Over the last few months, I stopped focusing purely on strength for a while and greatly picked up my conditioning work. I still did strength workouts but didn't perform the traditional exercises like barbell squat, barbell deadlifts, barbell bench press, etc. I replaced them with weighted pistol squats, dumbbell exercises, sandbag work, bodyweight exercises, etc that I learned from Ross Enamait's Infinite Intensity. I also did 3 core workouts a week.
My strength in the traditional exercises went down a lot, but my strength in the exercises I was doing skyrocketed, I went from 195 lbs to 175 lbs at my lightest (this was in large part to cleaning my diet), and as for aesthetics, I actually look bigger now because I have less fat covering up my muscles. I have a 6 pack when I flex my stomach. Also, my conditioning and work capacity GREATLY improved.
Anyway, I am down to around 175-180 lbs now and I want to gain some strength. My conditioning is excellent but my strength could be better. Everyone cares about aesthetics and I'm no exception but that is not my first priority. I don't want to be "all show and no go". Function over form. I figure if I train hard for strength, size will come with it.
I'm going to cut out a couple of conditioning workouts and replace them with strength workouts. I don't want to go over 190-195 lbs so that I can easily cut weight to fit into the middleweight weight class. If my conditioning suffers too much I will replace one strength day with a conditioning day.
I did Rippetoe when I first started working out and it's a great program for beginners but I'm bored with it now, especially after doing Infinite Intensity. Here's what I've come up with, tell me what you think:
Monday:
1. Barbell overhead squat 3 x 10 (I heard about a coach who only let his athletes compete once they could overhead squat their own bodyweight for 3 sets of 10, that is going to be one of my long term goals)
2. Dumbbell bench press 3 x 5
3. Barbell deadlift 1 x 5
4. Finisher
Wednesday:
Infinite Intensity strength workout
Finisher
Friday:
1. Barbell squat 2 x 5, 1 x 20
2. Barbell power clean 3 x 5
3. Barbell overhead press 3 x 5
4. Finisher
The Infinite Intensity strength workouts are like the stuff I was talking about earlier in the post. Lots of unilateral dumbbell stuff, dumbbell push press, dumbbell snatches, etc. No barbell stuff. Sandbag work. Bodyweight stuff. Weighted pistol squats, jump squats, wall squats, and glute-ham raises for leg work.
The finishers are taken from Infinite Intensity and will be rotated between the workouts. They include the following:
1. 16 lb sledgehammer swings onto an old tire, anywhere from 100-300 reps. I do these by standing a few feet away from the tire, holding the very bottom of the handle, and swinging with my entire body, not just the arms. I have wrapped many layers of tape around the handle to make it thicker, and now it really hits the forearms. This is an excellent full body workout and is much more difficult than it sounds, if you've never tried it before I highly recommend it. I was shocked at how hard it is the first time I tried it.
2. Farmer's walk, 3 sets till just before failure, with a pair of heavy dumbbells.
3. Bear hug sandbag carry for 10 minutes. I'm up to 125 lbs on this right now. It is much more difficult than it appears. After several minutes my lower back feels like it's going to melt.
4. 3 circuits of pull ups, bodyweight triceps extensions, chin ups, and dips. All done with a weight vest.
5. 3 x 15 double dumbbell swings.
I have the feeling that a lot of people will say this is overtraining, but I'm not too concerned. My work capacity is greatly improved now, and if this becomes too much to handle I can always scale back a bit by removing the finishers, etc. Also, size is not my primary concern. I don't want to go above 190-195 lbs. I am 6'0.
What do you guys think of this routine?
My strength in the traditional exercises went down a lot, but my strength in the exercises I was doing skyrocketed, I went from 195 lbs to 175 lbs at my lightest (this was in large part to cleaning my diet), and as for aesthetics, I actually look bigger now because I have less fat covering up my muscles. I have a 6 pack when I flex my stomach. Also, my conditioning and work capacity GREATLY improved.
Anyway, I am down to around 175-180 lbs now and I want to gain some strength. My conditioning is excellent but my strength could be better. Everyone cares about aesthetics and I'm no exception but that is not my first priority. I don't want to be "all show and no go". Function over form. I figure if I train hard for strength, size will come with it.
I'm going to cut out a couple of conditioning workouts and replace them with strength workouts. I don't want to go over 190-195 lbs so that I can easily cut weight to fit into the middleweight weight class. If my conditioning suffers too much I will replace one strength day with a conditioning day.
I did Rippetoe when I first started working out and it's a great program for beginners but I'm bored with it now, especially after doing Infinite Intensity. Here's what I've come up with, tell me what you think:
Monday:
1. Barbell overhead squat 3 x 10 (I heard about a coach who only let his athletes compete once they could overhead squat their own bodyweight for 3 sets of 10, that is going to be one of my long term goals)
2. Dumbbell bench press 3 x 5
3. Barbell deadlift 1 x 5
4. Finisher
Wednesday:
Infinite Intensity strength workout
Finisher
Friday:
1. Barbell squat 2 x 5, 1 x 20
2. Barbell power clean 3 x 5
3. Barbell overhead press 3 x 5
4. Finisher
The Infinite Intensity strength workouts are like the stuff I was talking about earlier in the post. Lots of unilateral dumbbell stuff, dumbbell push press, dumbbell snatches, etc. No barbell stuff. Sandbag work. Bodyweight stuff. Weighted pistol squats, jump squats, wall squats, and glute-ham raises for leg work.
The finishers are taken from Infinite Intensity and will be rotated between the workouts. They include the following:
1. 16 lb sledgehammer swings onto an old tire, anywhere from 100-300 reps. I do these by standing a few feet away from the tire, holding the very bottom of the handle, and swinging with my entire body, not just the arms. I have wrapped many layers of tape around the handle to make it thicker, and now it really hits the forearms. This is an excellent full body workout and is much more difficult than it sounds, if you've never tried it before I highly recommend it. I was shocked at how hard it is the first time I tried it.
2. Farmer's walk, 3 sets till just before failure, with a pair of heavy dumbbells.
3. Bear hug sandbag carry for 10 minutes. I'm up to 125 lbs on this right now. It is much more difficult than it appears. After several minutes my lower back feels like it's going to melt.
4. 3 circuits of pull ups, bodyweight triceps extensions, chin ups, and dips. All done with a weight vest.
5. 3 x 15 double dumbbell swings.
I have the feeling that a lot of people will say this is overtraining, but I'm not too concerned. My work capacity is greatly improved now, and if this becomes too much to handle I can always scale back a bit by removing the finishers, etc. Also, size is not my primary concern. I don't want to go above 190-195 lbs. I am 6'0.
What do you guys think of this routine?
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