04 Mar The definitive plan for Ashman moving ahead

I recognize that I will never be an elite lifter anymore, my best days are behind me and those were during my rugby and amateur strongman days.

I have been doing a lot of thinking the past few weeks about the direction of my training, my obligations in life and my goals. I have been in quite a rut for about 1-2 months, even with a meet coming up, in my training and it is bugging me badly. Training is a huge part of my life, something I love and need. For it to be subpar is something I cannot live with for long.

I still have goals that I want to attain for strength, some of them are retreads as I had achieved them when I was younger and with a healthier body which was not beaten up by injury and abuse.

Focusing on building a client base in a new state, working with Game Plan and  life in general, training 4 days a week is becoming harder to mentally accomplish and sometimes physically with my lifestyle. Add on top of that a growing online training business and you have a lot of juggling to do.

Herein lies a few key points:

1. I like getting stronger (or at least working towards that) so that won’t change. No matter how sore I get, how beat up I feel, I will always find a way to work on that in some way.

2. I like looking good. My accessory work is always built around bodybuilding principles, balance and reps. I choose for weak points and for some semblance of aesthetics.

3. I love volume. Really love volume. Mentally I won’t be able to cut back on volume because I truly believe that volume is a big key to progress. There are exceptions for sure, but generally speaking you do not improve unless you work hard and do a solid amount of work.

I need to reduce total days in the 3 (with dedicated lifting) to 3 days a week. I will probably still go 4 or 5 but the extra days could be “fun” shit instead of a written plan.

How will I structure it? I am using the 10/20/Life ideals with my own twist on it. I am a coach, I consider myself fucking good at what I do and part of the fun for me is tweaking programs to see what can come out of them.

Instead of waiting, I started it today. I know… bad time for meet prep but my head needed a shift, my body needed a shift and it is something I have to do.

** Flat Barbell Bench Press **
– 135.0 lbs x 8 reps
– 205.0 lbs x 5 reps
– 225.0 lbs x 3 reps
– 275.0 lbs x 2 reps
– 315.0 lbs x 2 reps
– 345.0 lbs x 2 reps
– 365.0 lbs x 3 reps

I’ll take this with my shoulder issues. 3 solid reps. A mental fuck from several months ago when I could do reps with this but that’ll come back.

** 3 Board Press **
– 315.0 lbs x 5 reps
– 315.0 lbs x 5 reps
– 315.0 lbs x 5 reps

** Medium Band Fly **
– 15 reps
– 15 reps
– 15 reps

** Rack Press **
– 135.0 lbs x 8 reps
– 135.0 lbs x 8 reps
– 135.0 lbs x 8 reps

These are harder than you think. Standing press while pushing the bar against the rack,

** Lateral Dumbbell Raise **
– 25.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 25.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 25.0 lbs x 20 reps

** Rear Delt Machine Fly **
– 130.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 130.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 130.0 lbs x 20 reps

** Swiss Bar Bench **
– 185.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 185.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 185.0 lbs x 10 reps

Hands on the middle handles for extra tricep suckage.

** Rope Push Down **
– 110.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 110.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 110.0 lbs x 20 reps

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