Day 7

OHS w/ Bar x 10
Drop Snatch w/ Bar x 5
OHS w/ 30kg x 10
FSQ w/ 30 kg x 5
FSQ w/ 50 kg x 3

FSQ w/ 72kg 4x3 (sets x reps with 3 min rest between sets)
Swings w/ 32kg KB: 4x14 (3 min reps between sets)

Full Contact Twists w/ 4kg 5x5
Jandas 3x5

L Sit Day 1

L-Sit on parralletes with shoes on: 3x20 sec (3 min rest between sets)

Pull-ups DAY 2 and abs

I did my second day of pull-ups (BW+10kg) which looked like this:
5x5 (2 min rest between sets)

After that I did some ab work. I have decided to add the 3 min L-sit and a full evil wheel rollout to my ab 'goals'.

So I tested my L-sit max today (with shoes on): 25 seconds.
Did some Isometric holds (10sec) in some strenous pike positions.

I'm currently reading the 'Art of Expressing the Human Body' by Bruce Lee and I'm going to add some extra flexibility work into my routines, focusing mainly on the sitting hamstring stretch and the side leg stretch.

Day 6

OHS w/ Bar x 10
OHS w/ 30kg x 10
Drop Snatch w/ Bar x 10
FSQ w/ 30kg x 5
FSQ w/ 50kg x 4

Work Sets
FSQ w/72kg x 8 (PR)
FSQ w/72kg for 5x2 (1 minute rest between sets)
Swings w/32kg : 30L+10R (It's when I started swinging with my right hand that I realised how out of shape I was, by the tenth rep I was completely gassed).
I proceeded to do 10R+10R more to even out the amount of reps with my right hand.
Then did: 2x9 (setsxreps)
Finished as usual with:

Full Contact Twist: 3kg: 5x5
Jandas: 5x5

Pull-ups DAY 1

I have set myself the goal to get 20 pull-ups with BW+10kg. This will allow me to add some 1 RM strength and considerable reps in the my BW only pull-ups.

Today I did:

3x6 (with 3 min rests between sets)

Day 5

OHS w/ Bar x 10
Drop Snatch w/ Bar x 5
OHS w/ 30kg x 10
FSQ w/ 30kg x 5
FSQ w/ 50kg x 3

Work Sets

FSQ w/72kg 6x2 (2 mins rest between sets)
Swings w/32kg KB 6x11 (2 min rest between sets)
Full Contact Twist w/3kg 5x5
Janda Situps 5x5 (fists on forehead)

Day 4

Hip Flexor Stretch
Drop Snatch with empty bar x 5
OHS 30kg x 10
FSQ 30kg x 5
FSQ 50kg x 3
FSQ w/72kg 5x3 (3 min rest)
Swings w/32kg 4x14 (3min rest)
Full Contact Twist 5x5 w/3kg
Jandas 5x5

Day 3

Warm-up

Hip Flexor Stretching

Drop Snatch w/ Empty bar (10kg) x 5

OHS w/30 kg x 10
FSQ w/30 kg x 5
w/50 kg x 3

Work Sets


FSQ w/ 72kg 8x2 (sets x reps)
Swings w/ 32kg KB 8x9 (1 minute rest on both FSQ and swings)
Full Contact Twist w/2kg (on Olympic Bar) 5x5
Jandas (hands of forehead) 5x5

Day 2

Warm-up

Hip Flexor Stretching

OHS w/30 kg x 10
FSQ w/30 kg x 5
w/50 kg x 3

Work Sets


FSQ w/ 72kg 5x2 (sets x reps)
Swings w/ 32kg KB 5x11 (2 minutes rest on both FSQ and swings)
Full Contact Twist w/2kg (on Olympic Bar) 5x5
Jandas (hands of forehead) 5x5

Day 1

Warm-up

Hip Flexor Stretching

OHS w/30 kg x 10
FSQ w/30 kg x 5
w/50 kg x 3

Work Sets


FSQ w/ 72kg 3x2 (sets x reps)
Swings w/ 32kg KB 3x14 (3 minutes rest on both FSQ and swings)
Full Contact Twist w/2kg (on Olympic Bar) 5x5
Jandas (hands of forehead) 5x5

Back to Basics (no pun intended)

