Had to do a "hit and run" workout. Stuff to do stuff to do..I'll be glad when the kids are out of school for teh summer, I can get on a morning workout schedule. Anyway..
Crap..I have a cold. I rested this weekend but I am hitting it today cuz my head will explode if I don't work out and with all this congestion, that wouldn't be pretty.
Legs are really sore from the Push presses. I haven't done any lifting with my legs since the back injury. No pain back wise..so I will be including some form of squats/lunges in future workouts. (but not saturday)
Supersets
DB Inc Bench 2x8x35, 1x5x45, 2x5x55
DB BO Row 3x5x55
Chins 3x6xbw
Dips 3x8xbw
Bike 30 minutes - 8.8 miles (still shooting for 9 miles in 30min)
(I vary my efforts while on the bike. I try to pay attention to keeping rpm up while shooting for 19 miles within the 30 minutes. So even though I'm not doing intervals specifically, it's certainly not steady state cardio. Heart rate is up and down throughout with max efforts throughout)
I still feel like I've been run over. First time sick in a lonnnng time though. I'm just now beginning to think about getting back into the gym but it will probably be next week before I attempt it. Just trying to regain my footing..
Wow. I can't believe how long it has been since my last workout. This cold has hung on and hung on. I finally found the energy to get back to it though I'm still trying to hack up a lung. I'm sure the gym goers around me appreciated all the hacking I did once I got warmed up.
Despite that..I had a great workout.
SS
BW chins 3x8
BW dips 3x10
SS
DB Inc Bench 5x5x40
DB BO Rows 5x5x40
BB Bench 5x5x135
Stationary Bike - 30 min - lvl 9 - 8.86 miles. I busted it to hit that magic 9 mile mark and ALMOST made it! I was weezing like a 90 year old in a strip club when I finished.
Nice to be able to do something again. Maybe I have this cold licked. cough cough
Was going to get up and go to the gym but decided to hit a 5k race that was going on. Not my best performance, but considering the fact that I haven't ran that far in a long while..maybe 2 months?...Ii guess I did ok.
I really wanted to squat today. The gym was OVERRUN with people and I could not get to a rack (there are only 2)
Soooo, I did upper body and then did intervals on the bike.
SS
pushups - 1x35, 1x25
Crunches - 1x25,1x15
SSS
BO DB Rows - 2x8x40
BW Chins - 1x6, 1x5
BW Dips - 1x8, 1x8
I used the HRM on the bike (I know...not all that accurate) but I decided to monitor my heart rate and do the intervals based on my heart rate topping out near max (173) and then beginning the next interval after resting to recovery.(dropping to about 140) What I found was interesting..unnerving. I must not be all that well conditioned for strenuous work. I had to do like a 1:6-7 interval just to let my heart rate calm down. I did this for 30 minutes.
30 sec of hard ball busting effort took my heart to 163bpm/3-4 minutes of rest before the heart rate dropped to 140.
Is that indicative of bad conditioning?
I've never REALLY done intervals. I mean..I have always varied my efforts throughout any type of cardio I do so that I'm not just doing steady state...but this is the first time ever that I have done it based on a specific set of interval protocols.
Doing this for 30 minutes really kicked my arse. I think I'll be repeating this for sure. Hopefully I will see improvements in my conditioning and body comp. I want to drop some fat..
Thursday, March 22, 2007 - I've lost a couple of pounds down to 174.
My shirts are fitting tighter around the chest. A little chest development but mostly my lats have really began to develop. (chins?)
Yay! I got an open squat rack! I set up camp.
Squat
1x8x135
1x5x155
1x5x175
1x2x185 (I could have forced out another but still aware of a back injury)
I'm going to see if I can't get some of my strength back on the squat. I was doing 265 box squats about a year ago. Now you see where I am..but I'm sure the strength will return. I love squats.
Bench 5x5x135 (I think I'm going to stay at 135 until it gets a lot easier - a few weeks) Then I'll add 20# and do that a while. (trying some auto-regulation on this)
Inc.DB Bench 2x5x50
BO DB Rows 2x8x45 (I'll be bumping this up next time I had good form throughout)
(did 5 bw chins as I was walking over to the bike)
HIIT Sta.Bike- LVL 9- 20 minutes - Used HR - Low end 140 - Max 174
I used HR again. This time my max heart rate was 173-174 and I was hitting that nearly every interval. Maybe doing the squats contributed cuz my legs were kinda tired..
Took longer to rest down to 140 and on some intervals I went ahead at like 149. Did intervals Tuesday so could have contributed. I guess it will take a while to improve on this.
