jeanjason0209
New member
Background: I got consistent with lifting last year and WHOA it's been eye-opening. I recently hit a 1.5x bodyweight deadlift, 1x squat, over 2x hip thrust, and am closing in on a 1x bench (edit: all for 4-5 reps). I know those are novice numbers but like I couldn't do any of the exercises with an empty bar when I started! I was someone who was active and "fit" but really objectively pretty weak with all kinds of janky imbalances and movement patterns, and it's improved my life in every single way to gain a level of baseline strength. I'm about to turn 40 and am pretty compact, 5'2" and about 105-110. I focus a lot on excellent form and trying really hard.
The thing is lifting was always supposed to be a complement to my main activity, which is rock climbing. I'm a full-time climbing guide and am in to long alpine days and big mountain adventures in my spare time. I wanted to get stronger to move better on the wall, but also to be stronger for long steep approaches with a heavy pack, to make hauling less taxing, increase my overall work capacity, and generally move faster/perform better/be more resilient in big terrain.
I also started trail running again this year and aw man I had forgotten that I looooooove it. I have no specific performance goals around it but am currently dedicating about 4 hours a week to it and want to train for a half this fall. Most of my running right now is easy base-building but it does take time and has a recovery demand.
Somewhere along the way, lifting became A Thing on its own for me. But much as I love it, I'm coming to the conclusion that I can't really do three Things well all at the same time and think that as rock season ramps up I need to scale weightlifting back to focus on maintaining my current levels of strength and preventing injury rather than trying to get stronger all the time. How do I think about and execute this? How much is enough to maintain - could I do one longish session a week that covers everything? Which exercises will give me the most bang for my buck to get it down to maybe a 90 minute session? Should I change my nutrition (currently eating at a very slight surplus)? Bonus question: Does it make sense to think about a yearly cycle here given the seasonality of my work - focus on making progress in the gym in the off-season and transition to maintenance spring/summer/fall?
Here is my current program, which I do in 2-3 sessions a week alternating days. I've been trying to train for function and max strength, not growth; all my progress has come with minimal size changes though I've gained a couple pounds slowly and leaned the hell out. I also get a lot of extra pull stimulus from climbing (2-3 training sessions a week plus workdays, though generally the climbing I do for work is more like low aerobic activity).
DAY 1: Push + Hinge
The thing is lifting was always supposed to be a complement to my main activity, which is rock climbing. I'm a full-time climbing guide and am in to long alpine days and big mountain adventures in my spare time. I wanted to get stronger to move better on the wall, but also to be stronger for long steep approaches with a heavy pack, to make hauling less taxing, increase my overall work capacity, and generally move faster/perform better/be more resilient in big terrain.
I also started trail running again this year and aw man I had forgotten that I looooooove it. I have no specific performance goals around it but am currently dedicating about 4 hours a week to it and want to train for a half this fall. Most of my running right now is easy base-building but it does take time and has a recovery demand.
Somewhere along the way, lifting became A Thing on its own for me. But much as I love it, I'm coming to the conclusion that I can't really do three Things well all at the same time and think that as rock season ramps up I need to scale weightlifting back to focus on maintaining my current levels of strength and preventing injury rather than trying to get stronger all the time. How do I think about and execute this? How much is enough to maintain - could I do one longish session a week that covers everything? Which exercises will give me the most bang for my buck to get it down to maybe a 90 minute session? Should I change my nutrition (currently eating at a very slight surplus)? Bonus question: Does it make sense to think about a yearly cycle here given the seasonality of my work - focus on making progress in the gym in the off-season and transition to maintenance spring/summer/fall?
Here is my current program, which I do in 2-3 sessions a week alternating days. I've been trying to train for function and max strength, not growth; all my progress has come with minimal size changes though I've gained a couple pounds slowly and leaned the hell out. I also get a lot of extra pull stimulus from climbing (2-3 training sessions a week plus workdays, though generally the climbing I do for work is more like low aerobic activity).
DAY 1: Push + Hinge
- Bench: 2-3 warmup sets, 2-3 sets x max 5 reps- Deadlift: 2-3 warmup sets, 2-3 sets x max 5 reps
- Overhead barbell press: 1 warmup set, 2-3 sets x max 5 reps
- Box jump variations: 3 sets x 8
- Superset:
- Bulgarian Split Squats: 1 bodyweight set, 2-3 sets x max 6 reps
- Inverted Rows: 1 bodyweight sets, 2-3 sets x max 6 reps
- Back Squat: 2-3 warmup sets, 2-3 sets x max 5 reps
- Weighted Pull Ups: 1 warmup set, 2-3 sets x max 5 reps
- Overhead barbell press: 1 warmup set, 2-3 sets x max 5 reps
- Hip Thrust: 1 warmup set, 2-3 sets x max 5 reps
- Superset:
- Weighted Step Ups: 1 bodyweight set, 2-3 sets x max 6 reps
- Tricep Dips: 1 bodyweight sets, 2-3 sets x max 6 reps