I often talk about the importance of goal setting and the goals that I have set for myself. For today’s session I was really looking forward to achieving a strength goal that I have been working on for some time. The goal that I wanted to achieve is deadlifting 140kg with good form for no less than 4 reps.
Considering my bodyweight is only 82kg, I consider 140kg to be a more than reasonable lift. Given that I like functional strength, there are not to many things that I have to pick up in my everyday life that weight more than 140kg, so if I could achieve this goal I would be stoked.
So at 10:00pm I headed into my work gym for a session of Back and Biceps. As I have outlined on previous posts, I have set myself several strength goals, which I am aiming to achieve by the end of the 12 week program. I am placing these goals in brackets after the exercise that I am performing.
My Program for Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat
Pre-Workout Nutrition:
• About an hour before training I downed a Pre-workout shake.
Warm-up:
• 5 minutes on elliptical trainer.
• Dynamic Stretching
• Push-ups x 20
Workout:
• Chin-ups (Goal Weight: 15kg)
– Set 1: 10 Reps x BW
– Set 1: 8 reps x 8kg
– Set 2: 6 reps x 12kg
– Set 3: 6 reps x 12kg
• Bent Over Barbell Rows (Goal Weight: 120kg)
– Set 1: 8 reps x 80kg
– Set 2: 6 reps x 105kg
– Set 3: 6 reps x 105kg
• Deadlifts (Goal Weight: 140kg)
– Set 1: 8 reps x 100kg
– Set 2: 6 reps x 140kg
– Set 3: 6 reps x 140kg
• Close Grip Bench Press (Goal Weight: 90kg)
– Set 1: 10 reps x 10kg
– Set 2: 8 reps x 15kg
– Set 3: 5 reps x 25kg
– Set 4: 4 reps x 25kg
• Tricep Pushdowns (N/A Due to the fact that I am in so many different places and the machines all vary so much)
– Set 1: 8 reps x 11 pin
– Set 2: 6 reps x 15 pin
– Set 3: 6 reps x 15 pin
Finishers – My High Intensity Fat Burning Circuit
I am still incorporating finishers at the end of my weight training session. Today I alternated between Jump Squats and Explosive Push-ups. I started by doing 10 of each back to back, then 9 of each back to back and so on until I reach zero. The whole circuit is done without rest and took me only about 4mins to complete.
Warm Down:
• Static Stretching
The whole session including warm-up, the workout, finishers and warm down took me 48mins to complete burning about 400kcals with an average heart rate of 110BPM.
Post-Workout Nutrition:
• Straight after the session I downed a Post-workout shake.
Notes:
• All reps and sets are done with good form (no cheating or swinging the weight)
• Rest for exactly a minute between all sets except for the last 2 working sets where you rest for 2mins.
• During the workout sip on water.
Woo Hoo, not only did I achieve my goal of deadlifting 140kg for 4 reps, I managed to squeeze out 6 reps on both my working sets. I am over the moon. My next goal is to deadlift 160kg, which is almost double my body weight. Bring it on.
Goal setting is very important and in a post i talk exactly about this http://www.somebodylied.com/university-college-study-skills-series
Michael,
It is through goal setting that I have managed to achieve the levels of strength and fitness that I have. I will check out your article. Keep in touch.
Niko
Seems like a good workout for some very functional fitness. If you every get a wild hair you could practice Power Cleans for a real challenge.
Trey,
I have about 5 week left on the program that I am on at the moment. I will then be starting another 12 week training cycle. I will be taking your advice and including power cleans in my workout. Do you normally do full power cleans or hang cleans?
Niko
I mix it up and do both. I use hang cleans to work on the speed and strength emphasis of the movement and power cleans for heavier weight and more workload.
Trey,
Thanks for the feedback. I think I might incorporate hang cleans into my crossfit sessions and full power cleans into my weight training.
Niko