Tips on creating workout plan

[blindautist]

Hi everyone, I’m creating my own personal workout plan and would love to hear some of your recommendations or changes you would make. Some background info and goals in mind:

• current active duty military, 25 years old, former college athlete (and the injuries that come with that lol)
• want a well rounded physique and conditioning. Definitely need work on mobility. ( I want to be pretty good at everything, not the best at one thing and be healthy)

-I’ve never used kettlebells before until two weeks ago. So still learning correct form, the only two exercises I have done is a strict double KB 20KG C+P following the giant style. And KB swings at 24KG.

Here is my current idea and what I’ve been following. Please let me know if I have any gaps that need to be filled or changes I should make.

M/W/F:

• Foam roll all lower body and back
• 30 mins double KB C+P
• 10 mins swing
• Double KB bent over rows
• 4x5-8 weighted pull ups
• 4x5-8 weighted chest dips
• some form of heavy squat ( stuck between doing double KB front squat or barbell squat, I’m not sure)
• once a week doing a heavy barbell deadlift.

T/Th/Sat:

• Foam roll
• 30-60 min LSS run
• Stretch

Please let me know if you can see any where I can make improvements! Thank you

 

[smartcoder]

@blindautist What's the warm up for the M/W/F?

Do u go through a cooldown after working out?

Is the training periodiesed? (increase TUT, intensity, or complexity each week (make sure to incorperate a deload week))

What kind of injuries do u have?

Why are u doing doulbe KB instead of single?

 

[hunter101]

@smartcoder I've never had an adequate explanation for what you're even trying to achieve with a cooldown.

And personally I believe doubles are almost universally better. The exceptions are snatches, where I rate single and double kb snatch about equally for now, and very heavy single kb presses.

 

[blindautist]

@hunter101 Haha I need to be able to touch the floor with my palms for 10 seconds for a fitness test for my planned job after the military

 

[hunter101]

@blindautist Sure, but that's just a question of stretching, isn't it?

You could do that after the workouts if that's what you prefer, or on a different day, or in the morning or evening, opposite your workout.

 

[blindautist]

@hunter101 Yes my cooldown on my cardio days is just a 5 minute walk then static stretching

 

[smartcoder]

@hunter101

I've never had an adequate explanation for what you're even trying to achieve with a cooldown.

Re leangthen the compressed tissue from the condtioning phase of the work out. The most basic cooldown would cover six things;

Spinal Extension, Spinal Flexion, Rotation (once left and right) and hip extension (also once left and right). Ideally you'd want to get to a point where u can hold each postion for 2 minutes.

 

[hunter101]

@smartcoder If I'm doing squats the conditioned tissue, my glutes and quads, been lengthened plenty already.

I still don't see why this is necessary, or even desirable.

Most times I see people talking about cooldowns it looks very different to what you're suggesting, so it seems there's not even a general idea of what it's supposed to be.

If you like doing it, by all means.

 

[smartcoder]

@hunter101

If I'm doing squats the conditioned tissue, my glutes and quads, been lengthened plenty already.

What about the spine which has been compressed by a heavey ass barbell/kettlebells ect? Muscles aren't the only tissue that needs to be considered.

On top of that your gonna tell me your legs dont feel tight the day(s) after working them out?

Most times I see people talking about cooldowns it looks very different to what you're suggesting, so it seems there's not even a general idea of what it's supposed to be.

Depends who your talking about. Most fitness influancers aren't detailed with what exacaly a cooldown is becasue people usally ignore it thinking its not important.

 

[hunter101]

@smartcoder You're talking about compressive forces on the spine during exercise as if it's a catastrophic incident, which it's not. You're putting a stress on your body, and then you adapt to it.

If you really want some decompression, just include chinups in your training.

Of course my legs will feel a bit tight the day after. Move movement gets rid of that. I prefer spending my training time on training, but as I stated previously if you like doing it, by all means continue doing so. Just don't make it out like stretching is mandatory for everyone regardless of circumstances.

Spinal Extension, Spinal Flexion, Rotation (once left and right) and hip extension (also once left and right). Ideally you'd want to get to a point where u can hold each postion for 2 minutes.

This just sounds like stretching with a different name. If a "cooldown" is just stretching, count me out - I don't care unless I have a specific mobility restriction that keeps me from doing what I want.

I used to have issues getting to full squat depth. Then I worked on that, and now I maintain that just by squatting to full depth. I used to have mediocre overhead mobility, but I worked on that, and now I can maintain it with overhead pressing.

Depends who your talking about. Most fitness influancers aren't detailed with what exacaly a cooldown is becasue people usally ignore it thinking its not important.

