using specific rep and intensity ranges for my objectives, and the confidence of slow progression - even if it feels crummy most of the time, testing it is almost always a pleasant surprise.
 
Not a bad week. Strength still feels a little stalled though. However, power on the skierg is still improving. Today I extended my A+A session to 32 sets and kept all 5x pull sets between 710 and 745 watts.
A+A_Swing_Ski.PNG

I have alternated months of conditioning on its own day separate from strength sessions and months of conditioning after half strength sessions. Almost always, performance improves after a couple weeks of conditioning after the strength training. I do think that too many weeks of power/conditioning after strength can end up working backwards but in a few week doses alternated with a few weeks of separate days for each seems to be a winning method. Everything works for a little bit.

Conventional wisdom has been to do power training before strength training but I see some good power improvements when training it after strength. I have heard and believe to have experienced that it takes a pretty significant warm-up to fully potentiate power movements and perhaps working strength first is doing just that. Also, perhaps using the power work after strength results in the body trying to "max out" and, since it's fatigued, signals to adapt to that demand placed on it.

I'm starting to get anxious to get through this flat step cycle of set replacement. I like that it isn't very demanding, is logistically simple, and works just fine. However, I feel it is becoming one really long plateau or just leaving too much on the table that other periodization could work better with the near infinite loading possibilities of the barbell. I can totally see it being a good method for kettlebells because they are less adjustable though. I suppose a traditional periodization could work for kettlebells too by increasing the load and decreasing the volume but just more dramatic. I feel that I have the ability to use more waviness to the load and therefore should take advantage of that.

I have to do more weighted pull-ups and incorporate squat jumps more during Q&D days instead of swings or the skierg all the time. I also did a skierg fartlek on one of my off/variety days this week that felt really good. I would do 5x max effort pulls every 5-10 minutes. These were a staple for me for a few months a while back and I really liked them. I would do them to make a light A+A day. I really like the max effort sprints during a fartlek rather than just a faster pace. It kind of blends A+A and LISS.
Fartlek_Ski.PNG
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Another rep PR this week, 17 reps with 185 on the bench. I was surprised because the work sets with 205 and 225 felt heavy. Did another fartlek on the SkiErg which I liked. My heart rate was pretty elevated but I was still nasal breathing and going at a really easy pace. Perhaps I was a little dehydrated and tired causing such a high heart rate. A pace that usually would only get me into the 120s was into the 160s.

Added some pullups to my week superset with hamstring band curls. I've had some atrophy from knee surgeries that still has never quite been fully restored after 15 years that I want to finally put significant attention into. I think the set replacement step cycle will work well for pull-ups too. While I have my doubts about it, the method continues to deliver for me. This week I was pretty tired and not getting much sleep and I like that the flat step cycle allows such accommodation of variables without risking making any reps. I think that replacing sets allows some waviness during the session albeit not much waviness throughout the mesocycle.

I really like the concept of having three load intensities to use. The S, S+, and S- loads. I think that could work well for intersession waviness well. I am working on putting together a L/M/H session waviness and M/H/M/L weekly undulation. I am also preparing a 12 week undulating cycle to create some structure to varying my conditioning rather than simply doing whatever floats my boat that day.

Still waiting for Rogue to get 40kg bells back in stock. COVID is really hammering the home fitness industry. Good for them, bad for me. I've been using the 32kg for a few years and it's finally starting to feel like it's not doing much for me anymore. I don't have to concentrate at all for TGUs with it anymore.
 
No rush for 6 weeks. Came down with appendicitis and had it removed this morning. Probably look at mostly accessory work after a few weeks to avoid a hernia.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom