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General Fitness

Some of my notes on strength training for my particular style of living.
These are added in no particular order, as and when needed.

What are my goals

Here are my goals in no particular order

  • be injury proof (If you gotta be dumb, you gotta be tough)
  • Focus on strength only
  • better ar running, cycling, hiking and climbing
  • Focus on building a good aerobic base

Some NON-Goals

  • Lose weight
  • Look a certain way

Different Fibre types

Muscles can be divided into slow twitch and fast-twitch fibres. Broadly speaking, the slow-twitch fibres are used for endurance type workloads and the fast-twitch ones are used for explosive workloads.

As a result these fibres have different types of energy systems etc.

Every muscle group has a combination of both of these.

When we do strength train, the slow-twitch fibres are recruited first by the body, followed by the fast twitch ones.

Engaging in strength training is important because this form of stress is a good simulant for the fast twitch ones. As we age the fast twitch fibres are the first to degenerate.

Training for these goals

We do not need a lot of work to incorporate training them. We need as little as 10-15 working sets per muscle group per week to keep them healthy.

The sets need to be heavy enough that you can do only about ⅞ reps. Anything more will lead to hypertrophy. We do not want that.

Building An Aerobic Base: Teaching the body to clear lactate

3 types of systems to fuel muscle contraction:

  1. Phosphagenic System: For short bursts of energy (< 1 minute)
  2. Glycolytic System: For medium bursts of energy (< 5 min).
  3. Oxydative System: Anything from hours to days.

These systems use different amounts of oxygen to fuel them. Sprints need very less amount of oxygen, whereas the most amount of oxygen is used for endurance sports/events.

Aerobic training targets the aerobic threshold, which is the intensity at which blood lactate starts to increase (a sign of fatigue). It is imp to teach the body to clear blood lactate.

As soon as the effort increases into the anaerobic zone, the blood lactate is not getting cleared fast enough, leading to muscle fatigue. Thus with Z2 training the goal is to increase/raise the aerobic threshold.

The purpose of Z2 is to improve lactate clearance by increasing the number of mitochondria in slow-twitch muscle fibres as well as increasing the number of MCT-1 and mLDH (lactate specific transporters which transport lactate away from the muscles).

Lactate is cleared by "SLOW-TWITCH" muscle fibres. So training at a high intensity will not help.

The Phosphoric and Glycolytic systems have limited fuel and as soon as you run out of their fuel, you CAN NOT replenish. The Oxydative system runs on infinite power (fat). As long as you can drink Gatorade and breathe, the system will work. We need to train this system to output more watts.

Strength Training

Here is the consolidated workout system in a clean, copy-pastable format. I have organized it into the Standard Weekly Schedule and the Emergency Heavy Sunday for when life gets in the way.

Part 1: The Standard Weekly Schedule

4 Runs | 2 Gym Sessions

Weekly Flow

  • Monday: Rest Day
  • Tuesday: Run 5k/8k
  • Wednesday: Gym Session A
  • Thursday: Run 5k/8k
  • Friday: Gym Session B
  • Saturday: Run 5k/8k
  • Sunday: Long Run or Cycle (Zone 2)

Gym Session A (Wednesday)

Focus: Knee-dominant strength & Single-leg stability

  1. Squat: 3 Sets | 5–8 Reps (Main heavy lift)
  2. ATG Split Squat: 3 Sets | 8–10 Reps per side
  3. Step Up: 3 Sets | 10–12 Reps per side (Control the descent)
  4. Pull Ups: 3 Sets | 6–10 Reps (Add weight if too easy)
  5. Overhead DB Press: 3 Sets | 8–10 Reps (Second compound lift)
  6. Standing Calf Raises: 3 Sets | 12–15 Reps
  7. Side Plank: 3 Sets | 45 Seconds per side

Gym Session B (Friday)

Focus: Posterior chain, Lateral movement & Shin health

  1. Deadlift: 3 Sets | 5–8 Reps (Main Lift)
  2. Side-to-Side Squat: 3 Sets | 8–10 Reps per side (Cossack Squat)
  3. Horizontal Rows: 3 Sets | 10–12 Reps (Barbell or Dumbbell)
  4. Incline DB Press: 3 Sets | 8–12 Reps (Secondary Lift)
  5. Seated Calf Raises: 3 Sets | 15–20 Reps
  6. Tibialis Raises: 3 Sets | 15–25 Reps (Wall leans or Tib-bar)
  7. Windmills: 3 Sets | 6–8 Reps per side
  8. Dead-Bug: 3 Sets | 12 Reps per side (Slow and controlled)

Part 2: The Emergency "Big 3" Sunday

Use this ONLY when you have missed all workouts during the week.

The Protocol: High intensity, low volume. Focus on perfect form.

  1. Back Squat: 3–4 Sets | 5–8 Reps (Heavy)
  2. Deadlift: 3 Sets | 3–5 Reps (Max intensity)
  3. Pull Ups: 3 Sets | To Failure (Weighted if possible)
  4. Incline Bench/DB Press: 3 Sets | 6–8 Reps
  5. Tibialis Raises: 2 Sets | 20+ Reps (Prehab for next week)
  6. Dead-Bug: 3 Sets | 12 Reps per side (Spinal decompression)

Part 3: Cardio Specifications

  • Endurance (Sunday): 60–120m Zone 2. Choose Cycling if knees feel fatigued.
  • Other runs: I generally do not run with a specific goal in mind. Sometimes I run at my threshold, sometimes I run slow. Depends on my mood and how things are going. Primary goal is to have fun. :)

Some noteworthy achievements

  • I can deadlift 110kg for 5 reps.
  • I can squat 100 kilo for 3 reps.