A 2008 training schedule
Yes, I know. I’ve been skipping on my blogging…again.
Anyhow, here’s what I’ve been doing for the past month or so, training-wise.
I started on Bill Pearl’s program again. However, those of you who’ve been reading my archives while I’ve been lazying will notice a marked difference this time. This time, I opted to begin at Beginner level, from month 1. From scratch, you might even say.
Why on earth would a guy who’s been weight-training since the early ’90s want to do that?
Well, this system is the pretty much the same as what is nowadays called by a new catch-phrase, “HST” (Hypertrophy specific training), which is in my opinion just a fancy new name for a very old method. Ancient, in fact. It’s more or less the same kind of training Sandow and his peers did, basically. The basic gist is that you train your entire body on every workout and that you train 2-3 times per week. That is, you train your whole body 2-3 times a week.
Sounds like a lot of volume at first, and trust me; the last time (spring ‘07) I did this I started at month 8 and I had a tough time coping. I changed almost overnight from a powerlifting routine to this high-volume bodybuilding and it was a bit too much, I am able to state with my 20-20 hindsight.
This time, I figured since I am a beginner for a system such as this, I’d better start at the bottom. Back to basics, if you will. And yes, it seems to be working. 
I’m gaining weight quite nicely, muscle memory taking me up by roughly a kg (2,2lbs) per month again. Some of the weight gain most likely comes from my rekindled creatine use as well.
Other than that, my year thus far has seen another major change; morning walks.
I must admit that I’m lazy and like to sleep late, so if we hadn’t gotten the dog, this would likely never had happened. I do 3-4 morning walks (gasp: aerobics!) a week with our Devil, a nearly 4-month old male Malamute puppy. And I must say I feel much healthier because of it. Also, according to my new-years resolution as well as a few documentaries on TV about the benefits of more veggies in one’s diet, I will attempt to eat more raw veggies and fruits on a daily basis.
The third Full VirtualMeet is approaching, and I’m having a debate with myself over the kind of training I should do for it. On the one hand, I’d want to continue the current training regimen because it’s working real well. However, it contains neither benching, squatting or deadlifting at present and is less than optimal therefore for meetprep.
However, if I do a shorter than short meetprep like last time, I might send myself losing musclemass once again. Hmm, choices choices… :/
We’ll see what happens, although I’ll have to decide within a week or so as to which road to take. I suppose I could always add the required 3 to the current curriculum and do the rest of the bodyparts as sort of accesories. I’ll keep you posted.