EDITOR’S NOTE: Ever wonder how a world-class coach actually trains? Wonder what it’s like to train as a “mature athlete?” Welcome to the athlete journal of Charles Staley. A big believer in practicing what he preaches, Charles trains and competes just like his clients. Every Friday you can read what Charles has done this week in his workout sessions.
Good solid week this week, with good results in the low bar squat and deadlift. The tactical pull ups are coming along nicely as well. As you’ll notice if you follow from week to week, generally I have two very simple objectives during any given week:
- A continual reassessment of how well I’m addressing my current needs and weaknesses (relative to my goals), and assuming I’m happy with the answer to that, I move on to my next goal.
- Slightly improve upon what I did the previous week in some way. Either lift more weight, do more total reps with the same weight, both, or, in come cases (such as squats this week), improve the quality of the work I’m doing.
How do I choose which track to take? Simple – I choose whatever type of progression I feel I have the best chance of pulling off at the moment. Generally I’ll always assess my chances of lifting more weight for the same total reps I accomplished last week. If I think I can pull that off, I’ll do it. If not, I’ll choose between more total reps with the same load I lifted the previous week and improving the quality of my work in some way.
If you watch my squat video from this week, although I was happy with the weight I lifted, I wasn’t happy with my left knee, which has a mind of its own lately. After pondering that for a few days, and also due to feeling a bit beat up from Tuesday’s session, I opted to squat with a moderate load on Friday, while facing the mirror and monitoring my knee. I also paused at the bottom for a few seconds on my top sets to increase difficulty and as a way of improving confidence and control in the bottom.
Keep training hard, everyone.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013, 6:20 PM
Volume: 7460lbs
Bodyweight: 198lbs
SQUAT
Set 1: 45 lbs × 5
Set 2: 135 lbs × 3
Set 3: 185 lbs × 2
Set 4: 225 lbs × 1
Set 5: 275 lbs × 1
Set 6: 315 lbs × 1
Set 7: 365 lbs × 1 (Video Below)
BACK EXTENSIONS
Set 1: 95 lbs × 10
Set 2: 130 lbs × 10
KETTLEBELL SNATCH
Set 1: 53 lbs × 5
Set 2: 53 lbs × 5
Set 3: 53 lbs × 5
Set 4: 53 lbs × 5
Set 5: 53 lbs × 5
Set 6: 53 lbs × 5
STANDING CALF RAISE (MACHINE)
Set 1: 90 lbs × 8
Set 2: 90 lbs × 8
Wednesday, November 20, 2013, 6:20 PM
Volume: 11,750 lbs
Bodyweight: 197.6 lbs
BENCH PRESS (DUMBBELL)
Set 1: 100 lbs × 10
Set 2: 130 lbs × 10
Set 3: 177 lbs × 10
Set 4: 190 lbs × 6
TACTICAL PULL UP
Set 1: 197.6 lbs × 1
Set 2: 197.6 lbs × 2
Set 3: 197.6 lbs × 3
Set 4: 197.6 lbs × 4
Set 5: 197.6 lbs × 5
Set 6: 197.6 lbs × 1
Set 7: 197.6 lbs × 2
Set 8: 197.6 lbs × 3
Set 9: 197.6 lbs × 4
BICEP CURL (DUMBBELL)
Set 1: 70 lbs × 8
Set 2: 70 lbs × 8
Set 3: 70 lbs × 8
Friday, November 22, 2013, 6:20 PM
Volume: 12,610 lbs
Bodyweight: 199.6 lbs
HIGH BAR SQUAT
Set 1: 45 lbs × 5
Set 2: 45 lbs × 5
Set 3: 95 lbs × 5
Set 4: 135 lbs × 5
Set 5: 185 lbs × 5
Set 6: 225 lbs × 3
Set 7: 225 lbs × 3
Set 8: 225 lbs × 3
Notes: Today I was facing the mirror and focusing on controlling my left knee using moderate weight.
DEADLIFT
Set 1: 135 lbs × 3
Set 2: 225 lbs × 3
Set 3: 315 lbs × 1
Set 4: 455 lbs × 1 (Video Below)
Notes: Finally got a reasonably good deadlift in, although I still wish it hadn’t felt that heavy.
LEG EXTENSION
Set 1: 135 lbs × 10
Set 2: 135 lbs × 10
Set 3: 135 lbs × 10
STANDING CALF RAISE (MACHINE)
Set 1: 90 lbs × 8
Set 2: 90 lbs × 8
Set 3: 90 lbs × 8
Sunday, November 24, 2013, 6:20 PM
Volume: 8,140 lbs
Bodyweight: 201.2 lbs
BENCH PRESS
Set 1: 45 lbs × 5
Set 2: 95 lbs × 5
Set 3: 135 lbs × 5
Set 4: 185 lbs × 3
Set 5: 205 lbs × 2
Set 6: 225 lbs × 2
Set 7: 230 lbs × 2
Set 8: 190 lbs × 6
Set 9: 165 lbs × 10
BICEP CURL (DUMBBELL)
Set 1: 70 lbs × 10
Set 2: 70 lbs × 10
Set 3: 70 lbs × 10