I've heard people referring to stretching and low intensity cardio as cooldowns. It just seems to me like they're overcomplicating it to such an extent that beginners will quit, or spend their time doing stuff that doesn't contribute to their goals.

I've talked to people who'd do 15 minutes of cardio as a warmup, 15 minutes of stretching and 10 minutes of cooldown, and wonder how everyone else seem to get a lot out of their 1 hour workouts.

 

[blindautist]

@smartcoder I’ll foam roll, then I’ll do probably around 10-20 bodyweight squats and push-ups with some arm circles. I only go through a cooldown stretch after my cardio days purely because of time constraints. I scale these based on intensity and weight used (about 80-85% of 1RM) and then I’ll retest every 5-6 weeks depending how I feel. I also do a complete deload week after every retest with no lifting, only cardio, foam rolling and stretching. My injuries include a busted ac joint, elbow and knee pain (which have reduced since moving away from so much heavy barbell work), along with super tight hips. I’m using double as I still like the muscle developed it creates and just seems to resonate more in my mind as a replacement for barbell work.

 

[hunter101]

@blindautist Some bullet points with my thoughts:

• The exercise selection is good. You're pretty much covering everything.
• How are you going to progress this?
  • 4x5-8 on pullups and dips indicates double progression, which is a fine idea and definitely works
  • 30 minutes of C&P 3x/week could be done using The Giant
• 10 minutes of swings with 24kg? Unless you're going for very long sets this seems light. I prefer my swings to either be really heavy or high volume.
  • Or you could swap them for snatches
  • You could even alternate between blocks of The Giant with a 10-minute block of snatches, and blocks of King Sized Killer with a 10-20 minute block of some barbell press - strict, push press or bench.
• Foam rolling? If you like it, feel free to do it. I don't, and I feel great. But if it feels good for you, go ahead.
• This plan is high volume, but not excessively so. If you feel like you can stick with it, go ahead.

 

[mattt]

@blindautist That looks like an insane amount of volume to me. If you can C&P for 30 minutes and still have gas in the tank for everything that comes after that, you are either lifting too light, in too few reps, or not doing enough sets.

I'd do just two exercises per day. Clean and press + squats is a classic combination, so you might want to do that for workout A.

Swings + TGU is good too. Or swings + a push up variation. That can be day B.

If you feel like adding even more stuff, I'd consider pull ups and maybe something with a sandbag. I really enjoy sandbag get ups. You can also start working on your snatches and jerks, which are more technical exercises and take a while to learn.

 

[blindautist]

@mattt That’s fair! I have noticed I struggle a lot more with my pull ups and dips since I started doing the C+P. What if I just cut it down from 30 to 10-15 mins? And I have to include pull ups and either a dip or push up variation just due to my job.

 

[mattt]

@blindautist I'd cut down both time and number of exercises. You seem to be programming kettlebells as if they were dumbbells, and that's missing the point IMO. Kettlebells are more of a jack-of-all-trades minimalistic fitness tool.

Maybe just do swings for 20 minutes, followed by sets of pull ups and pushups (alternating days). Or you can set up a timer for 30 minutes and do one set of swings, one set of pushups, and then swings...).

Or just clean and press + squats as in DFW. Then the pullups/push ups.

Look at Mark Wildman's Tetris of Training for examples on how to program the main KB lifts.

Also you might want to consider going with heavier weights, since you are already pretty fit. At least 32 kg for swings and 24 for everything else.

 

[hunter101]

@blindautist I think your plan looks mostly fine. I've done more volume than that.

 

[hunter101]

@mattt

If you can C&P for 30 minutes and still have gas in the tank for everything that comes after that, you are either lifting too light, in too few reps, or not doing enough sets.

I've done The Giant with 2x32kg, The Giant for front squat with 2x32kg, and The Giant for snatch with 2x24kg at the same time.

What would constitute too few reps or sets of C&P?

 

[seekyefirst]

@blindautist With your goals (general strength/health/mobility), my suggestion is to start catching up on Dan John's podcast. I'm aware this isn't a direct answer, but he's a hugely experienced coach and you'll get a lot of ideas from him.

 

[roundspheal01]

@blindautist I would try and dial in the 1 hand kb c and p first before going into double c and p. Especially if you’re not sure about your form.

 

[lukeh]

@blindautist This will definitely keep you athletic, but may get boring after a few weeks. I would highly recommend allotting some time to learn new kettlebell movements. Maybe work on the snatch or jerk for a few minutes each day as warm-up cool down. Or even practice them with very light weight before your cardio on non-KB days. They don’t have to be working sets. Just watch a YouTube tutorial, and practice the movements. By the time you get bored, you’ll be proficient enough to add these to the mix.