one of his "newest" thoughts is that you do the interval until your heart rate reaches 85-95% of APMHR (age predicted max heart rate) then recover until your heart rate drops below 140.
Then I've been doing it right automatically. Except that the APMHR sux monkeyballs. My maxHR is only 170bpm , also because my minHR is around 32bpm. I used to start gasping for breath at 150bpm but a few months ago when I still did HIIT (apparently i was doing HIIT after all) it was 160bpm.
That's 160/170 = 94% . If I'd take the Karvonen method that's approx. (160-30)/(170-30) = 93%. Not too shabby . I should be able to work up to 1 minute at around 150-160 bpm: 86-93%. As a matter of fact, I remember one particular bike ride where the adrenalin rush lasted over 12 hours at which I had a consistent HR of over 155bpm all the freaking time!
I’ve found a way to make front squats work better. Now the gym has been rearranged, it’s possible to use the fixed-weight barbells! As these barbells are narrower in diameter I could also use the teeny weight 0.5 kg disks that are in use for Body Pump classes. I feel almost like an idiot to work with only 1kg increments but hey, it works. Progress = progress.
Best of all, I don’t need to clean the weight anymore at higher weights when I take the trouble to get all of the other barbells out of that side of the rack. This I only did with the 36 kg at the end, as I was able to clean 35 kg just fine. Just chickened out of it at 36 kg because I was so exhausted from doing waveloading supersets.
Too tired at the end to make it a proper series of 8-7-6. The 72,5x7 was a new PR for theoretical 1RM. 77,5 kg was highest weight sofar I’ve done with RDLs. Just never pushed myself too much here.
A2 step ups
(2x5) x 10
Too exhausted from the squats and DLs to do more weight or reps.
B2 pull through
21,3 x 9
Bad I know.. but what can a tired girl do?
REHAB STUFF Mensendieck
Did them at home.
ODD EXERCISES
Did a half-hearted attempt at this one from
This one makes our legs throb just writing about it! Situate yourself in a standard leg press machine. Using only one leg, explode the weight up but avoid full lockout on extension. Here's where the "fun" begins. Lower the weight slowly. As you do, make three stops along the way and hold the sled steady for about three seconds each stop. That's one rep. Don't get carried away with load the first time you try it. Start light and shoot for eight to ten reps per leg.
BW+19kg x 2 (normally I could do about 12-20 reps with that weight, but not now.
Yes, I know.. pitiful. I’ll be doing it again when I’m not feeling so wiped out and in another gym with a better leg press (plate loaded instead of knee-destroying ‘hack’style leg press machine)
Opinion: can’t say it yet before I do it with less shaky legs.
General
I guess a combination of excess heat (it’s 27°C today, totally hot for a spring day at Edmonton-latitude) and sticking to the diet better than in the last few weeks, led to a combination of feeling more fatigued than normal. Strength doesn’t diminish so much (got some PRs) but ability to do a normal-high volue WO does drop considerably. Was dragging my ass to get the supersetted waveloads done. Next time I think of such a daft routine someone stop me!!! At least I’m not as nuts anymore to try supersetting front squats and split squats/squat lunges.
Training statistics
Volume: 12674kg
# of sets:23 (incl WUs)- # of reps 181 - avg reps/set : 7,9 - kg/rep 70,0 kg
Saturday April 28 TRAINING Go with the Flow # 7 week 3 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 normal push ups (9 reps till failure)
2 Russian twist on ball w 2.5 kg disk (10 each side)
3 lateral lunge with opposite hand reach & touch (10 each side)
4 ‘windmill’ (10 each side)
WAVE LOADING
A1 Yates row underhand grip
WU: 52,5 x 8
Wave 1 – 2
62,5x4 – 65x 4
67,5x3 – 70x 3
72,5x2 – 75x1 PR!
Too much cheating here. Will def go back to Pendlay rows when I am going to do bb bent over rows again. Still : 75kg isn’t anything to sniff at, despite the cheating.
Here there was a big discrepancy with the heavy rowing. 5th work set was a mistake when I already stopped at 4 reps, thinking that this was all I needed to do And then the final set was another disappointment: hadn’t waited long enough after the max effort on rows. At least less than 2 minutes, perhaps even less than 1 min.
MEDIUM
A2 standing military press
28,5x6
26x7
23,5x 11
Nice to add just 1 kg (2x0.5 kg disks from Body Pump class) to the weight, except that I forgot to get the BodyPump clips so the 0.5 disk fell off.
B2 close-grip bench press
30x11
27,5x13
25x17
Improvement in reps.
