In 2005, I really pushed to try to get people to realize how important single-leg training is. In 2006, after talking more with Mike Boyle and brainstorming a bit, I learned to program them a lot better with sub-divisions:
From there you can also divide single-leg movements into decelerative (forward lunging) and accelerative (slideboard work, reverse lunges). I've found that accelerative movements are the most effective early progressions after lower extremity injuries (less stress on the knee joint).
I think it's ideal for everyone to aim to get at least one of each of the three options in every week. If one needed to be sacrificed, it would be static supported. Because static unsupported aren't generally loaded as heavily and don't cause as much delayed onset muscle soreness, they can often be thrown in on upper body days. Here are some sample splits you might want to try:
3-day
Monday — Include static supported (50/50 upper/lower exercise selection)
Wednesday — Include static unsupported (would be the only lower body exercise in this session)
Friday — Include dynamic (50/50 upper/lower exercise selection)
Notice how the most stressful/soreness-inducing option is placed prior to the longest recovery period (the weekend of rest).
4-day
Monday — Include static supported in lower-body training session.
Wednesday — Include static unsupported (only lower body exercise in otherwise upper body session)
Friday — Include dynamic in lower-body training session
Saturday — Upper body workout, no single-leg work outside of warm-up and unloaded prehab work
We rotate our single-leg movements every four weeks, and generally use accelerative movements (reverse lunge variations, especially) twice as often as decelerative movements.
Not a bad way to plan (static vs dynamic).
The routine your cyclist friend gave you sounds like something I tried wayy back but it was based on taking a bodypart thru all rep ranges within a single workout...craziness. Your version...even harder, but I see how it would affect recovery. Maybe something to try in the future.
What I do, I always focus on what's most important at the moment, and if in doubt choose strength.
Is the undulating approach you ask about better...when you do the math, it will end up being the same, with better recovery in your friend's version in my opinion.
If a routine worked for you I don't see why not try it again with different exercises or set ups
I'll just try it again. Back then I wasn't as strong as I am now.
Two likely explanations:
- adding too many exercises.
- too low in calories and carbs
I wasn't calorie/carb cycling then, but I am now. So.. about time to try again and see whether there's a difference.
30d weight etc. averages (Sun)
65,2kg = -0,8 kg
28,0 bf% = -0,9%
F: 18,3kg=-0,8kg = 1,8kg F to go to 63,4kg @ 26%
LBM: 46,9kg=0,0kg
P-ratio: 0% LBM gain/loss re to 30d avg wt loss
30 day average intake, maintenance & predicted expenditure Fri15 Sat13
current 30d avg intake = 2023 kcal, which is:
- 89,3% of 30d maintenance = 2265 kcal = 806g fat loss in in 30d
- 89,1% of predicted 30d avg caloric expenditure: 2269kcal
Comment: fat loss is slowing down seriously now.. even reversing for the weekly average. Time for a diet & training break, which will start in about 2 weeks.
Bulgarian split squat BW+(9kgx2) x 7 (PR for weight)
chins
BW+7kg :1 (PR for weight)
BW x 2-2-1 / 1-1 (mid-way WO) / 2 (end)
goblet squat
32kg x10
Smith squat
50kgx8
75kg x4
Work set: 70kg x6-6
In slow SS with DL
77,5kg x 5
90kg x 3
102,5kgx1 (equalled previous PR)
Work set: 92,5kg x 3-3
supine (overhand) row
BW x 12
incline db press
(17kg x2) x 8
Yates supine bb row
55kgx8
65kg x 4 (PR for weight)
Work set: 60 kg x 5-5
In slow SS with bb press
42,5kg x6
52,5kg x 1 (PR for weight)
Work set: 47,5kg x3-3
Cardio Treadmill interval cardio :
4 min WU 4,6 to 5km/hr @ 15%,
6 min: 3x30s runs @ 11 km/hr w 90s cooldown
3 min speedwalking 5-6 km/hr
2 min cooldown
186kcal 744 kcal/hr (+20)
1,46km 5,84 km/hr (+0,08)
Comment Posterior chain : very satisfied about equalling previous best of 102,5kg. Chest: 1x52,5 kg.. first time over 50kg, barely managed 1 rep Back : chins werent as good as last time, now trying for 7kg very very tough, so didnt get to 3 reps this time. Used highest weight ever for BB BORs (Yates are easier, I admit), and supine rows were again easy. Small stuff : ditched, really was taking too much time today.
