2024 Training Schedules

We're just a few days into 2024, and I've been working on my 2024 training schedule for weeks now. I'm curious what you fellows are planning for 2024. Do any of you compete in any athletics or events, or just train for health and personal fitness goals?

I think I've finally settled (as much as I can) on the rough plan for this year. I'm nervous to do this because I hate to waste my time, and I can see myself putting all this effort and thought into planning out several month's worth of training and then either A)not doing anything at all because I just quit or get busy with work, etc (unlikely), or B)doing the same thing all year long no matter what, (at times going through the motions, other times working very hard and being productive), but in the end, just doing the same kind/style of training all year long (this is most likely what could happen, but I'm determined not to let it happen). As you can imagine, if I do either of those things then it renders the act of putting any effort into planning at all a waste.....AND I CANNOT ABIDE WASTE!

So....there's my motivational force. I will not be the waster of my own time.

Here's my rough idea for what I'm gonna do this year.

January 1 - January 28: Greyskull LP(I do 3 days a week, that could change)

January 29 - February 4: I will test strength with 1 Rep Maxes and do a de-load session or two. Could have a bench press PR by the end of January, we'll see.

February 5 - March 31: Greyskull LP

April 1 - April 7: Strength Test with 1 Rep Maxes and deload during this week. As long as nothing catastrophic happens I'll definitely be getting that bench press PR, and I'll be getting set up to get close to a SQUAT! PR. Press and Deadlift are still a ways off.

April 8 - May 5th: (Conditional - I will do what my body allows me to do.) If my tennis elbow is improved by this time I'll do Pen & Paper Strength App's DB Strength program(4 weeks, almost exclusively dumbbell focused). If I'm not able to do DB strength then I will be doing basic kettlebell training(probably buy Pavel Tsatsouline's book and go from there) and the PT workouts put out by GORUCK, or some other similar program. I have one 20kg/44lb kettlebell and the only thing I've ever done with it are 2-arm swings and goblet squats, but I'd like to do a kettlebell focused program that includes the other swings, snatches, presses, Turkish Get Ups, etc.

I don't want to stick with only a barbell based linear progression program 100% of the time. I'm better at being honest with myself now than I was in the past, and I can admit now that 2 big reasons why my old ways didn't work is because I would 1)get bored and just start going through the motions instead of pushing myself, or 2)tear my body down with heavy barbell training for months on end with no break and get to the point I felt stuck and all of this was a waste. I'm inserting these relatively brief "palate cleansers" into my yearly schedule to prevent those 2 things. Hopefully I'll stay fresh physically and mentally.

May 6 - July 28: Olympic Lifting Camp & Training. I've never done Olympic style lifting so I'll be either finding a coach or teaching myself the lifts and working on getting comfortable with them and hopefully stronger over 12 weeks.

July 29 - August 4: This will be a busy week, but I will be doing strength testing on the Olympic lifts and my slow lifts (BP, Squat, DL, Press).

August 5 - September 29: Back to Greyskull LP, or I will try Wendler's 5/3/1 out. I bought the book, will read it sometime soon, and I'll be ready to give it a try at some point in this year. I've never done 5/3/1 or anything like it, I don't think, but I don't know....never read the book.

September 30 - October 13: Just a short 2 week break from the bar, and I should have progressed enough with my rucking by this time to devote some time to setting some PR's. I'll also be doing some military/GORUCK style PT workouts. I've never really done this stuff before, kinda seems like crossfit style training, sandbag throwing/lifting, calisthenics, etc. Should be a nice change of pace and very challenging for me. I'll admit to having more than a little fear that I'll hate these weeks because I'll get anxious about losing "under the bar" strength, but I can remedy that easily by adding just 1 day a week of slow barbell strength training. That's enough to maintain almost 100% of my strength.

October 14 - November 3: Kettlebell training & Throwing.
When I was in 7th and 8th grade I participated on my school's track & field team. I threw the discus and shot put, did pole vaulting, and tried (but failed miserably) at running the 400 meters. I was decent at throwing the discus, less so at the shot put, and I wasn't bad at pole vaulting. Roughly 10 years ago I competed in the beginner class of a few Scottish Highland Games style events and I enjoyed them and did okay. I did get really disappointed after the second one and decided that I wouldn't enter another competition until I was able to train and prepare for it. So my plans are to slowly start putting together a collection of throwing implements, (stones, hammers, weights, and cabers) to start practicing for Scottish throwing events. I also want to get a discus and a shot so I can start throwing those again, mostly just for fun. I will also be doing lifting in this time with a program designed for throwing athletes. So probably something more ballistic/power based than a powerlifting style linear progression. Haven't picked anything out yet. Still have to do the research. I know the name Dan John, and I know Aaron Ausmus(Pen & Paper Strength App) was a shot putter in college, so I'm sure I'll find something good to do.

November 4 - December 22: Olympic lifting for 7 more weeks

December 23 - December 29: Strength testing & de-load, I'm assuming it will be for Olympic lifts only, 1 Rep Maxes.

December 30-31: Wine, Weed, Wyzzrrd Drugs, Pizza, Mini-Corndogs.....ya know, typical Bacchanalia to end the year. Watch some old Rankin & Bass X-mas specials, listen to Nat King Cole, that kinda shite.

Notes:
I'll have to buy a bunch of stuff to complete all of this. I really don't have a lot of dumbbell equipment, a pair of hex-head 10lbers, 2 cheap loadable DB handles is all. I have 6 x 45lb bumper plates, so I'll need some 25lb and 10lb bumpers probably. I'll probably buy a new bar for the Oly lifting. Need a sandbag or sandbags, a discus, a shot put, some rocks and other Scottish highland games implements, which are difficult to obtain if you can't make them yourself (I'll probably just make them, not the rocks though....you don't make the rocks, you just go find em), and I need a few more kettlebells. I'll probably need more stuff, but that's most of what I'll need.

It may seem like I'm leaving something out, but trust me, I did not. I know I need to do cardio. I know I need to build better eating habits. So much of this plan is built on the assumption that I'll get my arse in gear and improve my dietary habits so I can lose some fat. I've made a lot of progress in the preceding 18 months, that shouldn't be ignored or discounted, but I need to push harder. So I'll be sticking with my Zone 2 walks every day, and keeping after my rucking and other HIIT/Tabata work for higher intensities as I'm able to, I'll progress it just like my lifting.

The diet is the only weak link right now. So I gotta fix that shite.

What y'all got on the schedule for 2024?