C2 mixed grip pullup
BWx2-2
A3 wood chop
21,3x5/6 (L/R)
Same as last training.
B3 renegade row
12x10/10 (L/R)
REHAB STUFF
A4 exorotations
3,8x17/17 (5 more again)
A7 face pull
8,8x20
Same as last time. Paying attention to form by keeping elbows high.
Cardio : since I’ve not done any treadmill work since early Feb I decided to ease back into it. I wanted to check how 60 second intervals would feel like. Dunno, but I guess I took it too easy.
Incline: 10% all the time until cooldown (10-0%)
WU: 4,6 – 5,0 km/hr
Speed: 4,6 – 5,0 for warmup / 5,0/6,4 km/hr for two 60/120 intervals and then 180s when this was too little effort / 5-4 km/hr for cooling down
HR: 140-150bpm for the first 2 intervals, up to 156 bpm for the 3rd ‘interval
Watts: normally I don’t notice, but now I did: 160/126 W for the intervals.
164kcal – 518 kcal/hr (-126 compared to Feb3 )
1,73km – 5,46 km/hr (-0,54 compared to Feb3)
No wonder it felt so easy! Yet it wasn’t that easy since I forgot to put on sox and without callus after that long period of not running my feet hurt (hopefully no blisters!)
General: pretty happy with results. Tuesday will be another max effort day and then follows a deload with high reps. I can almost smell the NROL workouts. Already tempted to tweak with the Break-In!
Training statistics
Volume: 8268kg
# of sets:31 (incl WUs)- # of reps 244 - avg reps/set :7,9 - kg/rep 31,0 kg
Getting more & more bummed that this time around maintenance keeps dropping along with intake. I'm thinking one of the major differences is that right now I don't do much cardio, so I'll ease back into HIIT-style training, which is exactly what the NROL program calls for. Still need to feel how intense 1 minute intervals are supposed to feel like.
On Saturday the 5 (=3.1) /6.4 (=4.0) km/hr (mi/hr) at 10% incline for 60/120s didn't feel intense enough, so in the end I did a 180s interval which finally got the HR high enough to make me feel like working.
The plan is to either keep increasing the incline from 10 to 15% and not increase speed as much , which allows for speedwalking.
Or I can try to really run and keep incline at 10% (the most comfortable high incline) and speed up to around 11-12 km/hr, which seems to be about the fastest I am able to run for 60 seconds at the time.
I kinda think that the latter approach would be the best as there's a limit as to the speed one can speedwalk and one tends to cheat at the end by jogging. Or get trouble like shin splints?
Still not sure how to do the squats/static lunges for Break-In. I'm inclined to use Smith for easy-ish back squats and then challenge myself more with real bb static lunges but use low weights (those I can lift overhead). It's so annoying when your gym spends €€€€€€ on beautifying the interior but flat-out refuses a 'dangerous contraption' like a squat rack. The real reason is that not a single gym is willing to have clients lift SERIOUSLY! These people take far too much time. A gym earns money by having a lot of 'no shows' and people move through machines. Why do you think factories stopped manual labour? Takes far too much time, costs too much money!
OK, so now I'm putting together an entire year's worth of NROL program and as everyone else, will be starting with Break-In.
And here's already the major problem.
My gym does NOT have a squat rack, only a Smith machine plus a fixed weights barbell rack. I'm currently doing bb front squats for my own current program. For those, I had to clean the weight off the floor, which limited the top weight to around 35 kg (give or take a few kg when dieting).
Recently the set up of the gym was changed, so that the bb rack is nearer to the free weights area and by unracking all of the other barbells, I don't need to clean it anymore.
However, I don't really feel comfortable trying to use it as a squat rack for back squats, for lack of safeties.
Also, right now I'm supersetting front squats with RDLs. This works OKish.
But when I supersetted with static lunges, even when those were done in the Smith machine I felt like dying because both are very taxing on balance, even a Smith static lunge.
For static lunges, maximum weight to be used would be much lower and getting the bb on the back shouldn't pose as much of a problem. Getting it off or finishing the exercise without toppling over is a whole different matter.
For the record, I'm hearing impaired and have serious balancing issues, like an inability to walk over a(n imaginary) white line. Yet, I can squat 100kg in a Smith. Static lunges haven't been done with low reps (40kgx8) but max was like 25kgx25). So, while I can see the importance of balance, it's never been good at any time in my life, and I wonder if it's useful to try and improve it with exercises that can work out to be really dangerous for lack of safeties like in real squat racks/cages. It's not a matter whether I'm going to topple over with lunges, it's a matter of when. E.g. I do this all the time when doing the walking lunge with UB twist as described on p. 69 (been doing those for a couple of months), and after all those weeks I still have trouble with them.
