Changing it up...

I was doing more research on the training I'm doing right now. The German Volume Training, incase you didn't read that post. It works with a 10x10 lifting scheme. I was reading about it and it all sounded good: gain mass and burn fat, best of both worlds! Right? Not really. When I thought I gaining mass, I thought of getting raw power. Apparently, from what I've read, it doesn't give you much power actually. More endurance (which is ok) and fluid in the muscles. You get extreme soreness from the workout, but that's from all the acid build up. You gain weight quickly, but you'll lose the pumped up muscles quickly too. If your main goal is to build showy muscles, then I'd say GVT is good after 3-5 months of heavy training.

Why did I look for high rep workouts in the first place? Because they tend to be easier on the tendons, unlike heavy weight. So my shoulder should be fine with the 10x10 scheme! Not really, actually, the added volume can be pretty hard on the tendons. It's easier at first, but doing the same motion almost or a total of 100 times within 20 minutes puts strain on the tendons. Another reason I wanted a light weight program was because I have limited weights. Max out at 155, not including the bar. That's a pretty light weight for squats, dead lifts, and maybe bench press if you're into benching.

I decided that I will probably work up with something like 5x5 or 3x8-12 until I max out the weights, then find a good high rep program... but I might stick with the GVT with the legs. I think my legs respond better to high reps, and I'd quickly max out the weights using a 5x5 or 3x8-12 plan.

Another up side to stopping the high volume training is that it will take less time. I did 3 exercises per workout, that would be one hour of lifting, without breaks between exercises. That's a bunch of time. I might do 3-5 exercises per workout instead, and with less volume, it'll be less time. With some more time, I could work on my running and/or my handstand and lever work!

I might bring back the GVT sometime when I max everything out, but that should take a long time, because I plan on getting a weight belt ($27) for dips and pull ups. My main goal is to improve bodyweight power (not pushup max, that's endurance), so gymnastic stuff, weighed dips and pull ups, and some kind of leg exercise should eventually take over.

If my main goal is to work on bodyweight power, why don't I only do that? Well, because I'm not very knowledgable in gymnastic training I can't really focus on that... because of that, weight training combined with some bodyweight exercises is more effective for my current sports.

I don't really want to be gymnast-only person. I like the combo of weights with body weight. So we'll see what I eventually end up doing in the long run.