Cardio: again, an easier session General: feeling good about new PRs but looking forward to diet break as the lifting takes too much time.. need more rest between sets than before.
Training statistics
Rep index: 101 reps/hr (80min)
Volume: 8163kg
Total gym time: 100 mins.
# of sets: 28 - # of reps 134 - avg reps/set : 4,8 - kg/rep 60,9 kg
Am already thinking about my new routine.
I'm going to do the renegade rows in my next routine Galya! Lots of interesting changes are planned.. less 'big' lifts : no DL but a RDL, no big back squts, but goblet squats. No bb rows but renegade rows.
Will be spending more time on pullups.
I really like the atmosphere there. Lots of elderly people too, where I fit in nicely.
There's another gym nearby (No Nonsense Gym) that's having some things that is lacking in my own gym:
- plate loaded leg press instead of a hack-squatlike leg press (gives knee pain at higher weights)
- glute ham raise
- a squat rack with shortish ledgers
A pity though that opening hrs are extremely limited (5-10pm, only Mo-Fri , perhaps also Sat/Sun) while mine is open from 9-10pm except for Fri night, Sat/Sun). Also the disks are in painted metal and measured in imperial pounds and I've already got a blister from paint chips and spent waaaaay too much time calculating the exact weights needed.
None of them have kettlebells.. I wonder what's the advantage of them. Changing center of gravity.
chins
BW+8kg :1 (PR for weight)
BW x 2-3- 2-1 / 2 - 1(end)
1-leg press : 26 kg x 8
goblet squat
32kg x11 (PR for reps)
bb front squat
10kg x 8 :
Smith squat
15kg x5
52,5kgx6
80kg x4
85kg x 3
90kg x 2
100kg x 1 (not sure about proper depth?) (PR for weight, either 90 or 100kg)
In slow SS with DL
60kg x 6
80kg x 5
92,5kg x 3
105kgx1 (PR for weight)
Stopped here, no work sets.
supine (overhand) row
BW x 12
incline db press
(18kg x2) x 4
Yates supine bb row
57,5kgx6
67,5kg x 4
70kg x 2 (PR for weight)
No work sets
In slow SS with bb press
45kg x4
55kg x 0 (failure)
No work sets.. next time more warm up sets!
rope pushdown
21,25kg x 7
biceps cable curl
18,75 kg x 6
face pull
26,25 kg x 13 (PR for weight)
exo rotation
6,25 kg x 10
8,75 kg x 3 (PR for weight)
Cardio
None.. work was being done and wanted to take it easier today.
Comment Quads : since I was always underperforming with Smith squats I wanted to try something really heavy.. 100kg x 1 was easy enough . It will be one of the last back squats I’m going to do in a long time, so nice to quit with a PR.
Tried a ‘choke yourself’ front squat with an empty bb and that went fine, at least wrist didn’t hurt and it wasn’t too painful either. We’ll see what happens when the bar is loaded. Posterior chain : woot 105 kg wasn’t too difficult either, another PR Chest: will try again next time ., but satisfied with incline db presses. Not a PR though, just equal weight. Back : need to work on form for pull-ups. , otherwise happy with the 8kg weighted pullup. However, I’ve done 3 reps with BW of 73kg which is better than 1 rep with BW of 64 kg+ 8 kg or?
Yates rows : also a PR but it’s very hard to judge how much worth to put onto that weight as it’s such an upright position, but never mind.. it’s the effect (lat growth) and decreasing spine load which counts more.
Cardio: none, skipped because of lacking sleep as well as the fact that they were working on installing new tv’s in that area. General: funny how you can be dead tired from lack of sleep and still do PRs for weight/reps as long as the rest time is really really long. Hurrah for caffeine (2 cups of coffee) and Fortega!
