TacticalBarbell.com

I'm just off a block of SE after year of TB, broken up by injuries
I'm running Fighter I/A Template; with Green conditioning protocol.
I'm into my third decade of being ageless, with a variety of injuries. I'm at a pretty low level of strength by my norms, which were nothing to write home about. I'm freshly retired from a job as a manager in an engineering company. So I have time and energy to put into improving my health and fitness.

My sports are mountain biking in the summer and downhill skiing in the winter. Those both prize explosive power. The mountain biking also likes endurance. This year I have a big 2-day hike with lots of elevation gain at elevation planned for mid August. So hiking and elevation gain are a priority until then.

My thought is to stay with Green/Fighter through the August trip and then focus on strength for a block or two.

Week 1 (week of 4/26/21)

Monday. Plan: Max Strength
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips and Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat, Bench, RDL, PullUps; 3-4 work sets except RDL which gets 1 work set
Bench was bad for my shoulder

Tuesday. Plan: E
Hike 2 hours. 176 x 3 stairs. Backpack. No poles.

Wednesday. Plan: SE
3 hour mountain bike ride. Fell hard onto rocks. Hurt my left knee.
Did not lift. Or bend my knee at all

Thursday
Knee very sore.
45 minute hike
1 hour on the bike trainer - that makes the knee feel much better

Friday. Plan: Max Strength
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips, Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat, DB, OHP, RDP. (no PullUps); left knee was sore for squats; 3-4 work sets except RDL which gets 1 work set

Saturday. Plan E
Rode the bike trainer for 1:20 hours

Sunday. Plan: Rest
Mountain bike 2:30 hours

Height?
Mind if I ask what your current maxes are?

My previous (recent) maxes were:
DL 325
Squat 245
Bench 195 -

I don't think these are relevant right now. My plan is to start modest and use forced progression to ramp them up as my joints adapt. It'll take a few blocks, but joints adapt slowly.

I did hurt my shoulder and opted for no surgery. So benching is out. So it barbell OHP. DB OHP seems fine.

Week 2 of Fighter I/A (week of 5/3/21)

Monday. Plan: Max Strength
Actual:
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips and Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat, DBOHP, RDL, PullUps; 3-4 work sets except RDL which gets 1 work set
Grip finisher

Tuesday. Plan: E
Actual:
Cold rain, so I did 1:30 on the bike trainer at a variety of intensities. Including hard.

Wednesday. Plan: SE
Actual:
SE (Alpha) 3 sets of 10
Cluster is: Squat, Bench, DB Row, Cheat curl to OHP, Bicycle crunch
The idea with the bench is to see if doing these very light BP will lead to some healing.

Thursday. Plan: E
Actual:
4 hour hilly hike. Small backpack, no poles. Only 1200' elevation. I had more climbing in me, but my feet got very sore around 10 miles and cut it short.

Friday. Plan: Max Strength
Actual:
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips, Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat, DBOHP, RDP, PullUps; 3-4 work sets except RDL which gets 1 work set.
A very small version of the core finisher. That's a weakness.
I think I can go to more work sets for RDL. I'll consider it for the next block.

Saturday. Plan E
Actual:
Cold rain and the trails are wet. Rode the bike trainer for 1:20 hours. It was meant to be E, but some of it was very hard.

Sunday. Plan: Rest
Actual:
Very easy bike ride for 2 hours. Some pain under my left knee cap from last week's crash that comes and goes. Movement helps.

Summary: good week. I like the clusters and the loads are just a little challenging. I think there's a lot of room to up the weights.

Week 3 of Fighter I/A (week of 5/10/21)

Monday. Plan: Max Strength
Actual:
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips and Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat, DBOHP, RDL, PullUps; 3-4 work sets except RDL which gets 1 work set
Grip finisher

Tuesday. Plan: E
Actual:
Mountain Bike 2:15

Wednesday. Plan: SE
Actual:
SE (Alpha) 3 sets of 20
Cluster is: Squat, Bench, DB Row, Cheat curl to OHP, Bicycle crunch
The idea with the bench is to see if doing these very light BP will lead to some healing.

Thursday. Plan: E
Actual:
5 hour hilly hike, water only. Backpack, poles. Finally got 2,000' elevation. AllTrails over-estimates the elevation during the hike and then re-estimates when the hike is over. I though I'd done over 2,000 many times and got down graded. This time I had 3,300' that got lowered to 2,200'. Feet were ok, but I was tired.

Friday. Plan: Max Strength
Actual:
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips, Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat (3 work sets), DBOHP (4 work sets), RDP (1 work set), PullUps (5 sets);
Grip finisher


Saturday. Plan E
Actual:
Travel day

Sunday. Plan: Rest
Actual:
Travel day

Summary: good week with an empty weekend. I liked the weights

RDLs in my opinion are hugely under-rated. If you are ok with not really moving your 1RM DL up, and just want to have some hypertrophy and modest work thru the range of motions, RDLs do the trick and give you ample opportunity for recovery.

Thanks. My thought with the RDLs is just to improve my athleticism and stave off possible injuries.

Week 5 of Fighter I/A (week of 5/17/21)

I added work sets to squat, OHP, and RDL
I added weight to squat, OHP, and RDL. The idea is to add weight slowly enough that my joints can adapt.

Monday
Plan: Max Strength
Actual: Max Strength
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips and Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat (4 work sets), DBOHP (5 work sets), RDL (3 work sets), PullUps (5 work sets)
Grip finisher

Tuesday
Plan: E
Actual: E
Mountain Bike 2:10

Wednesday
Plan: SE
Actual: E
Mountain Bike 2:35

Thursday
Plan: E
Actual: E
Mountain Bike just 40 minutes when a mechanical problem sent me home

Friday
Plan: Max Strength
Actual: Max Strength
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips, Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat (4 work sets), DBOHP (5 work sets), RDL (3 work sets), PullUps (5 work sets)


Saturday
Plan E
Actual: Rest
Chore day at our camp

Sunday
Plan: Rest
Actual: Rest


Summary: Felt good this week.

Week 5 of Fighter I/A (week of 5/24/21)



Monday
Plan: Max Strength
Actual: Max Strength
Prehab: Shoulder only (no hips or core)
Lift: Cluster is Squat (4 work sets), DBOHP (5 work sets), RDL (3 work sets), PullUps (5 work sets)
No finisher

Tuesday
Plan: E
Actual: E
Bike Trainer 1 hour

Wednesday
Plan: SE
Actual: E
Mountain Bike 50 minutes - my sport is Mtb biking, so: if I can, my preference is to be on the bike

Thursday
Plan: E
Actual: E
Hike 3-1/2 hours in new shoes. It turns out that they start to hurt my feet after only 5 or so miles

Friday
Plan: Max Strength
Actual: Max Strength
Prehab: Shoulder, Hips, Core
Lift: Cluster is Squat (4 work sets), DBOHP (5 work sets), RDL (3 work sets), PullUps (5 work sets)
No finisher
(RDL was hard)

Saturday
Plan E
Actual: Rest
Bike Trainer for 50 minutes

Sunday
Plan: Rest
Actual: Rest


Summary: Felt good this week.

Several good weeks in a row means you're on track. Nice work, keep it up.

Thanks - it's all about consistency for me.