Back To The Battle Grounds!

After taking 3 weeks off to let my body rest, I've had enough! It's time to reenter the battle grounds! My main focus is to reintroduce my body to the weights using basic movements, lots of unilateral lower body work and dumbbell work for the upper body. I'm slowly increasing the volume and intensity as time goes on. I'm also trying to keep my routine as balanced as possible.

If you aren't custom to making your routine's "balanced" then I suggest taking a look at this article by Leith Darkin on DieselCrew.com

Anyways this is how I've set up my split:

-4 days: squat training, overhead pressing and chin-ups (aka vertical push/pull), deadlift training, bench and row training (aka horizontal push/pull)

-I only train 3 times a week with an extra vanity or conditioning day done on the weekend (not done heavy. This day should not interfere with recovery and the week to come) so the cycle looks like this:

Week 1

Monday: Squat training

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: Vertical push/pull

Thursday: off

Friday: Deadlift training

Saturday: optional

Sunday: off

Week 2

Monday: Horizontal push/pull

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: Squat training

Thursday: off

Friday: Vertical push/pull

Saturday: optional

Sunday: off

So there is always an extra day that carries over to the next week. If you've used Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 routine then you probably recognize the layout (eventually I'll be getting into a modified version of Jim's routine).

So My first day of training was for the squat. This being the first day back in a while I took it easy and kept lots of reps in the tank. The workout looked like this:

Day 1:

A1: Front squat 3x5

B1: Split squats 3x10

B2: Elevated hip thrusts 3x10

C3: TRX body saw/knee tuck 3x10 (third variation on video)

Believe it or not I was sore as hell starting about 2 hours after this session up until my warm up for my deadlift training day! Damn...hopefully doesn't take long to get back into the swing of things

Day 2: Vertical push/pull

A1: 1 arm dumbbell push press (clean off of ground on first rep) 3x5ea

B1: Standing dumbbell military press 3x10

B2: Chin-ups 3x10

-Shoulders were pretty sore after this. Could tell my elbows need some time to get use to the forces put on them during pressing motions.

Day 3: Deadlift training

A1: deadlift 3x3

B1: deadlift 4x8

B2: back lunges 4x10 ea

C1: TRX Side bridge 3x10 ea (first video on video)

-Holy Crap! back and ass were sore as hell! Love it!

Day 4: horizontal push/pull

A1: Dumbbell press 3x5

B1: Incline dumbbell press 3x10

B2: Dumbbell row 3x10 ea

C1: 50 reps each TRX push ups and inverted rows. Timed for conditioning

That pretty much caps it off. No extra workout was done on the first week. I'll update you guys on my second cycle through once I'm done it. I'll be adding in a little bit more volume and increasing the weights slowly. That's it for now! Good luck on all your Fitness goals and adventures!