Training statistics
Rep index: 125 reps/hr (70min)
Volume: 6078kg
Total gym time: 70 mins.
# of sets: 31 - # of reps 146 - avg reps/set : 4,7 - kg/rep 41,6 kg
I really enjoyed this setup too that I've used for about 5 months = start around 15/20 reps and drop down to 4 reps during every menstruation cycle. It took a while before I had finally dropped enough volume to not overtrain.. the first few months I was constantly on the brink of overtraining. So a few more rest days, less sets and viz. cardio not trying to do HIIT/interval cardio every single time...
Not work harder, but smarter... it also paid off for weight loss as working too hard makes me overeat all the time as a 'kneejerk' response.
Apparently I am now finally learning how not to overtrain by cutting down on volume of the lifts by doing less sets. Concentrating on ramping up the weights instead of ramping up the reps as well as smarter warmup sets with overloading (a heavier warmup set preceding the workset) has done wonders for my results.
For bench pressing though, which doesn't have my attention like DL or squatting I do need more sets before attempting that 55 kg press.
Tomorrow (Thursday) there's a rest day. Originally I'm supposed to do cardio, but I'll be away most of the day and probably will not have time. So be it. Saturday I'll try that 55kg bench press again right at the start when I'm still fresh. And for the rest it'll be a depletion training with 15-20 rep sets. Originally it is always on day 22 of my cycle as this traditionally is my natural 'binge' day. Tracked about 35 cycles and it's not just the week preceding TOM that leads to overeating but it's very specific days, especially ovulation and approx. 1 week out from TOM. Not even as much the 4 days preceding TOM so it can happen that I drop water weight right before TOM instead of right after TOM.
Did you know that women tend to have a higher glycogen storage capacity before TOM? Read that somewhere recently and it now makes perfect sense because the body thinks it's about to 'give birth' .. at least the hormonal status is quite similar. Progesterone is higher pre-TOM and is a 'binge' hormone it seems.. Estrogens OTOH are very similar to leptin and suppress appetite, which explains the lack of appetite in the first part of a cycle.
Espi, that's interesting to me about hormones around TOM ... I am ravenous about a week before (probably when progesterone is high) and have a really hard time sticking to my plan ... then when it gets here, I'm almost nauseated at the thought of food!! Interesting ...
That fluctuating appetite pattern has only become stronger. Another reason why I chose for that title. Why fight against your natural tendency to eat less or more? The key overeating days are: day 20-21-24-17 and 12. Counting backwards it's 4-5-7-8 days as well as 13-15 days before TOM.
But never in the 1 to 3 days before TOM nor 9 to 12 days before TOM.
Or again forwards, never on day 5-6 or 9 to 11.
I would say that is pretty typical for me too ... I had never noticed it until I started logging my food about a year ago ... some days I would barely eat all that I had planned and other days I couldn't stop eating it seemed!! Are there any research studies out there that support this in any way?
Just curious since I get sick of men always telling me that there is nothing really different about women's metabolism ... when clearly there is!!!
Men know as much about our relationship with food as we know about their relationship with games/cars/beer...whatever.
So true, Galya! I'm thinking football... and fantasy football. That type of thing just puzzles me.
I have noticed a similar pattern as Espi... two weeks prior: ravenous, for a day or two. Then one week prior: same. Two days prior: same. Day of: nothing much (usually I am appalled by the scale bump that day, maybe that suppresses the ole appetite... but definitely I have also noticed that on the days when I am craving/starving, my weight is also up on the scale that morning, sometimes by a couple of pounds. How interesting.
It struck me as curious a bit over 2 years ago, when I started tracking food intake how much different appetite could be, independent of training intensity. Since I tracked weight, fat mass and food intake anyway I decided to also track day of cycle as well as when I observed cramps.
Well lo and behold there indeed was a pattern when I plugged the data into another Excel sheet and looked on which days I was overeating.
