MELTDOWN

[Q.]

I was going to try to do the Meltdown I routine for the next six weeks but I don't think there's any way in hell that I could superset four exercises with no rest in my gym. TOO CROWDED!

Anybody done Meltdown? Anybody have problems supersetting because it's too crowded?

I assume that the key to Meltdown is to work the whole body and to just wear youself out doing it. So, if I could find exercises in different muscle groups that I could superset without having to wait for equipment, I'd get similar results.

Today, I just supersetted pullups and deadlifts (light) right off because I could get access to the equipment and that felt like a pretty good start. It, also, bought me extra time due to no rest breaks which enabled me to add some more stuff to the workout.

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[Jean-Paul]

That really is one of the disadvantages of working out in a commercial gym. I am so thankful that I don't have to deal with that in my facility. What I used to do in that situation is simply tell people I am doing a superset and ask them politely if they can wait, or time my sets to where I am hitting the station when they are resting. If it is even too crowded for that, just have a backup so you can keep moving.

I can't imagine anyone in a commercial gym doing either deads or chins though so you should have been okay with that one. A benchpress, one-arm row combo would keep everything close by, so you wouldn't even have to leave the bench. If fact, you can even throw in a set of bench knee raises to at a third exercise in that superset. If someone has the DBs you need, go one up and do less reps, or one increment down and do a few more reps, or do a variation that makes the exercise more difficult. In your situation you just need to plan ahead a little more to be able to adapt on the fly.

[Q.]

I work out at a university gym... where I work (not a student) and I go during lunch time. I'm used to doing what's available and usually it's only the arm stuff that's not free. However, I gave the Iron Manual w/o a shot today and had pretty good success. I was able to superset a quad composed of pull-ups, squats, incline shoulder pressed and deadlifts. I was amazed that I could get it in! I left my towel on the shoulder press bench and the DB's next to it and nobody complained. I was supposed to take a 90 second rest between rounds but, because I had everything available and didn't know when one of the stations might get taken, I just kept on going straight through... 12 sets! Wore me out and I was running out of steam before I finished the second quad, three set each of dips, weighted step-ups, seated cable rows and hangling leg raises. I'm ready to go back though!

Thanks for the feedback. I guess you just gotta do what you can, when you can.

[Jean-Paul]

12 SETS! Crikey! You are tough. That looks like quite a combo. Hm. I may try it on my thursday workout.

Yeah, in a commercial gym you should have NO problem finding a squat rack! You just need to fight for mirror space with all those tan little narcissists running around.

[PikeKing]

I love this style of training.

Currently I do this circuit 4 times them go throw up!

Front squats, Single arm dumbell bench on a ball, high cable pulls, Lunges.

I rest for 2 minutes at the end of each.

Its definatly a 'bring your own bucket' style of training.

[Jean-Paul]

I love it! Okay, I am going to try this tomorrow. There is nothing better than working so hard you have to yak!

[Q.]

Originally posted by Jean-Paul:
12 SETS! Crikey! You are tough.

No, not that tough... I was only doing like 35's on the squat and 45's on the deadlift because I didn't know how I'd hold up and I wanted to finish the routine. Next time, I know I can go a little heavier but not much with no recovery time.

Oh, and it calls for 10 reps of pull-ups and I think I did 10, 8, and 5 or so unassisted. Next time I'll kick down the assist bar when I start petering out to finish the reps. That was my first run through so it was uncharted territory for me.

I definitely needed a rest day today so I did 20 minutes on the bike (steady, not HIIT today), shot some hoops and then did a bunch of ab work. But heck, I'll be 49 years old in about a month so I felt like I was doing pretty good!

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