The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: GuitarStv on June 21, 2014, 12:51:24 PM
-
Some of you are in decent shape and have a little experience with strength training . . . hopefully someone has an idea for what I want to do here.
I'm 33, just over 200 lbs and am following a 4 day 531 BBB weight training program (with cleans on my deadlifting day - cleans only seem to work for me doing 3s, 2s, and 1s so I've had to modify the program a bit). I'm biking to week two times during most weeks, three times during deload weeks. The weight increases are going OK, but I want to start biking to work three days a week all the time . . . when I try to do this though it hurts all my lifts and I start to feel like a zombie. I'm looking for ideas on what to modify or cut to let me bike that extra day and keep working the strength gains.
My last cycle has gone like this so far:
5's Week
Monday
Military press - 65x5, 75x5, 90x5, 100x5, 115x5, 128x7
Dips - 5 Sets of 15 with 2.5lbs added
Pull-ups - 5 sets of 12 with 2.5 added
Tuesday - 11 miles to work, 11 miles back . . . about 40 - 45 minutes each way
Wednesday
Power Clean - 125x5, 145x5, 175x3, 175x3, 175x3, 175x3, 175x6
Deadlift - 165x5, 180x5, 215x5, 230x5, 265x5, 295x9
Front Squat - 5 sets of 10 at 110lbs
Thursday - Bike Commute
Friday
Bench Press - 85x5, 110x5, 130x5, 140x5, 160x5, 185x8
Dumbbell Bench - 5 sets of 12, 60lbs dumbbells
Bent Over Barbell Row - 5 sets of 12, 150 lbs
Saturday
Back Squat - 95x5, 120x5, 145x5, 155x5, 180x5, 205x8
Deadlift - 5 sets of 10, 195lbs
Back Squat - 5 sets of 10 135lbs
Sunday
Rest (easy 9 mile family bike trip)5x5, 90x5, 100x5, 115x5, 128x7
3's Week
Monday
Military press - 65x5, 75x5, 90x5, 105x3, 120x3, 135x5
Dips - 5 Sets of 15 with 2.5lbs added
Pull-ups - 5 sets of 12 with 2.5 added
Tuesday - Bike Commute
Wednesday
Power Clean - 125x5, 145x5, 185x2, 185x2, 185x2, 185x2, 185x5
Deadlift - 165x5, 180x5, 215x5, 250x5, 285x5, 320x7
Front Squat - 5 sets of 10 at 110lbs
Thursday - Bike Commute
Friday
Bench Press - 85x5, 110x5, 130x5, 150x3, 170x3, 195x5
Dumbbell Bench - 5 sets of 12, 60lbs dumbbells
Bent Over Barbell Row - 5 sets of 12, 150 lbs
Saturday
Back Squat - 95x5, 120x5, 145x5, 170x3, 190x3, 217x8
Deadlift - 5 sets of 10, 195lbs
Back Squat - 5 sets of 10 135lbs
Sunday
Rest (easy 9 mile family bike trip)
531+ Week
Monday
Military press - 65x5, 75x5, 90x5, 115x5, 130x3, 143x4
Dips - 5 Sets of 15 with 2.5lbs added
Pull-ups - 5 sets of 12 with 2.5 added
Tuesday - Bike Commute
Wednesday
Power Clean - 125x5, 145x5, 195x1, 195x1, 195x1, 195x1, 195x4
Deadlift - 165x5, 180x5, 215x5, 265x5, 300x3, 337x5
Front Squat - 5 sets of 10 at 110lbs
Thursday - Bike Commute
Friday
Bench Press - 85x5, 110x5, 130x5, 160x5, 185x3, 204x4
Dumbbell Bench - 5 sets of 12, 60lbs dumbbells
Bent Over Barbell Row - 5 sets of 12, 150 lbs
Saturday
Back Squat - 95x5, 120x5, 145x5, 180x5, 205x3, 228x6
Deadlift - 5 sets of 10, 195lbs
Back Squat - 5 sets of 10 135lbs
Sunday
Rest (easy 9 mile family bike trip)
I rearrange the week like this when biking three times
Mon - Bike
Tues - Weights
Wed - Bike
Thurs - Weights
Fri - Bike
Sat - Weights
Sun - Weights
-
Do the same thing, but eat more?
Shelve the 531 for a while and concentrate on hypertrophy for a few months, then get back into straight up strength shit?
Do the 3-day version?
Inject test?
Try out a different type of periodization... SS or the madcow version of 5x5 should work well at your strength levels, as would some straight up linear stuff.
Eating more will probably help a lot.
-
I don't really want to gain weight. I've been as heavy as 220, and although you're much stronger, cardio feels terrible at that weight and my knees start to hurt from jogging or even standing for too long.
I've run SS several times and end up endlessly looping through stall outs and resetting the weight without improvement. The 531 program has been working much better (my squats are low at the moment as I've dropped the weight down a bunch to fix some form issues).
You think switching to the three day version and doing more each workout with the one day off would be better than the lighter 4 day split?
-
You could most likely add the biking in without feeling like a zombie if you ate more. The zombie feeling and decreasing numbers you are describing tells me caloric deficit. If you can get your calories just right while adding the biking in, you will maintain. This obviously will be much harder to do if you don't count calories. If you choose to bike without adjusting your calories, you will likely lose weight. Decent numbers, keep up the good work.