Normally I write articles with the intention of helping you, the reader.

It's not often I think to share about my own training but I got an email from an older fella who wanted to know how I setup my own training.

So I thought I'd share what a typical week of training looks like for me.

Just a little background- I'm 38 years old. Been lifting weights since I was 20.

I played a lot of sports in my boyhood and then had a few years of debauchery in college.

This gave me a belly, so I was no longer just a tall skinny kid. I was "skinny-fat".

Even worse!

I'm not a genetic freak. I've struggled most of my life with gaining size and being called "slim".

A thin kid HATES being called slim.

All I wanted to do was to get bigger and stronger.

It took many failures, multiple injuries and plenty of mistakes, but eventually I learned how to get bigger and stronger.

How I train now

My current training is a 4 day upper/lower split.

Most of my energy is spent on the basic barbell movements: squat, bench, deadlift, press. I also do chinups, romanian deadlifts, close-grip bench.

Once a week I do a sled push/pull session.

Some weeks I do an easy day of cardio. This is more to clear my head/jam out to some tunes than it is to lose fat.

I'm in the gym 6 days a week. My longest sessions are about an hour and the short workouts are a half-hour.

I no longer do extensive warmups, foam-rolling or stretching. Once a week I do a little stretching after sled dragging.

There's a lot of debate on whether or not all that foam-rolling, stretching and "mobility" work actually helps.

I don't notice any difference not doing mobility stuff.

If it makes you feel good, then go for it.

Goals and nutrition

As of this writing I've reached my goal of 220 lbs. At 6'2" I still don't look that big.

My current goal is to put on another 10 lbs.

I want to see my shadow and think "damn, that's a big dude".

On the nutrition side of things, I've been consistently eating in a caloric surplus.

An average day is around 3,500 calories right now. This got me from 190lbs. to 220 in just over 3 months.

Goals for the lifts are squat 455, bench 300, press 225, deadlift 500.

That's it for my current training and goals. If there's interest I may start a training log here to share my strength training journey.

I've learned from others and I love to share what I've learned with people also.

If you need help with your training shoot me an email here