A new routine - Sydney 2006

by Scott Bird | July 27, 2006
Filed in routines | 9 comments

With the rack back in place (but not the bench - more on that in a minute) it was time for a new routine. A few months of Total Gym, bodyweight and kettlebell work have broadened my appreciation of all things strength related, and this routine reflects that.

The current home gym setup (at my parent’s house - my home whilst doing a little house hunting) contains the rack, dumbbells, kettlebell, bands and Total Gym: in fact, everything except the bench (which simply doesn’t fit in the room). Hence the lack of incline/decline work, and an increased reliance on floor pressing. A small price to pay.

Sources of ‘inspiration’ (OK, I’ve taken things quite liberally from these) include :

Alwyn Cosgrove’s recent article Seven Keys to Athletic Success, which helped define the sequence of events within each workout

The article 8 Weeks to Monster Shoulders by Alwyn Cosgrove and Chad Waterbury, which discusses shoulder flexibility

Several articles on the Westside Barbell protocol, including Kris’ excellent post The Westside Protocol (and associated routine)

The overall routine is as follows :

Mobility (warm-up phase)

with particular emphasis on hip and shoulder complexes
NB : consumption of pre/during workout shake will be here, once I do a little powder-shopping

Injury prevention

focus on shoulders - exercises such as YTWLs (Google video)
these are done on a stability ball, rather than an inclined bench

Core work

focus on abdominal strength; exercises consist of stability, rotational and hip flexion movements

Plyometrics

various forms of plyo push-ups, burpees and other fun things

Resistance training

a simple Westside template, with a gradually increasing volume (and no max attempts initially)
use of bands will be limited (at least until I comfortably bench 90-100kg)

Conditioning

a selection of steady-state cardio, sandbag work, bodyweight and Total Gym exercises

Recovery

whatever is available and seems appropriate at the time - myofascial release, hot/cold shower, swimming

Stretching

with focus on hips and shoulders
NB: consumption of post-workout shake takes place here (once again some shopping is required first)

On a daily basis, this looks something like :

	Mon	Wed	Fri	Sun
	ME Squat	ME Bench	DE Squat	DE Bench
Load	work up to 3RM	work up to 3RM	8×2@70%	9×3@60%
Exercises	GM Squat Deadlift	Floor press (bar + dbs) KB floor press	Squat Deadlift variations	Floor press (bar)
Muscles	Posterior chain	Triceps, shoulders	Posterior chain	Triceps, shoulders
Load	3-6 × 5-8	4-6 × 5-10	4-6 × 5-8	3-4 × 8-12
Exercises	RDL SLDL Rack pull (with and without bands) Band pull-through	Dips Plate raise Overhead shoulder pressing Rack lockouts Pin pressing CG floor press French press	RDL SLDL Rack pull (with and without bands) Band pull-through	Dips Plate raise Overhead shoulder pressing Rack lockouts Pin pressing CG floor press French press
Muscles	Abs	Lats	Abs	Lats
Load	3-4 × 6-15	4 × 6-10	3-4 × 6-15	4 × 6-10
Exercises	Bridging Side bend, suitcase deadlift Woodchopper (band) Reverse Crunch, Hanging knee/leg raise	Rows KB rows	Bridging Side bend, suitcase deadlift Woodchopper (band) Reverse Crunch, Hanging knee/leg raise	Rows KB rows

NB : The exercises listed will change (and be added to), but the days + target muscles will not.

"Sonnon is without doubt one of the top conditioning coaches in the US, the thinking man's coach. He is the hologram man. Try and hit him and he disappears."
- Pavel Tsatsouline

Are you ready for Tacfit?

Enjoy this post? digg it.

A few others you might like :

Bulgarian Bag Rope Swings - Scott Bird (Jan 03, 2009)

HS Wall Runs - Scott Bird (Jan 03, 2009)

Breather - Scott Bird (Jan 03, 2009)

Go on, you know you want one.
Strongergrip.

Discussion

Leave a comment below, or discuss it in detail in the SttB Facebook Group.

Comments

Wow, solid work there, glad your shipment came through, my box is somewhere in a depot in Edinburgh somewhere, looking forward to unpacking it on Monday and seeing what state everything is in. Must look into that shoulder article, mine can still be a little touchy sometimes, although getting much better.

Kinda jealous of you down there, as my wife and I are having a serious bout of homesickness for the antipodes, there’s just something a bit more inspirational about the lifestyle down there, but hey a think a couple of years seeing more of Europe will see us right!

And it’s a good excuse to go to the pub at 10.30 tomorrow morning and watch the rugby :).

Posted by: Steph | July 28, 2006 11:50 PM

Hey, thanks for turning me on to that YTWL shoulder movement… I’m going to incorporate that into my Repetitive Stress Injury and/or Shoulder Stabilization work.

Posted by: Chris from Victoria, BC | July 28, 2006 11:56 PM

I liked the YTWL video. Google video is a good medium fi delivery system. The workout regimen did not come through so well in the feedreader, but I see it here.

Let me recommend that you look at a book like serious strength training. I very much resonate to your injury prevention ideas. What I like about serious strength training is its focus on goals and overall development. We never hit any one thing so hard it breaks, yet we are pushing past all of our previous records. We’ll do a review of the book.

Posted by: Bud Gibson | July 29, 2006 3:14 AM

Steph, I’d forgotten just how different things seem myself. The only thing I’d suggest is to start doing things that are much easier there, like - as you pointed out - a bit of European travel. Czech perhaps?

Chris, no problem. You’re certainly not alone in the shoulder injury department, so that kind of stuff seems to pop up all the time.

Bud, I must admit that I only checked the post in a browser, not a reader. Will see if I can clean it up a bit.

I’m keen to hear more about that book - the local bookstores don’t carry it (so a casual browse is out of the question), but I can certainly order it. Sounds like a good one.

Posted by: Scott | July 29, 2006 9:04 AM

well, we did the ryanair lottery and we’re off to oslo on 15 Sep :). Think I just need to stop being such a grumpy bugger and get on with it.

Posted by: Steph | July 29, 2006 7:04 PM

Oslo’s beautiful. Make sure you take a camera.

Posted by: Scott | July 29, 2006 7:17 PM

You mention that you have a stability ball, but not enough room for the bench. If the ball is one of those things burst resistance to something like 300 kg, you could consider benching on that in the rack. Great for stability and gives you a good full range of motion, just don’t bounce off it and make sure you have pins in place to catch you should the ball for some uncanny reason explode. You should be able to move pretty much whatever you can bench normally. Got some video of it here in case you’re interested.

Posted by: Kris | August 1, 2006 4:09 PM

Thanks Kris, that’s what I’m hoping to do at some point. I currently have a cheap (ie, non-burst-proof) ball; will upgrade to a burst-proof model. It isn’t so much for benching (the floor presses are fine for now) as for shoulder work, as the rack isn’t tall enough to do standing overhead stuff.

Do you still use the ball much?

Posted by: Scott | August 1, 2006 8:13 PM

Nah, the ball is gently making its rounds around the gym but the cause of that is usually the wind… Talk about a dramatic change of approach when compared to last summer!

Posted by: Kris | August 2, 2006 8:14 AM