There's option 1:
lazy (wo)man's solution and do both in the Smith , which allows for much higher weights to be used. When paying very close attention to timing it should still be tough.
Option 2:
do free weight squats as goblet squats and do static lunges in Smith
option 3:
do free weight squats but now as bb front squat and do the static lunges in the Smith
option 4:
do back squats in Smith for real heavy lifting and use (light) dumbbells for static lunges
option 5:
do back squats in Smith for real heavy lifting and kill myself by toppling over with a (light) fixed wt barbell (using the fixed weight rack as a no-safeties 'squat rack'
option 6:
kill myself immediately by doing both back squat and static lunges from the fixed weight 'no safeties' squat rack. I'd need to use 2 barbells here to rack and rerack alternatingly and annoy the heck out of other gymusers.
BTW, the free weigths area is about 2-2,5 m x 2-2,5 m with rubber mats and 2 free wt benches. I'm always moving one of these or trying to work behind them if there's 2 other persons working out there.
I just can't see the forest for the trees anymore and would like some input now. Go for a slightly stable method that allows much heavier lifting, or go the wobbly road and use teeny weeny weights.
Phew!
When I'd finished typing it all up, I came with another option: do squats from the bench press station. That's how I used to do good mornings. Again, this only works reasonably well with low weights. Like e.g. in Break-In. Perhaps I'm overthinking, but I keep wondering what is better: kill myself with free weights as there's no safeties or do it the easy way with the Smith machine and but increase weights.
PR for wt (highest wt used sofar and calculated 1RM of 50kg ! Easy peasy to get the weight on the shoulders when you can do it from a barbell rack that’s stripped empty! It takes a bit of technique to put the bars back as I need to keep them on the shoulders. When trying to do it with the hands, there’s too much strain on the wrists. When I do it from /to the floor I kinda bump the barbell down and almost let it fall on the floor but when the barbell moves below the elbows I’m catching it. Not earlier. Works like a charm.
When moving back the unracked barbells, I still was able to clean a 35 kg bb. Not bad!
Feeling good and since this is supposedly my max-effort training only 6 reps for the last set wasn’t going to cut it. So instead of 80 kg I loaded 85kg. Yay, 4 reps (till failure). Supposedly my 1RM is 96,6 kg.
A2 pull up
BWx1-2
B2 pull through
23,8x 14
Another PR, highest wt used sofar. Supposedly 1RM is 36 kg. Mind you, I’m still progressing extremely carefully here as I don’t want to injure shoulders (I used to raise too far and turn it into a front raise .. ewwww).
REHAB STUFF Mensendieck
Did them at home.
Cardio : still doing the ‘breaking in’ Upping speed by 0,2 km/hr
WU: 4,6 – 5,0 km/hr
Interval speed: 5,0/6,6 km/hr for two 60/120 intervals and a 180/0 interval
Cool down : 6-5 km/hr
HR: 145 /140 for 1st and 2nd interval. Up to 150 for 34d interval. That’s 5 bpm less than 3 days ago, despite 0.2 km/hr higher speed. Catching up quickly !
Watts: 166/126 W for the intervals /rest
178kcal – 534 kcal/hr (+16 compared to Apr28 )
1,84km – 5,52 km/hr (+0,06 compared to Apr28)
When finished, I got that prickly tingling feeling again, that seems to indicate increased blood flow. It was down near my calves though, so it could also be the wrong kind of tingling
General
Feeling much better than last week. I now take the raisins I used to eat in the pre-WO coffee to the gym. Much better. Also, from now on calories on either Sun- or Monday will be higher, so as to not be a weakling on Tuesday. Which I wasn’t . There was even time for cardio!
Training statistics
Volume: 11633kg
# of sets:21 (incl WUs)- # of reps 167 - avg reps/set :8,0 - kg/rep 69,7 kg
Because of my background and feeling that balance is important (fall risk reduction and all that goes along with it) I would opt for smaller weights and do them unsupported. I don't have my book in front of me to know what the first superset is ... but if you can't safely do back squats because of lack of apparatus, then I'd either do goblet squats or "suitcase" squats with two DBs. For static lunges, I'd do them with DBs. Even though you are using lower weights, you will be training all those little stabilizer muscles and will be amazed at how fatiguing they are.
Balance is trainable. Generally we look at 4 components to balance ...
