I got injured a bit ago and as I couldn't bear doing nothing, other than sitting on my arse, I thought I might go to the free weights gym near me. I was a bit worried about putting on loads of weight so I asked a Power Lifter for some advice and he recommended the following as a program where you would get stronger but without bulking up and wouldn't take up too much time:
"I know a lot of powerlifters and others working for strength that find 2X week to be preferable because of the increased recuperation time. Two ways to do it, either a push/pull split with squats going in on the push day, DL (or another similar exercise) going in on pull day) or upper lower split. Of the two, I'd go with the push pull,or option 2, with I think is much more preferable, a full body routine, BUT not the same routine, emphasizing certain things each session. For example,
Sked A
Squats, Mil Press, Rows, Dips
Sked B
DL's, BP, Chins, and one to two other aux exercises
If doing this, emphasize the big compound moves to maximize the more bqng for the buck in hitting all muscle groups. For this type of training (NOT going for size) a rep scheme of 5's and 3's might better suit you, i.e. take a few warmups (progressive-85,105) then hit a couple, say 2-3 top worksets of 3-5 reps. one of my favorite schemes for this is week one, after warm ups, 3x5 next week, add weight to the top worksets and go 2x5, week 3, addd more weight to the top work weight and go 1x5, week 4, add more weight to the top workset and get 1x2-3 reps. Then start over with the same progression, but start out a little higher than you did the first time. You may gain a little muscle, but it's primarily a strength cycle."
DL - Deadlift
BP - Bench Press
When I do squats I follow them up with some Jump squats (about 30% of 1RM) so I stay a bit more explosive than slow and pondering
Been doing if for about a month now (i.e. 1 cycle) and although relatively still embarrassingly weak compared to most of the people in there I am getting stronger and haven't put on any weight yet. Don't know how relevant to climbing it is as my finger is still a bit screwed but I don't think it can do any harm if you want a bit of a change.
Tim
P.s. Good forum, although I do hate you for wasting away far too much of my time at work