Another major factor: when I diet rather strictly, esp. lower carbs the menstruation cycle shortens considerably. After all, biologically there's no use in becoming pregnant when there's starvation. It's been as low as 21 days. OTOH, when I really start overeating and can't stop (typically the overeating happens when Ive dropped carbs too low for too long) it can lengthen to near 30 days. I've not yet met other women whose cycle-length was so sensitive to food intake. Or perhaps nobody as obsessed with the phenomenon.
Really need to find something about the tingling fingers/arm. It often goes away when I up the carbs, but not the last few days.. could be impingement of a nerve? It's bothering me big time!
And actually it's now one of the main reasons why I keep carbs so high on training days. That and the fact that if I don't , I'll binge sooner or later.
It seems that by now I've found the way to keep up the metabolism:
- training: keep the body guessing with different rep ranges, different exercises and interval training
- nutrition: never let calories drop too low for too long but 1 day of very little food = OK
For now, I guess that skipping breakfast is not a good idea. It seriously seems to reduce catecholamine/adrenalin production. If anything ails me, it's not thyroid related, but adrenalin related. I'm totally addicted to the adrenalin rush of cardio/exercise. When I don't exercise, my actual energy requirements is quite low.. perhaps only 1600 kcal?
In the end I think that I can be very very happy with such a high maintenance of around 2300 kcal as long as I keep exercising.
Have the tingling checked out for sure, better safe than late.
All of your analyses/thoughts are taking you in the right direction, I have no doubt you'll figure it out. The problem when you do figure it out, you don't know how valid it will be, since the body is such a smart dynamic system.
Saturday Jan 20 TRAINING cycle 6 – day 24
Aiming for 15-20 reps
bb press
20kg x5
30kg x 5
40kg x3
45kg x 2 – 2
50 kg x1
55kg x 0 (failure)
Bulgarian split squat
(2x5kg)x 8
chins
BWx3-3-2
goblet squat
20kg x16
bb front squat
30kg x5
Smith squat
25kg x10
45kg x 15-16
In slow SS with DL
30kg x 10
50kg x 20-20
high pulls
10kg x 3
Yates supine bb row
30kgx24-24
supine (overhand) row
BW x 8
incline db press
(8kg x2) x 35 (PR for reps!)
(10kgx2) x25
reverse biceps cable curl
11,25kg x20
face pull
16,25 kg x 19
exo rotation
1,25 kg x 23
renegade rows
4 kg x 3-3
Cardio Treadmill interval cardio
4 min WU 4,6 to 5km/hr @ 15%,
4 min: 3x30s runs @ 11 km/hr w 60s cooldown
2 min cooldown
117kcal – 702 kcal/hr (+36)
0,96km – 5,76 km/hr (+0,30)
Comment Quads : trying out the bb front squat once again. As I feared, the hardest part is to clean the bb to my chest. The bb is too narrow to do it from the bench press station and there’s no other spot where this is possible. Posterior chain : yeah, a 20 rep DL is doable, but I didn’t want to really do more than 2 sets with it… Chest: tried to improve upon last time by starting with bench pressing. Discussed what weights to use and decided upon doing it with 5kg increments. Repeated the 45kg one because the first time technique wasn’t adequate. Yet, the coveted 55kg x 1 result didn’t come. Shoulders are really bugging me too much. Oh well… OTOH, I surprised myself by doing an unprecedented 35 reps with 8 kg dumbbells on the incline db press. For 10 kg another 25 reps. Woot! Quite obviously pec strength improved and triceps strength nearly disappeared. Plus, no shoulder troubles here. Back : tried to do a 3x3 pullup … came close. Would’ve been a PR too as I never ever got to do a 3x3 set. Small stuff: tried some exotic stuff like high pulls and renegade rows. Big fun.. but very challenging too.
Cardio: had to wait forever, so had only 10 mins left. Was too tired to go ‘balls to walls’. Major problems to get HR up again after the cardio-like workout that actually lasted too long.