1. Vision: Most people rely heavily on the feedback their eyes are telling them about their world to balance. That's why many falls occur at night (among the elderly).
2. Inner Ear Mechanisms: like miniature carpenter's levels in your ears. They send information to your brain about where your head is in space and if it is level. (Yours are damaged from the hearing loss? Is that what I understand?)
3. Joint receptors: tell your brain where your limbs are in space. That's why you can bend your elbow approximately 90 degrees without looking at it.
4. Muscle receptors: things like golgi tendon organs ... help with kinesthetic sense and fine motor adjustments.
So we work with people with deficits all the time. Anyone who has had a joint replacement surgery automatically has diminished balance because they are no longer getting feedback from their joint about where they are in space. But they get better by training their balance. Same with blind people. Their joint and muscle receptors adjust to compensate. The same should be true with you. But it won't get better if you don't train it. Take the weights way down and work at it. NROL is a good time to do it since you will still be creating a lot of metabolic disturbance ... so lifting VERY heavy is not really necessary during the fat loss workouts.
Just my opinion ...
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Thanks Julie : much appreciated.
For me, it's not just hearing but also #1 (eyesight), as my eyes squint again, which makes judging distances harder.
To my knowledge no real problems with #3 and #4, though I'm not really gifted in that department either.
Lisa already gave me great advice and if it's not too challenging to superset, I'm going to try bb front squats and db static lunges. I've tried this earlier in April, and failed because it was too challenging. Part of the problem was doing no less than 6 sets of each.
But I'll try again. With low weights for the lunges.
So you have a double whammy ... all the more reason to focus on improving balance ... better to train the muscle and joint receptors NOW while you're young!!
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
LOL thanks for the compliment. I'm 43 Which is at the wrong side of 'being young'. But body composition has never been any better than it is now, but it's still not good enough, hence program #4.
Back in elementary and high school I really used to despise sports, because I sucked at everything school gym revolves around:
- no balance for gymnastics
- no distance judging for ball sports
- not enough speed : I've got these weird feet as well.
It was only much later, in my early 30s that I discovered my strong points: very good endurance and decent strength. Endurance sports didn't bring me the body I wanted though. Only strength training can do this, and even then it's hard work: is combining all the right elements.
Thursday May 3 TRAINING Go with the Flow # 7 week 4 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 supine rows (10reps)
2 normal push ups (8 reps till failure +2 knee pushups)
3 Russian twist on ball w 2.5 kg disk (10 each side)
4 lateral lunge with opposite hand reach & touch (10 each side)
5 ‘windmill’ (10 each side)
A1 mixed grip pullup
BWx2
WAVE LOADING
A2 Yates row underhand grip
WU: no WU
Wave 1 – 2
37,5x12 – 40x15
42,5x12 – 45x 12
47,5x11 – 50x10
Nothing special. Did the first wave before starting the first wave of db pressing, so not a true superset.
Was a bit dissatisfied with the 46x2 reps of last Saturday, so decided to do it again and up the wts a bit bolder. And yay! Managed two reps with the 24 kg dumbbells fairly easily! Barely any wobbliness. Calculated 1RM is 50,5 kg. That’s about as much as I ever pressed with a regular bb press.
MEDIUM
A3 standing military press
18x18-15
15x10
Getting exhausted fast. This is also partly a triceps exercise, like the close-grip benching is.
B3 close-grip bench press
32,5x9
30x11-14
PR for reps, calc. 1RM is 45,5 kg.
A4 wood chop
16,3x16/16 (L/R)
Four more reps than last time with 16,3 kg
B4 face pull
8,8x27
Six more than last time.
Cardio : once again, upping with 0,2 km/hr for speedwalk. And once again, managed 180s for 3rd ‘interval’.
WU: 4,6 – 5,0 km/hr
Interval speed: 5,0/6,8 km/hr for two 60/120 intervals and a 180/0 interval
Cool down : 5 km/hr @ 10-0%
HR: 120 for low speed, 145 for interval up to 156 bpm for the last 180s ‘interval’.
Watts: 126/170W for the rest/intervals
176kcal – 528 kcal/hr (-6 compared to May1) , due to easier cooldown
1,78km – 5,34 km/hr (-0,18 compared to May1)
General: the idea was to do mostly 10-15 reps today, but I was hellbent on trying to do another max effort for db presses. Again quite happy with the results, esp with the dumbbell presses. I didn’t do all the exercises I’d planned to, this particular training plan is a bit too voluminous, so it’s not that bad to not do everything. It was also a good idea to take my post-workout carbs along. Once again, extremely yummy freshly dried dates.. you do need to eat them straight from the plastic bag, as you’d get extremely sticky fingers! Likewise yummy were the green raisins I ate during the workout. Too bad this is a one-time batch, the bazaar no longer carries them!