Hi all,

Thanks for 'bearing' with me in my bodybuilding 'phase', I'm sure some of you knew I wasn't going to be able to pull this off for long ;-)

For those who did, you were wrong ... You see, I'm not a bodybuilder, I'm a wiry guy who likes being strong. Josh Everett said it best "but now my goal is simpler…. To Be Strong. I want to be able to be placed in any situation and be strong. I want the type of strength that transfers to every situation. I want people to say, "that's a strong dude" regardless of age or size. I just want to be considered strong, not for a little guy (5'9" 182), but just plain strong. Put me on a football field, in a weightlifting, powerlifting, TSC meet, or in a bar fight and I want respectable strength for all situations. To me that is the definition of "real" or "functional" strength. That is my goal of training."

So, I reverted back to the training that brought me great gains.

Basically, it's some heavy strength work followed by some heavy 'energy systems work' , then finishing with heavy abs.

In all of these, I will be focusing on my weaknesses, on things I am NOT good at.

Today I tested my strength for the upcoming cycle:

Warm-up

OHS w/ 30kg x 10
FSQ w/ 30kg x 5
w/ 50kg x 3
(Note: All Front Squats are executed from the bottom position. When I mention 3 reps, I first squat the bar from the bottom supports, then take my position, do 3 reps, and do an eccentric to reposition the bar on the supports)

Work Sets

FSQ w/ 60kg x 3
w/ 70kg x 3
w/ 72kg x 3

Full Contact Twists: 3x5 (L&R)

KB Swings 1x15 (L&R)

Janda Situps (Hands on forehead): 3x5

Bear Bent-Over Rows

Bent Over Rows (pulling to abdomen, not chest)

1x5 w/36kg (90%)
10x5 w/32kg (80%) (I added some 2 arm swings after the 5th set of rows to the blood flowing a little more, will add weight next time)

Bear Dips

Bodyweight dips w/ iron woody bands to get me out of the bottom position more easily.

5x10 (with a change of band strength after my 5th set)

Bear Front Squats & Step-ups

Warm-up:

OHSx10 w/30kg (too loosen things up)

Front Squat x5 w/30kg
x5 w/50kg

Work sets:

1x5 w/66 kg (90%)
10x5 w/ 60kg (80%)

Rests on average between 1-2 mins

Step-ups w/30 kg

4x8

Bear Clean & Press

1 Clean, 5 Presses

Warm-up: 5x30kg

Work set:

1x5 w/ 42kg (90%)
6x5 w/ 38kg (80%)

5x5 Jandas

Bear Legs

Conventional Deadlifts:

Warmup (5x50kg, 3x70kg)

Work sets:

1x5 @ 108kg
10x5 @ 96 kg

Pullover with 20lb barbell:

2x5

Janda situps: 3x5

Notes: This felt really good. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see where this goes.

Bear Back

Bent-Over Rows

I started with too much weight, which lead me to execute more of a descending pyramid then a bear routine.

50kg x 3
46kg x 3
44kg x 1
40kg x 7

Rest Interval: 1-2 mins

Dips : 3 x 5 BW

Bear with me

Since I have had a hard time develloping any form of added mass the last couple of months, I have decided to choose an approach that can't fail. I decided to put all my money on the interesting (but very simple) program develloped by the Russian Special Forces to pack on mass aka The Bear. Pavel Tsatsouline discusses it in his great book 'Power to the People' (get it, it has some real good insights on training). Due to my heavy cycling (avg of about 2 hours a day), I also decided to spare my legs and train them on OFF days.
I also decided to make some changes in my diet - as we don't have lunch breaks at work - to be able to get enough protein AND carbs (when appropriate) no matter what. This means eggs and veggies in the morning, milk and fruit throughout the day and cottage cheese before bed. Let me show you what my workout of yesterday looked like - and most importantly, what's it's going to look like for the next month. That's right... no changing training methods for at least another month.

Upper Body Repetition Day

A. BW Dips for Max reps x 3 :5,4,3
B. Skull Crushers w/20kg BB: 4x6
C. Chin-ups w/16kg : 5,4,3,2,1
D: Shoulder Press w/16kg: 8,6,6
E: Barbell Reverse Curl 3x8 w/20kg
F: Jandas: 4x5