TacticalBarbell.com

It has been a year since my last entry. I only managed to train BJJ once or twice and I didn't do much in terms of conditioning. With remote work for the next few months, I'll put BJJ on hold. Joel Jamieson released an 8 (or 12) week training program focused on general endurance. You could say it's a kind of base building and this is what I decided to do for the next few weeks.

Primary objective

• complete the program before doing anything else and log everything training sessions here

Secondary objectives

• lose weight - I'm just tired of feeling tired all the time. Even though Joel says not to lose weight, the goal is still to lose 12 lbs (hopefully mostly body fat). So hopefully, to weigh below 170 lbs at the end

• follow guidelines regarding a meal plan - nothing too strict here since it's my first time "dieting" (3 meals a day with a post-workout shake; around 2000 calories)

• improve VO2max, push up and pull up numbers (no numbers in mind, just trying to get better over time)

There are two difficulty levels and I decided to start with number 1 (easiest). More information in another post later.

Day 0 - Conditioning assessment
We are asked to perform a testing protocol before beginning the program. Essentially, it's this: 12-minute max distance test (Cooper test), 60s heart rate recovery, max push ups, max pull ups, max time front plank. Here are my results:

• 12-minute max distance: 2.21km in 11:40 (VO2max: 39.45)

• 60s heart rate recovery: 194 to 133 (61)

• max push ups: 19

• max pull ups: 3

• max time front plank: 37s

I seriously don't understand how I can have such a good heart rate recovery and also a resting heart rate of 50, but be totally average with running and strength endurance.

Also official starting weight: 181.6 lbs

Week 1, day 1 (medium intensity)
1. Aerobic plyos: 3 minutes
2. Run: 1.97 km in 18:41 (9:29 min/km) @ 127 bpm
3. Tempo bench press: 45x10, x10, x9
4. Tempo lat pulldowns: 35x10, x10, x10
5. Band trunk rotations: 3x10
6. AMRAP push ups: 20

Week 1, day 2 (low intensity)
1. Elliptical tempo intervals: 10 reps
2A. Front plank: 2 sets (1:28, 55s)
2B: Side plank: 2 sets (52s, 56s)

Week 1, day 3 (medium intensity)
1. Run: 2.92 km in 24:16 (8:19 min/km) @ 125 bpm
2. Tempo squats: 45x10, x10, x10, x9
3. Walking lunges: 10'sx10, x10, x9, x9
4. Band trunk rotations: 3x10

So sore. Lifting with a 4040 tempo sucks. And I'm also hungry all the time. It's the first time that I eat at regular time intervals and that I'm more strict with food intake.

Week 1, day 4 (low intensity)
1. Elliptical tempo intervals: 10 reps
2A. Front plank: 2 sets (1:42, 1:05)
2B: Side plank: 2 sets (1:08, 56s)

Week 1, day 5 (medium intensity)
1. Run: 2.57 km in 19:46 (7:42 min/km) @ 124 bpm
2. Aerobic plyos: 3 minutes
3. Tempo DB RDL: 15'sx3x10 (20's)
4. Tempo bench press: 45x3x10 (50)
5. Tempo chest-supported DB row: 15'sx3x10 (17.5's)
6. AMRAP push ups: 19

Week 2, day 1 (medium intensity)
1. Aerobic plyos: 5 minutes
2. Run: 2.26 km in 20:23 (9:01 min/km) @ 129 bpm
3. Tempo bench press: 45x3x12 (50)
4. Tempo lat pulldowns: 40x3x12 (45)
5. Band trunk rotations: 3x12
6. AMRAP push ups: 26

Been feeling sick these past two days, so my HR was a bit higher than usual. But overall, good training day, I got more reps on every exercises.

Week 2, day 2 (low intensity)
1. Elliptical tempo intervals: 10 reps
2A. Front plank: 1 set (2:00)
2B: Side plank: 1 set (40s)

Wife is sick, so I only did 1 set for planks. However, PB time for the front plank.

I managed to finish week 2, but I didn't take notes from my sessions. I'm a bit more tired from training, since many exercises are done to failure. Currently reading TB: GP, so I might switch to Capacity and take it from there.

Well, the attraction of GP was too strong and I caved in this morning. I'll be doing capacity for the next 12 weeks. Training goals remain the same however. Weight lost is going in the right direction (week 2 weigh in: 178.6 lbs).

Capacity, W1D1
Bench press: 120x5x5
Squat: 170x3x8
Deadlift: 145x3x3
Pull ups: BWx5x1

I'm using sumo deadlift since I don't have a trap bar. It sucks.

Capacity, W1D2

Run: 4.18 km in 33:38 (8:02 min/km) @ 143 bpm