Training statistics
Volume: 8518kg
# of sets:27 (incl WUs)- # of reps 280 - avg reps/set :10,4 - kg/rep 30,4 kg
LOL thanks for the compliment. I'm 43 Which is at the wrong side of 'being young'. But body composition has never been any better than it is now, but it's still not good enough, hence program #4.
Back in elementary and high school I really used to despise sports, because I sucked at everything school gym revolves around:
- no balance for gymnastics
- no distance judging for ball sports
- not enough speed : I've got these weird feet as well.
It was only much later, in my early 30s that I discovered my strong points: very good endurance and decent strength. Endurance sports didn't bring me the body I wanted though. Only strength training can do this, and even then it's hard work: is combining all the right elements.
Ahhh ... 43 is not old ... 93, now THAT'S old!!
You know, it is too bad that so many kids have that experience in primary and secondary schools regarding physical activity. I think a good phys ed teacher would help kids who don't excel at the traditional sports, find something that they like and do well in. Studies have shown that sport or fitness or whatever you want to term it plays an important role in self-esteem and success in life. Shouldn't it be the goal of every primary school phys ed teacher to find something physical that each kid likes and can do well at?
Glad that you stuck with it and found where your strong points lie ... it leads to a much happier and healthier life!!
When are you starting break-in?
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Probably around May 15. Or perhaps a few days earlier as I always like to start a new program when TOM has arrived. Which nowadays tends to come at unexpected moments.
Shortest cycle was 21 days in the past few years, longest one over 30 days. Whichever way you look at it, it's good or bad news. Used to be 35-42 days and even up to 60 days when stressed. I must have had PCOS back then. The cycle shortens as soon as I'm eating less carbs/calories, but I can't pinpoint yet when is the decisive moment.
Now I'm taking morning temperature readings, I hope to find out more. Also whether or not the 2nd half (luteal phase) is shortening. This is not supposed to happen until menopause, at least according to what I've read about it.
Always TMI in my answers . I do like to work along with my body, and supposedly a woman is a tad weaker in the first and last week of the cycle. So, I make sure that my max effort days are put in the middle when I do a routine like this one with undulating reps.
Probably around May 15. Or perhaps a few days earlier as I always like to start a new program when TOM has arrived. Which nowadays tends to come at unexpected moments.
Shortest cycle was 21 days in the past few years, longest one over 30 days. Whichever way you look at it, it's good or bad news. Used to be 35-42 days and even up to 60 days when stressed. I must have had PCOS back then. The cycle shortens as soon as I'm eating less carbs/calories, but I can't pinpoint yet when is the decisive moment.
Now I'm taking morning temperature readings, I hope to find out more. Also whether or not the 2nd half (luteal phase) is shortening. This is not supposed to happen until menopause, at least according to what I've read about it.
Always TMI in my answers . I do like to work along with my body, and supposedly a woman is a tad weaker in the first and last week of the cycle. So, I make sure that my max effort days are put in the middle when I do a routine like this one with undulating reps.
Have you read "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler? IMO, this book should be required reading for every post-puberty female ... it will help you get a handle on your cycle (even if you are NOT trying to conceive!). I have used this method for years (before hubby had his V) since I did not do well on chemical methods of birth control (like the pill), and have a latex sensitivity (no diaphragm or condoms), and a moral opposition to other methods (like the IUD). So we used "Fertility Awareness" first to avoid pregnancy, then to achieve it. Anyways, it will outline for you other methods to know EXACTLY when you are ovulating besides just temperature.
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Um Julie, I am using exactly that method. Or, rather assume I'm using that method since I've not yet clicked the link. I'm not willing to put a lot of hormones in my body and 3 years ago, I got violently ill 1 day after insertion of a hormonal IUD. The disease wasn't related to the insertion, but apparently the extra demands put on my body by the painful insertion, pushed me right over the edge. I've even bought a new one but never plucked the courage to get it inserted. And like you, I don't tolerate condoms very well, at leat they are abrasive.
It takes a while though to learn it. The method is a combination of accurate temperature readings and cervical slime observations.
The only difference between your book and mine is that mine is actually a reading book plus exercise book which you're supposed to combine with a course. Plus, it's presented mostly as a way to avoid pregnancy, not to achieve it, though it's acknowledge that you can also use it to do exactly that. Temperature readings and interpretations are a breeze, but cervix observations are harder to do.
