7: First Training Block Options
I have been agonising about what to do for my first few weeks of strength training.
Should I use barbell complexes to build endurance and re-familiarise myself with those techniques?
Should I use bodyweight exercises to restore balance, coordination and mobility before doing that?
Should I just do Starting Strength?
Or be really cautious and just do a block of core stability and mobility work first?
Should I do big sets of 100 reps or so to re-establish my technique with the basic movements?
My feelings about those questions:
Complexes might be a bit too fatiguing to begin with after nothing. Also I always end up dreading doing them with any meaningful weight and this initial block is going to be about getting back into the habit of training so I shouldn’t have any additional obstacles like that.
Bodyweight stuff could be a good idea but I will need something more than that to restore the strength in my legs. Also the resistance is less easy to quantify, which makes some forms of load progression less precise. I respond well to the proof of seeing the weight go up rather than just feeling stronger.
I’ve done Starting Strength before and found it boring as hell. Also the number of reps is very low and won’t give me the same amount of practice with the movements, which will also contribute to my strength at this stage. I’m not sure if the total number of reps / week goes above the threshold for optimal hypertrophy either and that’s definitely an interest for me at the moment.
I don’t think I need to do a block of stability and mobility because I haven’t lost that much strength or mobility. For someone who was truly deconditioned though, that would be a great thing to do (so long as they were also applying those things to basic movement patterns).
Very high-rep sets could be a great idea - again for the reason for getting practice in. It would also keep workouts short (since the target number of reps will be met in fewer sets) and mean I could probably train ever day and just get tons of practice and easy gains out of the way.