Next block, probably hypertrophy

I'll be getting my next powerlifting block today from my coach Vernon Smith. I'm pretty sure I'll doing hypertrophy again. That's bitter sweet. On one hand I seem to lose weight a lot quicker when I'm doing hypertrophy. Hypertrophy builds a lot of muscle, makes a guy look pumped, or swole (swole seems to be the new popular phrase). On the other hand my body isn't used to it. It hurts. And I struggle getting through the workouts. But I sure love the prospect of getting bigger and leaner.

I have another powerlifting meet on April 28th in Gallup NM. Its the NASA powerlifting (natural athlete strength association) state championships meet. I'm hoping to get a 450/300/500/1250

maximum streangth block

On Monday I started a maximum streangth program, sets of 5 reps. No more hypertrophy, sets of 10 reps. In some ways I'll miss hypertrophy. I get pretty muscular during hypertrophy. And it's easy to loose weight too. But the big strength gains comes during the blocks of 5 reps. The next Powerlifting meet is in March. It's the USAPL Powerlifting state championships. My middle child will be competing with me also.

Start of a recovery week

Today was day 12 of my Powerlifting block. Tomorrow starts my first day of a recovery week. I'm looking forward to some rest and recovery . My body is tired. Today I had to use Spark to get through my workout. I haven't had to use Spark in almost two years. I've been training very hard the last 3 weeks. This is the first heavy hypertrophy program I've done in years. I'm not used to it yet. I'm getting great results though. After my recovery week I'll be starting a power building program of 5 reps.

It burns!!!

Today was the first day of my new programming. Coach Vernon had me doing hypertrophy. That means high reps and short rest intervals. My plan was to go into the gym gung-ho and only take 45-60 second rests between sets. After my first set I realized short rests was NOT going to happen. I had no idea hypertrophy was going to burn so bad. I don't remember hypertrophy EVER hurting like this before. I'm not sure if it hurts like this because it's been so long since I've done hypertrophy (it's been 10+ years). Perhaps it's because I've never been this strong and done this much weight with high reps and short rests. Or if it's just because I'm getting old. But regardless it surprised me. This block of training is going to be unpleasant. The good news is hypertrophy makes it easier to slim down. That makes me happy. I've been hovering around 304-302lbs for almost a month. It would be really nice to get into the 200's again.