My Training

As I'm still unsure about footy this year, at least official footy (I played rec link last year which I'll probably do again regardless and use it for training) I haven't done much running, or any actually.

I was doing some sprints in October last year but we went on holiday and I never picked it back up when I got back.

Today I'll give a quick rundown at what I'm what doing training wise at the moment.

At the end of last year I came off a controlled overtraining strength focused program which really got my numbers up (increased back squat 20kgs or so) but was hard to keep motivated for loading myself up each and every session. It was still a good program though and it did work.

Before I went away on holiday I read an article on t-nation that described a non-traditional way of training and it was something I wanted to try. I actually posted on it here.

The author Christian Thibaudeau released another article on this method here, here and here.

The basis of the program is not the actual program but the principles of the method he uses.

The major principle is that you should aim to perform as much high quality work as you can without a decrease in performance and also without exceeding your recovery abilities.

As most people train the opposite way to this, I'll explain what this means exactly.

High Quality Work - each rep that you perform in the gym should be performed as quick and as close to perfect technique as you can. Go to the gym tomorrow and I bet in 10 seconds you'll see 10 people grinding out reps at snail pace, doing lat pulldowns with their backs parallel to the floor or god forbid, this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg6-Fq-dSJA&feature=player_embedded

Each and every rep should be explosive and each rep should be the same from the first rep of the workout to the last rep of the workout.

A Decrease in Performance - piggy backing off performing a high quality of work, a decrease in performance can then be specifically described as:

• any rep that is less explosive one then the one before it
• any rep that encounters a sticking point at any point of the range of motion
• any rep that requires a change in technique to complete a rep

This requires diligent self assessment to ensure that you are not entering these zones what so ever and stopping before that point is a lot better then going just over it.

Without Exceeding Your Recovery Abilities

Again a lot of people train using high volume programs go to failure at all costs programs that are found in those dodgy, supplement company funded muscle magazines, the same programs that their 'assisted" sponsored bodybuilders use. Anabolic steroids allow you to recover faster and thus train more often with greater intensity. This is obviously not ideal for us "unassisted" gym goers.

What is a given is that high volume builds muscle but the higher volume you use, the less intensity, or load, you can use each session to stay off the overtraining path. You'll more often overtrain from excessive volume then excessive intensity too.

What this means is that you need to stay away from extremely heavy weight and especially avoid failure of any kind during your training. If you go to failure on Monday then the rest of your week is basically is gone as far as making progress is concerned.

In the 4 weeks I've been using training by these principles, I have seen unprecedented growth in my upper body which should be gold to your ears with summer right on top of us, not to mention footy just a few short months away.

Here's what I want you to do.

For your next upper body session (and make it after a day of complete rest) I want you to do just 3 main exercises, military press, incline press and bench press.

Starting at something that will be around 50% of your military press 3 rep max, do sets of 3 increasing 2.5kgs in total (1.25kgs each side) per set until you max out at 3 reps. Remember to not let the speed of the movement decrease or your technique to change.

Once you reach your 3 rep max on military presses, move to incline bench presses and start at the weight that you finished with on the military presses. Again do sets of 3 reps with maximum acceleration, increasing 2.5kgs each set until you hit your 3 rep max for them then do the same for bench presses starting at the weight you finished at on the incline presses.

This may take a lot of sets depending on how bad you guess your starting weight but that's fine, once we get your ending point, we can plan out the amount of sets we need each session.

In between each set of pressing I want you to stagger 1 set of a back rowing or upper back movement for muscle balance. Some suggestions are db chest supported rows, rear delt raises, face pulls, scarecrows and seated rows. Do these for 6 - 8 reps per set opting for a 8 - 9/10 effort level, not maximum. You'll use 3 exercises and stagger 1 with military presses, 1 with incline presses and 1 with bench presses.

In a couple of days I'll outline what we do with your 3 rep max for military, incline and bench presses to improve your upper body more in a month than you have in your life.

If you have any queries on this, please leave a comment.