Warrior Training

***Things just got even crazier! Click here to see my revised schedule, including training for TOUGH MUDDER!***

Even though I just started week 6 of my 9-week mass-building phase, I am already gearing up for what I plan on doing following my meatheadedness (is that a word?). Part of the fun of being fit and active is being able to focus on your goals. Part of the fun of goals is being able to change them from time to time based on your aspirations or mood at different times of the year.

Last year, I competed in a Warrior Dash run. It was my first time competing in such an event, and I had a blast. I had so much fun, in fact, that I have decided to register and compete again on Saturday July 21st.

I would be lying if I didn't say that I thought the Warrior Dash last year was going to be easy. Come on, I am a guy who stays very active with hockey, P90X, Insanity, Asylum, etc. I figured a silly 5km run would be, well, a walk in the park. I was wrong.

I did fairly well at the event, finishing in around the 30min mark from what I remember, but I wasn't anticipating the amount of hills involved with the course I ran. To be honest, for those of you familiar with "mud-runs" like Warrior Dash, I felt the 'obstacles' were fairly simple and easy, I didn't really have a problem with them at all. But as I mentioned before, there were a lot of hills to run up and down. The event I attended was held at a ski resort, so the entire race wound its way up and down ski hills - steep ones - so I certainly was gassed by the end!

On top of all of that, my training, or lack thereof, could've been better. Now I will not admit to being a great distance runner, but I certainly knew that when I finished that race, that I could have done better.

As I said, I was very active leading up to Warrior Dash last year, but my activity was not really focused on what I was to be competing in. Sure, I was doing some leg work, some upper body work, and even some cardio, but none of that was really becoming specific enough to maximize my results at the race. On top of all of that, I was completely naive in thinking that doing Tony Horton's P90X MC2 One on One: Base & Back the day before the race wasn't going to hinder my results. I have touched on this in the past before as well, speaking about proper recovery.

Any individual who trains for a specific event should know that the recovery time is just as important - if not more important than the training itself. Your training should be aimed at making your physical performance peak at the right time. You can be a very active person, but your body is constantly progressing through different stages of repair and/or known as the "General Adaptation Syndrome". Professional athletes know this, as they attempt to get their physical abilities to peak right at the beginning of their season, and then simply "maintain" their strength and power throughout their sporting season.

The schedule (listed below) will be to focus on a few things. First of all, I will be training in 3 periodized phases. Phase 1 will be designed to create a base-level of fitness while increasing my overall conditioning. Not only that, but Phase 1 will be my step back into serious anaerobic conditioning. I have been enjoying my mass phase, but I am currently focusing on building muscle, so my conditioning has taken a bit of a back seat, so it will be time to start to work off some of the "goo" (see: body fat).

Phase 2 will be building off of Phase 1, building strength while maintaining overall fitness levels. There will naturally be a bit of muscle hypertrohpy at this point, but the main goals will be to increase strength and athleticism.

Finally, Phase 3 will be designed to increase my performance for the event. The idea is to build on the strength gained in Phase 2 and make that strength dynamic and useful. Strong muscles are only as good as what you train them to do, so Phase 3 will be aimed at making them fast and efficient. I will then end off with a few recovery days to rest up and recovery before the event on Saturday July 21st, 2012.

I will be combining P90X2 and Insanity: The Asylum for majority of the schedule but there will be a few routines from Insanity and the One on One series thrown in as well. One thing that may seem very unusual to me at first is the order of the weeks. When I first started out P90X a few years ago, "Day 1" of each week was always on my Monday. I eventually transitioned to Sundays being "Day 1". Now, since I will also be playing summer hockey late on Monday nights, I will be coordinating my schedule so that Tuesdays are my "off" days. That results in my weeks running Wednesdays to Tuesdays.

Phase 1
3 weeks
Wednesday April 25th - Tuesday May 15th 2012

Day 1 - X2 Balance & Power
Day 2 - Asylum Speed & Agility and Relief
Day 3 - Asylum Strength
Day 4 - X2 Core
Day 5 - Insanity Pure Cardio
Day 6 - AM: X2 Total Body and X2 Ab Ripper - PM: Hockey
Day 7 - Off/Recovery

Recovery/Transition Week
1 week
Wednesday May 16th - Tuesday May 22nd 2012

Day 1 - Asylum Back to Core and One on One 20/12 Abs
Day 2 - Insanity Max Recovery
Day 3 - One on One Road Warrior
Day 4 - Yoga
Day 5 - Asylum Overtime and X2 Ab Ripper
Day 6 - AM: Insanity Cardio Recovery - PM: Hockey
Day 7 - Off/Recovery

Phase 2
4 weeks - alternating
Wednesday May 23rd - Tuesday June 19th 2012

Week 1/3
Day 1 - X2 Chest, Back & Balance
Day 2 - Insanity Plyo Cardio Circuit
Day 3 - P90X+ Abs/Core Plus and Insanity Cardio Abs
Day 4 - One on One Shoulders & Arms MC2
Day 5 - Yoga and X2 Ab Ripper
Day 6 - AM: X2 Base & Back - PM: Hockey
Day 7 - Off/Recovery

Weeks 2/4
Day 1 - X2 V Sculpt
Day 2 - Asylum Vertical Plyo and Relief
Day 3 - One on One Killer Abs and 20/12 Abs
Day 4 - One on One UBX
Day 5 - Yoga and X2 Ab Ripper
Day 6 - AM: X2 Base & Back - PM: Hockey
Day 7 - Off/Recovery

Recovery/Transition Week
1 week
Wednesday June 20th - Tuesday June 26th 2012

Day 1 - Asylum Back to Core and One on One 20/12 Abs
Day 2 - Insanity Max Recovery
Day 3 - One on One Road Warrior
Day 4 - Yoga
Day 5 - Asylum Overtime and X2 Ab Ripper
Day 6 - AM: Insanity Cardio Recovery - PM: Hockey
Day 7 - Off/Recovery

Phase 3
3 weeks
Wednesday June 27th - Tuesday July 17th 2012

Day 1 - X2 P.A.P. Lower
Day 2 - Asylum Speed & Agility and Relief
Day 3 - X2 P.A.P. Upper
Day 4 - Run Training
Day 5 - Asylum Vertical Plyo and Overtime
Day 6 - AM: Asylum Game Day and Relief - PM: Hockey
Day 7 - Off/Recovery

I will complete the schedule on Tuesday July 17th and then have a few days of stretching/yoga to recover before the race on Saturday July 21st.

Diet

Once I finish up with my mass phase, I will be cutting back from my quite-consistent 4k calories a day to either maintain or slightly reduce my weight from there. Some people may ask, "Why build muscle to then turn around and try and lose weight?" If done properly, the idea behind a mass building phase is to do just that - build muscle. Because of the large amounts of calories consumed to try and increase muscle tissue, it is inevitable that I have gained a few extra non-lean pounds as well.

I then follow that up with some high-intense interval training combined with some resistance training and a correct diet, I will aim to "cut" the fat off of my body so that I lose a bit of weight losing some body fat while attempting to maintain as much muscle as possible.

So for my diet, I will be aiming for a slight calorie reduction and a 40/30/30 plan again. The only difference here is that I will be aiming for about 40% protein rather than carbs.

Summary

I will keep everyone updated on my progress through this intense schedule as well as my results at this year's Warrior Dash, so stay tuned!

Sources:
Photo - http://www.accelerator3359.com/Wrestling/bios/warrior.html