ExRx.net

I've been very frustrated lately.

Lots of stuff hurts. My knee is better, but my body is really out of whack from being hurt so long. My shoulder is worse than it's been in the past. My hip hurts from getting pulled. It seems like I can't go a week without something hurting.

I also feel weak. I know my absolute weight-moving strength in the gym has gone up, but mostly it's a matter of increased lifting expertise. I'm just not as able to carry heavy stuff, help people move, tote bales, etc. A good portion of this feeling is injuries, but I feel like weights can help fix that.

My body fat has also crept up, slowly. I never had abs (and don't care if I do) but I miss being fairly lean. I'm hardly fat, but by the standards I used to compete at, I'm not in a happy place and carry too much stuff I don't need.

I've also been busy, and my schedule makes it impossible to do MMA more than once a week.

On bright point, really, is that I use what I've got much better. I've had people tell me I feel stronger doing MMA, because I'm just using what I have more effectively. But I'd like some muscle mass to back that up, because I like how I look and feel with a little more muscle.

So here is my plan going forward:

- I'm going to focus on strength and muscle mass. I want to get back to a baseline feeling of strength. Secondarily, I want to ensure I keep a baseline of cardio so I can roll for 90 minutes each Saturday without being wrecked. To do this, I'm going to do a workout based on Paul Carter's Strong-15 approach.

- I'm going to try to lean out.

- I can't get to MMA more than once a week, so I'm going to focus on lifting to get to my goal. I can get to the gym 6 days a week, if necessary, because I work in a gym. I'll be lifting 3x a week for most of the year.

- I'm going to assiduously avoid injury through careful lifting and training - in fact, I'm setting my goal weights so stupidly low it's funny to write them down. All I care about is getting my baseline, every day, walking around strength up, regardless of how the numbers look or feel. My goal will be to get the most value out of the lighter weights I'm doing.

I don't think these goals are contradictory, except maybe "don't get hurt" and "do MMA." But with proper periodization I should be able to get this done.

So that's what you will see going forward in my workout log.

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Peter V. Dell'Orto
http://strength-basics.blogspot.com

Forgot to post my ridiculously low initial training maxes:

Squat 195
Press 105 (incorrectly put 115 originally)
Deadlift 225

See, ridiculously low. All stuff I could probably get tomorrow, especially the DL. But better to aim low and demolish the weights and get really good at the exercises again than to aim too high and miss.

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Peter V. Dell'Orto
http://strength-basics.blogspot.com

Get those weights, be able to get them consistently, then increase volume to build work capacity and you're way stronger and more fit than 98% of people walking around!

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

That's what I am hoping. I figure, I'll lose more by aiming too high than by aiming too low and stomping the weights flat.

_________________
--
Peter V. Dell'Orto
http://strength-basics.blogspot.com

Oops, listed my press training max 10 pound too high, so I fixed it.

_________________
--
Peter V. Dell'Orto
http://strength-basics.blogspot.com