Must say that it makes you incredibly aware of how the cycle goes. The measuring does take a bit of time, but the reward of knowing exactly what's going on with your body and being able to know in advance when the 'hungries' are about to hit, is tremendous. I will either plan a huge carbfest on that day, or try to go into ketosis to avoid the binge and have extra helpings of cocoa poweder.
Yes, that is exactly it ... temperature readings, cervical fluid observations, and cervical position observations ... it took a few months to get used to doing it and noticing what was really happening, but now I can tell without much effort ... I can even feel when I am ovulating. I don't temp anymore (no reason to be so diligent since DH got the big V) but I do keep track of ovulation so that I know when AF is due to arrive. And with my new med regime, I'll be using progesterone cream after ovulation, so it's good that I know when that occurs as opposed to taking the 14 day rule.
I was so amazed when I learned this stuff at 32 years old ... it would have been nice to learn it at 20!! All those doctor visits because I thought I had an infection when all it was was fertile cervical fluid!!
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Yes, i was like "whut?" .. geez, I knew that certain animals secrete more fluid when they are fertile and the males can smell this, when they are 'in heat' but was never told that women do the very same.
But didn't your doctor tell you, or didn't (s)he know it either.
I''m probably going to need to feel the cervical position as well, since slime readings aren't going very well. Too little too infrequently.
Mother Nature decided that I should start NROL this upcoming Tuesday already by letting TOM arrive today . There goes the assumption that a luteal phase is supposed to last 2 weeks as well, only about 1 week for this girl.
Sunday May 6 TRAINING Go with the Flow # 7 week 4 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 walking lunge (5 reps each leg)
2 ham stretch : Frankenstein (10 reps each leg)
3 Swiss leg curl (15 reps)
NO WAVE LOADING
A1 front squat
No WU
25x20
27,5x17
30x12 - 32,5x12 (loooong break)
After the 1st wave I abandoned the thought of doing another wave and just loaded 2,5 kg more. Boy, if I have to superset this with db lunges and adhere to the suggested rest periods, then I’m going to be very glad to only do 2 sets of each. As it’s just impossible to have a short rest period for more sets. For over a minute was gasping for air after each set!
B1 Romanian DL
No WU
47,5x18
52,5x14
57,5x12 - 60x12 (loooong break)
Same exhausted feeling!
A2 step up
(2x7)x 10 /10
Did 10 very wobbly reps and called it quits for the weight training.
REHAB STUFF Mensendieck
Did them at home.
Cardio : this time a 60s jog for the intervals
WU: 4,6 – 5,0 km/hr @ 10% incline
Interval speed: 8,1/5,0 km/hr for three 60/120 intervals @ 10% incline
Cool down : 6-5 km/hr @ 15-0% incline
HR: 120-125 for low speed, up to 158 for the jogs.
Watts: 126/228W for the rest/intervals
210kcal – 630 kcal/hr (+102 compared to May3) , higher incline for cool down
1,81km – 5,43 km/hr (+0,09 compared to May3), despite more running, also more rest time.
General
Took it easy and didn’t do a crazy 6 wave loading sets for the high reps. Enjoyed the first ‘long sprint’ I did in a long time. It is interesting to see though how I’m losing my endurance capacity and get tired after a meagre 12 sets. Despite the huge amt of carbs I had last night. Or perhaps because of, as endurance is much better when (very) low carbing. I used to be able to go on forever. This was the last workout before NROL. Tuesday I’ll be starting the Break-In for real. This workout had some similarities already, and I see where the trouble is: recovery time from the sets is very short, compared to the time I am taking now.
Training statistics
Volume: 10885kg
# of sets:12 (incl. WU)- # of reps 157 - avg reps/set :13,1 - kg/rep 69,3 kg
Feeling like a little kid right before X-mas re the NROL that's starting on Tuesday: full of anxiety and yet, all excited! Silly, isn't it.
The excitement isn't so much over the exercises, though some of them I've not done (often) but about the timing of the sets. I've really NOT paid any attention to rest periods at all in the past and just go by feel or let myself go unfocused and wait too long.
I could get an idea of how I'm going to feel on the squats+db lunges since I was doing front squats+RDLs in the 12-20 rep range. Totally out of breath here.
At first I thought I must be totally out of shape, but then realized "hey, I'm lifting a bit more weight now with this amt of reps than I used to back when I was working out in this rep range all the time! And that was an exciting thought.
Whoah, a huge challenge to keep upright. And I don’t think taking a lighter weight would help at all. There’s no way I could have done this with a barbell.