General: for the first time in years I took a friend with me.. she’s awesome! Showd me some Olympic lifts, spotted me wonderfully with the benching and gave some tips. We’ll be training together a couple of times in the future. Not my usual workouts, but whenever I want to try the more exotic things like high pulls, push –presses and so on.
She commented that my DL is really very much like a stiff-legged DL and I should be able to improve upon my strength once I improve upon my technique. Well, she’s a pro at the DL so I’m quite eager to take some technical lessons from her. Interestingly, despite that she’s a PL/OL girl, she also managed to do 20-rep DLs/squats etc.
Training statistics
Rep index: 238 reps/hr (90min)
Volume: 10563kg
Total gym time: 120 mins.
# of sets: 27 - # of reps 357 - avg reps/set : 13,2 - kg/rep 29,6 kg
30d weight etc. averages (Sun)
65,0kg = -0,8 kg
28,1 bf% = -0,5%
F: 18,3kg=-0,6kg = 1,8kg F to go to 63,2kg @ 26%
LBM: 46,8kg=-0,2kg
P-ratio: 27% LBM loss re to 30d avg wt loss
30 day average intake, maintenance & predicted expenditure Fri22 – Sat20
current 30d avg intake = 2051 kcal, which is:
- 92,6% of 30d maintenance = 2215 kcal = 548g fat loss in in 30d
- 90,2% of predicted 30d avg caloric expenditure: 2275kcal
Comment: it was a very bad idea to skip breakfast. Could’ve known this would put my body in survival mode with a 18hr fast as this is exactly what it is used to doing in the past. So back to 3 meals/day with only a night-time fast as well as a day-fast (breakfast till dinner) .
Looking forward to the diet break that will start in a few days. When I’ll be dieting again, I’ll do what worked best in the past few months: eat around 1300 kcal most dieting days and 2000-2500 kcal most lifting days with once a week (less or more depending on TOM) a 3000-4000 kcal day.
Re the tingling, everything seemed to point to a pinched nerve, but I've had some people telling me that they experienced the same before they got their thyroid optimized, so I'm really finally considering to visit a thyroid specialist and get another check-up, and have him/her look at antibodies. It's totally weird to see the humongous fluctuations in metabolism (both up and down) I've been seeing. I wonder even more how serotonin/dopamin could be measured. See a neurologist first?
I would outrule the simple things first then get into antibodies. See the neuroligist, if you check clear there, then get poked at the endocrinologist.
keeping my fingers crossed and looking forward to your diet break, yey
Everyone always gives advice from personal experience.
One forum with a lot of members with thyroid problems:
Quote:
yes, I had those pinched nerves before I got medicated
Another forum with more fitness gals
Quote:
yep, you need some massage time/chiro/stuff to unpinch. stress causes mine at times too. part of the having strong back muscles, when they are tight they pull the spine out of whack and pinch things.
You are right Galya, going with the simplest explanation as well as the easiest, a chiropracter/sports massage specialist seems like the best option.
I'm really taking my time to prepare my next workout schedule.
It will be a full body workout with different emphasis each time, so it's like a hybrid between a conventional 3-split and a full body WO.
I hesitated between a 4- and a 3-split but eventually decided to lump the legs (quads/hams) together rather than dissociate them because I only wanted to do 3 lifting sessions/week and keep everyting within a weekly schedule. Doing all of the heavy leg exercises on 1 day makes for a much heavier training. However that day will become an anabolik junkfood/free day!
All sessions will be done on fixed days, as opposed to my previous 'exercise every other day' routine: Tuesday - Thursday - Saturday - Sun- or Monday.
Tue-Th-Sat is for lifting. Sun/Mon for a long cardio session plus a couple of weird/odd/fun/difficult/techni cal exercises mostly aimed at balance, flexibility.. all things I barely have the patience for normally, but which are interesting nonetheless.
