Tom's Training Log

[Tom28]

After much thought, I've decided the primary domain I want to improve is strength. Endurance is secondary and will come along slowly. That's fine. I'm going with Operator I/A because I don't want to feel guilty if I miss a strength session due to work or taking a flex day. Since the secondary goal is to slowly improve my 5k time, I'm going to throw in 10 min jogs here and there after strength work, kind of like a finisher. I'm increasing my deadlift volume to 3 works sets once a week, rather than 1 work set once a week. Since my squat training max is about 85%, my recovery should be fine.

Training maxes
Squat: 250
Bench: 220
WPU: 222
Dead: 350

December 20, 2017
Operator I/A, Session 1/9 (75%)
Squat: 187.5x3x5
Bench: 165x3x5
PU: 3x5
Then: neck harness, curls, 10 min jog.
Notes: everything was super easy and I felt great after my run which is exactly what I wanted.

[J-Madd]

Saturday, December 16, 2017
Rest day

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Going forward: I'm tempted to run another cycle of operator but instead of using these new maxes, use my former training maxes and only add 10 pounds to the lower body lifts and 5 pounds to the bench.

I like Jim Wendler's take this issue: If you got stronger using your current training max, why would you be in a hurry to make a big increase? It's working!

[J-Madd]

After much thought, I've decided the primary domain I want to improve is strength. Endurance is secondary and will come along slowly. That's fine. I'm going with Operator I/A because I don't want to feel guilty if I miss a strength session due to work or taking a flex day. Since the secondary goal is to slowly improve my 5k time, I'm going to throw in 10 min jogs here and there after strength work, kind of like a finisher. I'm increasing my deadlift volume to 3 works sets once a week, rather than 1 work set once a week. Since my squat training max is about 85%, my recovery should be fine.

Training maxes
Squat: 250
Bench: 220
WPU: 222
Dead: 350

December 20, 2017
Operator I/A, Session 1/9 (75%)
Squat: 187.5x3x5
Bench: 165x3x5
PU: 3x5
Then: neck harness, curls, 10 min jog.
Notes: everything was super easy and I felt great after my run which is exactly what I wanted.

I like this plan a great deal. You BJJ training probably does enough for you to check your conditioning box, but the short jogging sessions help keep you in a running groove. I found that once I started training BJJ 4-6 days/week, even just one longer run each week, really wiped me out -- especially my knees. Breaking it up into a few short jogs is an interesting idea.

By the way, a teammate of mine, who is forty-five, introduced two 30 min jogs each week, and it really helped him a lot on the mat, so certainly people's results will vary.

[Tom28]

Saturday, December 16, 2017
Rest day

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Going forward: I'm tempted to run another cycle of operator but instead of using these new maxes, use my former training maxes and only add 10 pounds to the lower body lifts and 5 pounds to the bench.

I like Jim Wendler's take this issue: If you got stronger using your current training max, why would you be in a hurry to make a big increase? It's working!

Exactly! I'm in no hurry and I'm not messing around with what has worked for me.

[Tom28]

After much thought, I've decided the primary domain I want to improve is strength. Endurance is secondary and will come along slowly. That's fine. I'm going with Operator I/A because I don't want to feel guilty if I miss a strength session due to work or taking a flex day. Since the secondary goal is to slowly improve my 5k time, I'm going to throw in 10 min jogs here and there after strength work, kind of like a finisher. I'm increasing my deadlift volume to 3 works sets once a week, rather than 1 work set once a week. Since my squat training max is about 85%, my recovery should be fine.

Training maxes
Squat: 250
Bench: 220
WPU: 222
Dead: 350

December 20, 2017
Operator I/A, Session 1/9 (75%)
Squat: 187.5x3x5
Bench: 165x3x5
PU: 3x5
Then: neck harness, curls, 10 min jog.
Notes: everything was super easy and I felt great after my run which is exactly what I wanted.

I like this plan a great deal. You BJJ training probably does enough for you to check your conditioning box, but the short jogging sessions help keep you in a running groove. I found that once I started training BJJ 4-6 days/week, even just one longer run each week, really wiped me out -- especially my knees. Breaking it up into a few short jogs is an interesting idea.

By the way, a teammate of mine, who is forty-five, introduced two 30 min jogs each week, and it really helped him a lot on the mat, so certainly people's results will vary.

My idea with the 10 minute easy runs was kind of a "grease the grove" concept. I still wanted to hit the 3 days of lifting, 2 days BJJ, and the longer Sunday run. I was hoping that adding the short jogs may help with my 5k time which is pretty bad, around 30 minutes. That combined with the BJJ and the longer Sunday run will hopefully do the trick. The most important thing for me now is strength, so if I feel I'm not recovering enough, I will just cut out the runs. No big deal. Right now I feel great. I like your buddy's idea of 2, 30 minutes runs each week. I may try that instead. Thanks for the input as always.

[Tom28]

December 21, 2017
Off

December 22, 2017
BJJ

December 23, 2017
Operator I/A, Session 2/9 (75%)
Squat: 187.5x3x5
Bench: 165x3x5
PU: 3x5
Then: neck harness, curls

December 24, 2017
Run ~30 minutes

[Tom28]

December 25, 2017
Operator I/A, Session 3/9 (75%)
Squat: 187.5x3x5
Bench: 165x3x5
Deadlift: 262.5x5
Notes: decided to do only one deadlift workset per week

December 26, 2017
BJJ

[grouchyjarhead]

Smart choice on the single set of deadlifts. I find for me personally one work set works great and is just enough to get stronger with but not destroy myself for the next session.

[Tom28]

Smart choice on the single set of deadlifts. I find for me personally one work set works great and is just enough to get stronger with but not destroy myself for the next session.

Thanks. Three work sets looked good on paper, but I realized it was too ambitious when I was warming up for the deads. I had good success with one deadlift work set doing Starting Strength and Greyskull LP, so one work set should be fine.

December 27, 2017
Run ~30 min

[Tom28]

December 28, 2017
Rest

December 29, 2017
Operator I/A, Session 4/9 (80%)
Squat: 200x3x5
Bench: 175x3x5
WPU: +7.5lbsx3x5
Then: Neck harness 45lbsx4x25, curls

December 30, 2017
BJJ: got someone with a guillotine choke. The guillotine is the only choke I submit anyone with. I'm still working on my ezekiel.

December 31, 2017
Run ~30 min