A2 2-point db row
12 x 15-17
B2 push up
BW x 15 (normal) – 7 (normal) + 8 (knee)
Couldn’t do 2 sets of regular pushups, but have never really been able to do more than 10-12 normal pushups. This leaves room for improvement.
A3 Swiss ball crunch
(BW+2,5) x 20 – 20
Cardio : Metabolic Overdrive 1
WU: 4,6 – 5,0 km/hr @ 10% incline
Interval speed: 8,1/7,0/8,1 km/hr for three 60s/120s intervals @ 10%/15%/10% incline
Cool down : 5-6 km/hr @ 15-0% incline
HR: up to 156 bpm
Watts: 126/228W for the rest/intervals
200kcal – 600 kcal/hr (-30 compared to May6)
1,80km – 5,40 km/hr (-0,03 compared to May6)
Calves cramped up in the 1st interval, so I slowed down in 2nd interval and put incline a bit higher. Luckily it didn’t come back. Cause was mostly likely the whoosh of the past 2 days (weighed 1 kg less this morning than yesterday) and as a consequence : mineral loss!
General: so this was the first NROL workout. Apart from the static lunges with 2 dumbbells it wasn’t too bad to do. Still need to develop UB strength for pushups so this is still a challenge. It feels most weird to be done and finished with the entire workout (including warmup) in just about 50 minutes.
Training statistics
Volume: 10597kg
# of sets:16 (incl. WU)- # of reps 214 - avg reps/set :13,4 - kg/rep 49,5 kg
Thanks. It is going to be different from what I was used to do. Easier in some ways, like doing straight sets and less volume. But way more difficult in other ways, viz. more challenging for balance.
Those 2 db static lunge scared me witless as I feared to fall sideways at just about every rep. It really drained me in a very different way than a normal exercise would.
I wasn't 100% sure whether the 2-pt db row was done right, viz. how far my elbow should be out, since I kept bumping into my hip with the dumbbell when the palm faces backwards. Will check the book. I've typed up and printed the text but have not copied the pic, for lack of a copier here (too lazy to go somewhere where they have one).
I'm pretending to be Lifter #4, who needs to shed fat (which is entirely true). So, it's going to be Fat Loss II.
Sofar, I'm fighting to carb cravings and giving in to them sooner than expected. Hopefully I won't be going full hog before the day is over. I'm going to use up the full 2600 kcal that I am allowing myself for today.
Ate more carbs/calories this afternoon (rice cakes, prawn crackers) than I'd planned for, so will not have the fattier minced meat but the low-cal whitefish and instead of a large jar of white beans, just a more modest one so I'll still be within the boundaries. Ain't flexible dieting fun?
Instead of basing my intake on current 30d metabolism, which has gone down from 2300ish to 1800ish calories, I'm going to base it again on estimated calories for the day. This means that I get to eat as many calories as I think to burn on training days (viz. 2200-2700 ish kcal) and then vehemently cut back on calorie intake on the rest days (1200-1300 kcal). This is what worked very well for me last fall, and I hope it will work its' magic again.
Glad you did the first workout ... and that it went well. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much it improves over the course of break-in and beyond. Looking forward to reading your progress and thoughts ....
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Thanks Julie. My major surprise was how ffing hungry I was yesterday. It must have been a combination of both the cardio (just started again a week before) but especially the high-rep exercises. Late last year I'd already noticed how much less of an effort it had become to stick to my diet once I dropped the excessive amount of high-rep sets. Even though I only did 10 real sets, the ravenous appetite kicked in nonetheless.
No wonder I continuously overate in the past few years!!! Fortunately today is a calm day again and actually I've just even skipped my 2nd meal of the day (supposedly at 6pm but it's now 8pm). I've just been too busy and I'm one of those people who only get hungry once they eat.
And now I'm excited that my partner is commencing his first break-in workout tonight as well.
I'd first thought to let him start 2 weeks after me, but he wanted to get started right away. And then again wanted to cop out and wait for another week. I told him NO!!!
His worry was that he'd not be able to do a pressing movement like a shoulder/military press, since he has a temporary injury that prevents him from doing these. As it will be 2 weeks by next Sunday it should be OK by then.
He will do the Lifter #3 routine aka the Man of Constant Obligation, since he is often either too busy (or stressed for some reason) to work out. At times he goes like 4 times a week and then stops lifting altogether for over a month.
I'm going to harass him into faithfully going twice every week. Actually I won't, but just hope he will like the program enough to stick to it.
