Power Friday – Week 7

This has been a week of contemplation here at PhitZone. First, I’m no spring chicken. I’m not saying I’m old, but my body just doesn’t recover like it used to. The muscles seem to recover just fine-my knees and back are another story.

Second, this 5×5 routine that I’ve been doing, while awesome, is a huge time suck. In the beginning it wasn’t bad. I could rest 1 minute between sets, and knock the whole session out in under an hour, including a cool-down.

With the weights as heavy as they are now, it takes longer to recover between sets. This means that I’m looking at an hour and a half including cool-down. That just doesn’t fly.

This has brought two new changes to the program. To begin, the supplemental exercises in this routine are now being done as supersets. This really gets the heart rate up, and helps me get through a little faster.

Since I am squatting over 1Xbodyweight, I have decided to make this a 3×5 routine. This only affects the core lifts (squat, bench press & deadlift).

These changes should not only help me get done faster, but should help reduce any issues with my back and knees.

I have found another meet that I wouldn’t mind competing in. It’s the Europa, and will be in Dallas in August. If I do the meet in June, I may do the Europa as well.

If I do Powerfest in July, I’m not sure I’ll be ready for another meet in August. We’ll see.

Power up!

Week 6

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Comments

2 Responses to “Power Friday – Week 7”

• Becki Boyer says:

  April 23, 2010 at 2:29 pm

  Sucks getting old. You can’t change that, but you are doing well at keeping active, and strength training is super beneficial in the years of your life right now. Way to go!!!