Setup: light = 2 sets of 1 exercise @ 20-12 RM medium = 3 sets of 2 exercises @ 12-6 RM
1st exercise = speed work = approx. half of the reps indicated
2nd exercise = 3 drop sets starting at highest weight heavy = 6 waveloading sets of 1 exercise @ 7-3 reps (perhaps more/less)
The following exercises will be used light (metabolic work)
Tues quads : leg extension
Tues hams: leg curl
Tues shoulders: lateral raise
Tues balance: renegade rows (UB) - db Bulgarians (LB) = static supported
Th back: lat pull down / pullup singles and/or supine rows
Sat chest: pec deck (or flyes)
Sat abs: Saxon side bend
medium speed/dropsets
Tues chest: incline db press drop sets (no speed sets)
Tues triceps: rope pushdown dropsets
Tues abs: wood chop dropsets
Sat back: speed pullups, BB BOR dropsets
Sat biceps: hammer curl dropsets
heavy waves
Tues back: pullup ladders w added weight (1234321 etc.)
Tues biceps: EZ-curl
Th chest: db press
Th triceps: EZ-extension
Th abs: cable crunch or Swiss ball w dbs/disks
Sat quads: bb front squat
Sat hams: RDL
Sat shoulders: military press
Sat balance: stepups & lunges (dynamic)
I'm now filling in the weights for the next month which is a bit tricky esp for wave loading and speed work, but I'll do my best.. if it's too low /high I'll adjust.
I like your setup.With my aversion to leg curls I would suggest supine hip extensions with leg curl, but that's just me. I would also mix your saturday and thursday to be more balanced in terms of upper/lower so you don't exhaust yourself but you do have a special reason to do it that way. I would rather eat more on a total body day than on a lower body day (energy partitioning?) It also makes more sense to do the military press on thursday and move the bench to saturday but that's just nitpicking...I would love to see the reasoning behind your pushing choices, but it looks very good.
A supine hip extension like my 'Swiss ball leg curl' you mean? That one I actually do for balance, not for strength as it doesn't really suit itself very well to periodization (viz. do heavier weights every workout).
I could do the Swiss leg curl on an easy balance day which also happens to be the 'easy leg ' day.
There's no specific reason to do the heavy back work on Tues day and chest on Thursday, other than aversion against the habit to do heavy chest work on the first day of any cycle which mostly happens to be Monday. But if there's good reason to have heavy chest work on Tuesday and heavy back work on Thursday I'll buy it. My reasoning is that after Saturday there's 2 days of rest before I can tackle another big muscle group = back and only 1 rest day between heavy back & heavy chest work.
Saturday is the day I am going to eat most of all days = cheat meals etc. so it makes sense to do the heaviest workout = legs that day. I often see shoulder exercises paired with legs, hence why I put the heavy military press on that day. But I see that putting military press on Thursday and make the shoulders cycle along with the chest isn't a bad idea at all.
I already pair the biceps work with back and triceps work with chest. No light days here.
The real headache is the fun assistance exercises. I still have tons of interesting exercises to sift through. Even the balance work is difficult.
Static supported = renegade row (UB) + Bulgarians (LB) + Swiss leg curl (LB) ?
Static unsupported = 1-leg DL, but i never even tried that one!
Dynamic unsupported = stepup and/or lunges (LB) , but I can't think of one for UB.
I might have to do a video for you, but here is one of our guys doing it http://spidersport.com/gallery.php?t...able-push-pull
The picture shows the end position. At the starting position the right arm is extended forward as in the beginning of a cable row and the left is folded back with the elbow higher than the shoulder and the hand in front of the shoulder. I will see if we can shoot a video today so you see how to pick up and leave the weights safely and also how to do the pushing arm motion, because it's a bit tricky.
OK, I now understand it.. seems relatively easy, except that you need to be careful to not let the rear side go too far and strain a shoulder.
Monday Jan 22 Cardio Treadmill HILLS
5 min WU 4,6 to 5km/hr @ 15%,
HILLS: 7 x 5 mins of : 4 min at 6,0 km/hr – 1 min at 4,8 km/hr @ 9 up to 15%
3 min at 6-7 km/hr @ 15%
2 min cooldown
490kcal – 653 kcal/hr (+32)
4,3km – 5,73 km/hr (+0,16)
Linear Mode
