So, we moved to Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) for my wife Meg to start her formation to ordination as a priest in the Episcopal church. One of the benefits is that on the same 81 acres is the Episcopal High School (EHS), which is magnificent to stroll through and conveniently has a Fitness Center available for use by VTS families.

The catch is that their barbells are kept under lock and key. Which means I’m in barbell limbo. For a normal person, this is no big deal, but for a powerlifter it is a huge bummer. Powerlifting contests three barbell lifts: the Squat, the Bench Press, and the Deadlift. Not being able to use a barbell to train means I can’t get any better at the lifts themselves or their close variations.

Which means I have to focus on what I can control: developing the qualities that will help when I am able to return to barbell training, whether that’s a week from now or a month or so from now.

I came up with a simple plan that takes advantage of the equipment and location to help aid compliance. My non-powerlifting goals conveniently happened to be to get back down to ~180 lbs/83kg, lower my waist from 36 inches to 34 inches, and retain or build as much muscle in the process. Retain is more accurate. Whether you’re gaining weight or losing weight, a good ratio to shoot for is 60/40. On the way up because of training, every pound you add yields about 0.6 pounds lean body mass - whether that’s denser bones or muscle to 0.4 pounds adipose tissue. And if you’re resistance training on the way down, that should be inverted, or 0.4 pounds of lean body mass lost + 0.6 pounds of adipose tissue. At my Height (5’9”), current weight (190ish) and waist measure, the Navy Body Fat calculator has me sitting at ~20% body fat. You can just start to see “abs” if I’m flexing them. If I achieved my goals, I’d be ~17% bodyfat. Those numbers are for reference only, not all that useful.

The Plan: (notation is always Weight X Reps X Sets)

  • Monday
    • Goblet Squat 90 pounds x 10-20 reps x 3-5 sets. Yesterday I did 90x10x3, and because that’s the heaviest one they have, I’ll build that up to 20x5. It’s only 90 pounds so this is not that bad.
    • 5-3-0 Tempo DB Press 5x3 - I may change this at some point to Dips or another exercise. just difficult to overhead press in this context
    • Chest Supported Row 15x4 - a little volume never hurt anyone. Lots of Lat work because, well, there’s no pulling from the floor.
    • Biceps Curl 12x2-3
  • Tuesday
    • DB Bench x10x3 - today I did 55s for my top sets. If I get to 90s, I’ll start upping the reps here too.
    • Lat Pulldown x10x3
    • Walking lunges - plan was 20s x 15 steps/leg x 4 sets, but space and novelty dictated I did 20s x 10 steps/leg x 2 sets.
    • Triceps Push-downs 12x2-3
  • Wednesday
    • Chin-ups/Pull-ups 6-8 minute time block: do as many submaximal sets as possible in time frame
    • Push-ups 6-8 minute time block
    • Abs 6-8 minute time block
    • Bike or Rower Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) 30-40 minutes
  • Thursday
    • DB One Arm Press x10/hand x3
    • Leg Press x10x3
    • DB One Arm Row x15x4
    • Biceps curl 12x2-3
  • Friday
    • 5-3-0 Tempo DB Romanian Deadlift x5-8x3 if I get to 90s with these we’ll have to revaluate
    • DB Incline Bench 10x3
    • 3-0-3 Tempo Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat (RFESS) - x15x4 starting with just bodyweight here
  • Saturday
    • either ~800m tempo running (80m x 10, 90mx9, of 100m x 8) or 20 minutes Bike or Rower High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), depending on the weather.