Couple of differences/similarities between him & me:
- obviously he's a guy
- he is mesomorphic, I'm an ectomorph
- he's a sprinter's type, I'm the endurance type
- he trains by instinct and skips training frequently, I train with a plan
- he only trains a few exercises at the time, mostly the basics.. I used to take the everything-but-the-kitchen sink routine
- both him and me actually enjoy training legs as these are our best points (for him quads, for me calves and glutes)
- he could stand to lose a bit of flab, but he's not willing to track intake or work with a plan
- he works out in a different gym
* pro: more space, some machines/objects that my gym hasn't like a real squat rack, a hack squat, a plate-loaded leg press, glute-ham raise, decline ab benches, contraptions for easier pushups, more gym mats, lots of different barbells for practice, cheap rates and easy to just come in for 1 session (which I do frequently)
* con: no Swissball, no chinning station, utterly chaotical in weights : hard to find out what weights you're actually using since some dumbbells are screw-ons , lots of disks/dumbbells are in archaic retarded l-b-s-es, oftentimes faded/unreadable, rusty paint coming off, a meditation center below so you can't really drop a weight on the floor, only opens after 5pm and Sun 11-1. Not open on Sat.
So, it will be interesting to see what he will think about NROL.
He's back again and I asked to give a full report.
1 the weights he had said to be able to use, were changed
2 the amt of sets he was supposed to do, were exceeded by far
3 in the end he was so tired that abs were skipped
Squats were indeed supersetted with static lunges. He used 60 kg instead of the 50kg I'd suggested to him, but he didn't manage to do more wt for static lunges than just the bar. But instead of just 2 sets, he did a whopping 6 sets.
Instead of doing a 2-pt db row, he used a T-bar row and again did 6 sets of 15 reps, but after the 4th set he was no longer able to do even more than 1 pushup and nearly hurled at the thought of doing ab work.
And of course, since he doesn't own a watch, the 60 seconds rule wasn't adhered to.
Thursday May 10 TRAINING NROL Break-In week 1 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 walking lunge (5 reps each leg)
2 spiderman crawl (5 reps each side)
3 ham stretch : Frankenstein (10 reps each leg)
4 Swiss leg curl (10 reps)
5 sissy squat (10 reps)
A1 deadlift
50x20-17
About right (this is approx. 20RM)
B1 step ups
(2x6) x 15/15 – 15/15
And like with the lunges, I didn’t feel like doing more at all! Barely managed the 2nd set after 60 seconds.
A2 1-db shoulder press
(2x6) x 15-17
Only after careful reading I saw you’re supposed to let the other db rest on the shoulder. I’d only used 1 single db for the first set. Funny, it felt easier with the other db resting on the shoulder.
B2 close grip lat pulldown
28x22-24
It’s been so long I used the lat pull down that the #s were off. Plus, this ‘device’ for a close grip LPD is new, and hence never used before. Next time I’ll use more wt.
A3 reverse crunches
BWx26-24 done incorrectly
Stiff lower back prevents me from doing a real crunch.. I can’t even get the hip off the floor but whatever it was that I did, I did a bit over 20 reps .
Cardio : Metabolic Overdrive 1
WU: 4,6 – 5,0 km/hr @ 10% incline
Interval speed: 8,2 km/hr (up 0,1km/hr) for three 60s/120s intervals @ 10% incline
Cool down : 5-6 km/hr @ 15-0% incline
HR: up to 156 bpm
Watts: 126/211W for the rest/intervals
195kcal – 585 kcal/hr (-15 compared to May8)
1,90km – 5,70 km/hr (+0,30 compared to May8)
No cramps though it almost seemed like it was going to happen.
General: and so weird.. exhausted once again, probably again that stability exercise that did me in! Contrary to my previous plans I’m gonna eat up again today!
Training statistics
Volume: 9590kg
# of sets:16 (incl. WU)- # of reps 228 - avg reps/set :14,3 - kg/rep 42,1 kg
Hey Espi. Don't you find it amazing that the workouts look so simple on paper, but are so taxing when you actually do them? I remember being SO HUNGRY when I first starting doing NROL. I also experience an increase in my temperature...I would wake up in the middle of the night absolutely overheated. I think it really kicks you metabolism into overdrive.
. I should be able to work up to 1 minute at around 150-160 bpm: 86-93%. As a matter of fact, I remember one particular bike ride where the adrenalin rush lasted over 12 hours at which I had a consistent HR of over 155bpm all the freaking time!
Which is at the wrong side of 'being young'. But body composition has never been any better than it is now, but it's still not good enough, hence program #4. 
Linear Mode
