2024 - 09 - 09

Long Rests and Session Time Limits

Austin Haedicke

strength

training-log-personal

664 Words | Read Time: 3 Minutes, 1 Second

2024-09-16 09:01 -0700


This was the second full week of my strength program, and I’m on pace to set PRs by the end of the program in another two weeks.

Strict Press: 155 x 2

Summary:

Progress is exciting. I haven’t done a proper strength program since Spring 2023. Two weeks into this program I’m on pace to match my previous PRs; which is remarkable given my knee injury this past summer and may overall emphasis on other areas of fitness before that.

Putting a time limit on my strength sessions has made be have to be more intentional about resting (an active process) between sets, as well as limit how aggressive I can be with increases in load. All of that has amounted to pretty steady progress and usually minimized soreness and fatigue the next day.

My next training block will likely feature Olympic lifts as power is a natural progression from strength, and also allows of implementing said power movements into capacity training further down the road.

From a grappling perspective, I’ve tried to remain disciplined and really focus on building back my wrestling, which has been severely limited by my lack of knee mobility.

As a coach, I’ve tried to renew my commitment to specialization as well and focus more attention and duration on fewer, more effective techniques, rather than getting “lost in the sauce” of thousands of (good) techniques online.Squat 1-year PR FS 275 x 2 (est. 340 back squat); best (modern era) 375 (225 x 20, March 2022).

excited for OLYs which set things up nicely for capacity work, though the results from my Morpheus study (below) may alter that trajectory.


  • Training Block: General Fitness, Strength

  • Phase: Intensity

  • Weekly Intention:

    • Specific knee rehab / mobility (daily)
    • Follow Morpheus zone targets (fitness)

The Journal:

What worked well:

Keeping strength sessions < 45 min and emphasizing “never missing a rep.” Grappling, it’s been helpful to stick to my guns for whatever I want to work on a given day — guillotines for example. Some people will be much harder to hit them on then others, which is exactly why I shouldn’t abandon the game plan and “just run my A-Game” to try and win a practice round.

Where do I need to improve:

You can see in the graph above, I had a bit of a cold and my recovery scores were lower than usual. I have two more weeks on this strength block, and data collection for my Morpheus HRM study, but after that I want to really focus on using Morpheus to guide the intensity of my training (e.g. staying within the recommended zones).

Plan for next week:

The coming week is still business as usual, and the following week will be a heavy load, low volume week. However, one pain in the neck I’ve realized is that if I do my socializing (and alcohol drinking) on Friday nights it makes the turnaround to teach private lessons early Saturday morning rough; even if I’m not out extremely late.

From a training perspective, I still want to stick to my guns training something specific for myself as well as when I am teaching — e.g. really flossing the details of something specific and not moving on too quickly.

The Log:

Monday: 9/9/24

Warm Up:
Zone 2 x 10 min (max calories < 148 bpm)

Work:
5 x 2 Snatch-Grip Deadlift

Support:
3 x 10 Sandbag Bear Squat

Results: 45-minute time limit
90 calories
225, 275, 295, 315, 315# (285 avg.)
150#

Thursday: 9/12/24

Warm Up:
Zone 2 x 10 min (max cals < 150 bpm)

Work:
5 x 2 Front Squat

Support:
3 x 10 Banded Adductor Squat

Results: 45-minute time limit
92 calories
235, 235, 245, 265, 275# (251 avg.)
Bodyweight

Sunday: 9/15/24

Warm Up:
Bike x 10 min (max HR 150 bpm)

Work:
5 x 2 Strict Press

Support:
3 x 10 DB Bench

Results: 45-minute time limit
102 cal
135, 145, 145, 145, 155# (145 avg.)
90#

What I’m Studying: