Post your own conditioning workouts and I’ll tell you whether they are useful or not.
With the advent of CrossFit and other various conditioning methods out nowadays, the average trainee or lifter think they have a good grasp on conditioning. Personally, I don’t like most suggestions readers make for their programs for various reasons. Instead of giving you guidelines for conditioning (I’ve done this before and will do so again more specifically in the future), this post will give you an opportunity to post conditioning workouts that you would use in a strength and conditioning program.
I shouldn’t have to clarify, but there are two such versions: 1) a program that aims to increase strength while maintaining or improving conditioning and B) a program that aims to maintain strength while improving conditioning. #1 is the case of a person who still needs to get stronger and wants to add some conditioning in OR an athlete in their off-season who is increasing their strength base; #2 is someone who is already strong — they are fucking cocked-diesel, or have more than adequate levels of strength for their sport/activity — or someone who is in sport preparation and needs to add conditioning in.
So, post your conditioning workouts and I’ll grade them out on their usefulness in a program while making other relevant notes.
This is a conditioning picture.
PR Friday
If you’re new to the site, Friday is the day where you can gloat. Post your PR’s to the comments. They can be lifting, eating, tossing, or cloth ripping related. If you didn’t hit any PR’s, then give everyone an update on your training. The regular posters will remember your name and mostly say nice things, and the lurkers will continue to creepily stalk you. Fun!
Been a bit frustrated lately, actually. I can’t seem to get in a good routine with my training. I’m 25, male, 84kg, work a low-stress but tedious job and my numbers are:
SQ – 3x5x102.5kg
DL – 5x115kg (prob more but haven’t hit deads in a couple weeks)
PR – 3x5x42.5kg
BP – 3x5x50kg (same situation as DL)
PC – 3x5x50kg
I can never seem to recover in time to keep hitting PRs each workout as would be expected in LP phase (currently doing your S&C program but have been very lazy w/ conditioning so far).
My sleep is not excellent, but i usually get at least 7 hours – try to get more, but not always. Been supping w/ magnesium before bed last few weeks but don’t feel that rested in the morning.
I’m not sure if i just need to eat more? I eat well and don’t skip meals but maybe just quantity is the issue.
Any thoughts would be welcome!
How often are you deadlifting? You may benefit from doing a more standard LP with some added conditioning in (since you’ve been lazy). Your squat numbers indicate that you just aren’t getting time under the bar (twice a week squatting is okay…). Perhaps the Greyskull LP would be interesting to you — you would have three training days but two squat days. Might be more motivating for you. Let me know.
And fucking go to bed earlier. Increase your protein by at least 50 grams.
–Justin
roughly how many calories are you eating a day, sapper? at your bodyweight, you really shouldn’t be stalling out this early at those weights
Oh, btw, been barbell training approx 9 months and my goals are to get as strong as possible and have decent work capacity. I am in the Army Reserves (Australia) and am wanting to apply for the police very soon.
Even only squatting twice a week, i struggle to back up for another PR on Thursday. DL and PC are going ok, but press is a joke.
@Yosh
Nice one, mate! Good work on the vid, too – that’s some serious weight you’re moving.
@stonerider
Thanks for the comment. Tell me about it, man! Umm, not too sure on the calories – haven’t really been keeping track lately, I will have to start recording it. It’s got to be the reason, i reckon. Will try bumping up the intake and see where that takes me.
Maybe adding some more milk back in would help. Over the last few months i’ve only been having about a litre (a quart?) PWO, so prob 3 times/week. Was doing up to 1/2 gallon/day a while back, but gained a fair bit of BF and my conditioning suffered – admittedly i wasnt doing many metcons at that time.
Have to keep in mind i’ve got an Army fitness test in about 6 weeks, so i will have to work in some conditioning, too.
See my reply above. What’s the Aussie fitness test consist of? You should be able to just do 400m intervals (look up higher in the comments to see some guys that are using them). Tabata sprints will work well in conjunction.
–Justin
Got a lot of interest in this — I’m finishing up my responses for the second half now.
“You do 25 fucking prowler pushes? Are you just moseying along? I pushed a low sled with 180 pounds on it around 40 feet the other day, and it was pretty fucking hard (I climbed a mountain the day before).
Sled pushing/pulling is fantastic conditioning, more so when you improve work to rest ratios as you progress each week. Don’t over-do it, less is more.
–Justin”
It takes me anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to do those 24 pushes. I go as hard as possible each trip, but I often have to slow down about 2/3s of the way because of lactic acid (I tend to slow down after that, but try to keep moving). I then rest until my heart rate is normalish again.
Winter Conditioning: