Week 1/ Day 7

10/25/08
REST

*Thoughts on the program after week 1 -

This program is different for me. It feels a little counter intuative because I'm used to not doing much over 4 to 5 reps to gain strength, and even then it's usually 1-2 in any exercise. Here, the main lifts are generaly that way, but there are many assistance exercises that have me doing 10+ reps, which was difficult in the first week because I'm not used to that much lactic acid buildup. Also, I'm used to working at 85-100% of max constantly. Having said that, however, the lower percentages throughout the week for speed work are something I look forward to. Having to constantly work at such high percentages can make it hard to stay motivated all the time. It's nice to get some good work in and still not have to worry about straining so much under the bar. Whether this will work for me to raise my lifts, better than always working near 100% remains to be seen, but this program was written by some of the strongest men in the world so I think it deserves it's chance and I will be following through on the entire 12 weeks.
It needs to be noted, however, that I will make minor modifactions to the program because I am using it for general strength improvement. Not for making myself a better power lifter. I will be throwing in power cleans and various forms of them because it is a skill I don't want to lose. I will also continue to do some gymnastic-style static holds. Short metcons and sprints will be added on some days in the afternoon to keep my conditioning in check. I have to throw out reverse hyper-extensions, a lift the program often advocates, because I do not have access to a reverse-hyper machine and do not know of a replacement exercise that isn't already done on a different day.
So far so good. Looking forward to checking my progress at the end of the 12 weeks.