Weights this morning

I'm just about done with a program from New Rules of Lifting called Hypertrophy 1. Truthfully, I'm not all that interested in hypertrophy, but that program was next in the sequence that I've been following. I've enjoyed the program because of its variety. There are 24 workouts in the cycle and you do each exactly 4 times. There is a workout A, which is upper body and a workout B, which is lower body. Then, you alternate between 5x5s with 90 seconds rest, 4x10s with 60 seconds rest, and 3x15s with 30 seconds rest. All I've got left is a 4x10 upper body day and 3x15 lower body day. To me, the 3x15 days are the toughest, and perhaps also the most important for a runner.

The 5x5 days are my favorites though, because I feel like I'm lifting some real mass. Of course, within lifting, it's all relative, and real lifters would laugh at the amount of weight I'm pulling or pushing. Today's squats started at 135 for the first set, and then I did 3 sets at 145 and the last at 155. Deadlift shrugs were all done at 185 pounds. Both of these were PRs for this workout, in terms of total poundage moved. Then, I did Bulgarian split squats with 2x30# DBs and bench step-ups with 2x40# DBs. Then, 3x15 reverse crunches. I also added some push-ups and pull-ups. All in all, it was a great workout.

I'll finish this program early next week and I have to decide what is next. I think I'm going to drop lifting to 2x per week after the first of the year. I think I'm going to go back to the concept of the Fat Loss programs, but modify them somewhat.

Each of the first two fat loss programs contained 6 different lifts, paired up into 3 supersets. The goal was that each superset would combine two lifts not really related to each other, so there would be minimal interference within a superset.

The basic goal is to have one lift from the categories of push, pull, deadlift, squat, lunge and rotation. However, the fat loss programs have you either squat or deadlift on each day, but never both, so one movement usually gets repeated.

So, I think I want to vary the lifts I've been doing since I'm tired of lat pulldowns and cable rows and a few other lifts. But, if I put together something similar to the fat loss programs, focusing on one lift per category, I should have a huge amount of variety available for my next sequence. I'll spend the next week creating a new set of workouts to use after the first of the year. I may also vary the set/rep numbers from the fat loss programs to do at least some 5x5 days, so I can focus on lifting heavier weights periodically.

Oh yeah, I still run too - 11 easy miles yesterday.

After Friday, I'm going to take a multi-day break from running, and do a lot of skiing for a few days. Then, after skiing on the first of the year, I'll start upping my running mileage.

We went out for dinner last night and I had a bowl of soup and a salad with grilled chicken. No bread, no butter, no burgers, and no alcohol. I guess WS really has me focused right now. The important thing is to extend that focus through the next 27 weeks.