Couldn't get a lane to do any swimming. Oh well. Was a decent workout.
maybe. you might not be going slow enough (or turning the level down low enough) on the "down" time too. possibly a combination of the two.
hmm. Well, twas a good thought Gob..but I must just need to bust my balls more often. I was slowing down to scarcely peddling the thing. (I had a guy get on the bike next to me while I was in a rest, he looked at me real funny cause I was dripping wet and catching my breath barely moving. HA! He's thinking Oh my God, someone get a doctor this guy is barely moving and about to pass out.
Anyway, I figure I'll just keep doing it twice a week until I get a little more used to it.
It's an off day but the kiddos are on spring break so I can go into the gym early each morning! Yay!
So I did a leasurely swim. Dunno how many laps. Swam for like 45 minutes. Felt great.
I've been concentrating on lowering my strokes per lap (SPL) count. I made some real progress this morning!!
Over the last 3 swims I was paying attention/adjusting my stroke. This got me down to like an inconsistent 21-25 strokes. I tried everything with my hands/arms changing my stroke. It wasn't until this morning that I quit worrying so much about stroke and started paying attention to my body position. I lengthened my body, lowered myself in the water a bit, made an effort to push my chest down jsut a hair and it was like magic.
I was hitting a consistent 17-18 strokes per length this morning.
The squats seem to be improving quickly. How is the back feeling?
Thanks for noticing! The back is ok..no pain. But I'm being a very careful boy. I am thinking of going and getting me a belt to wear. The gym doesn't provide them, go figure.....what's your opinion on these? I KNOW I have a weakness in my low back. I get a "twitch" of a spasm every so often that tells me...easy easy...so I have to really be aware of form. Keeps me honest I guess. And I lost my ego last time I tore it up. Until I strengthen the low back..I think I would feel better having a little more support.
Mike Robertson's article over on T Nation, http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do...dra?id=1508256 , REALLY helped me understand why I keep hurting my back in the deadlift. I knew it had something to do with my hip flexors..but his article brought to light that I have a posterior pelvic tilt. It's not bad..but bad enough that my glutes and hammies are not nearly as active as my quads. So my low back compensates for the inactive muscles. I began working on this today! (I'm gonna start a thread about this in training section)
I know that to most of the folks here that attended last years summit this was old news. For me...it was a revelation. The lights have come on.
I have work to do.
Came in feeling tired today. Being able to hit the gym every day has been really nice but it's taking it's toll..ready for some rest. I think I'm done for the week.
I wanted to focus on my glutes and hammies today. I haven't done any kind of deadlifting since way back when I hurt my back...so I thought I'd eeeeease into it. (all the racks were taken..so I had to resort to using dumbells.)
I did NOT come up from the floor with them. I chose a weight I could easily stand with and do reps. Standard DL's.
DL
2x8x60 (30db)
2x8x70 (35db)
(threw in a couple sets of leg curls here) 1x8x50, 1x8x70
2x8x90 (45db)
My back gave me a lil spasm..so I quit)
Chins - 5x6xbw
Swam laps 30 minutes.
Not a stellar workout. But at least I didn't hurt myself.
Not getting hurt should be your priority right now. Don't worry about the numbers, just take it easy until you feel comfortable increasing the weights. There are lots of people out there that don't know when to stop. You did the right thing by ending your workout as soon as you felt a spasm.
I personally don't like the idea of a belt with the exception of the occasional max effort lift. If you start using the belt all the time, you will become dependant on it and never properly develop the muscles that you really need to protect your back.
On a side note, I tried deadlifting using dumbbells once or twice and it just never felt right to me. Does your gym have a trap bar? You may find that trap bar deads are easier on your back. The movement is almost like a squat/deadlift hybrid.
Not getting hurt should be your priority right now. Don't worry about the numbers, just take it easy until you feel comfortable increasing the weights. There are lots of people out there that don't know when to stop. You did the right thing by ending your workout as soon as you felt a spasm.
I personally don't like the idea of a belt with the exception of the occasional max effort lift. If you start using the belt all the time, you will become dependant on it and never properly develop the muscles that you really need to protect your back.
On a side note, I tried deadlifting using dumbbells once or twice and it just never felt right to me. Does your gym have a trap bar? You may find that trap bar deads are easier on your back. The movement is almost like a squat/deadlift hybrid.
Thanks. Yep I'm gonna continue paying CLOSE attention to the back when lifting. I never want to go through what I went through this last time.
I agree..I might get a belt when I see myself moving in the direction of heavier lifts especially DLs. I don;t even want one for squats to be honest.
No trap bar at my gym. And your right, using DB's is a little strange..not the same at all. Not sure why..But I don't think I'll have a problem as long as I don't move too much too fast even with standard BB. Also, doing Sumo style seems to keep the load centered better for me.
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