Phase 2: Reintroduction to The Gym

 As the Longs Peak Highland Games has been approaching I have been working hard to build some strength in my muscles.  It has been an amazing program and I feel really confident in how I have built up some good strength in my body.  There are a few tweaks that I will be making next time that I have a strength phase as some of the lifts that I chose are not that great for performance (i.e. shrugs) and some of the lifts I had in the wrong order (i.e. snatch pulls, lat pulls).  One of the joys of creating your own program is that you get to test out different exercise orders and really try and figure out what works best for your own body.  Creating my own program has been almost like a game of chess, where I have to figure out the best movement for my body and how to implement it in my life. 

The games are next week which means that I will be taking a week off for active rest.  It has been a long time since I have had to figure out what active rest means.  I think what I will do is a basic weight circuit Tuesday and Wednesday where I will work at 50% capacity on the major compound movements to keep flexibility up without expending too much strength.  My goal is not to get stronger next week it is to make sure that I have the best chance of performance.

After our competition we will be heading into phase 2 of the gym.  I will be working for 4-6 weeks on muscle hypertrophy, which is the growth of the muscle fibers in the muscle to make them look bigger and hopefully increase energy stores within the muscle.  I will be attempting to do this by bringing down the weight and increasing the reps.  If this sounds familiar this is what many bodybuilders do to maximize growth.  During this phase I will be working on two of my greatest weaknesses, eating enough for muscle growth and getting enough sleep to convince my body that it is not under stress. 

Phase 2 workout: (Mid September - October)

Upper/Lower Split

Lower:

Squat 3x10 @ 60%, 65%, 70%, 65%, 70%, 75%

Deadlifts 2x10 Session 1,  Cleans 3x10 Session 2

Leg Extension 3x10

Leg Curl 3x10

Calf Raises 2x20

Upper:

Bench 3x10 (Same percentages of max as above)

Row Variation 3x10

Shoulder Press 3x10

Snatch Pull or Upright Row 3x10

Lat Pull 3x10

Tricep Extension 3x10

Bicep Curls 3x10

This Phase is all about muscle growth.  The goal is not to exhaust your body every set it is to overload your muscle.  If you are following along at home the tempo should be somewhere between slow and medium speed on the lifts, I personally try to employ a 3 second lower followed by a two second push.

Stay tuned for more information and a follow up of the Highland Games.