Espi, just know that you don't have to go all the way down for the suitcase deadlift. At least if you're using a db. Just go as far as you can, taking mind of your back.
It's common to suggest that you prop your heals on a plate for hack squats, too. It really helps.
Just wondering.. considering the difficulty I have with renegade rows, shouldn't I just start with the plank? It really looks very similar except that you keep the elbows on the ground instead of extending the arms.
Likewise I'm not doing the T-pushups yet, but do the simpler normal pushups. As long as I still can't do more than 10 regular pushups there's no reason to do a T-pushup, right?
MEDIUM
A4 good morning
40x14-10 (last week: 37,5x13)
B4 bent over row
47,5x10
45x13 (last week: 45x13)
A5 pull through
13,8x22-19 (last week: 13,8x13-15)
B5 pull up
See A2
A6 plank
Held plank position for 30 counts
Will be training on improving with the plank position first and then back again to renegade rows.
PUMP EXERCISE
A8 single leg extension
12x22/22
B8 single leg curl
12x22/22
When starting with the leg extension, 12 kg felt so ridiculously light that I decided to do it with just one leg. Managed 22 reps both sides, which was hard.
Leg curls were not easy to do for the left leg as the right leg was an obstacle. Wonder whether anyone else tried these single-leg curls before.
ODD EXERCISES
A4 Deadlift Walks
This one is part of Chad Waterbury’s Next Big Three program, but it makes a cool stand-alone exercise as well.
First move the hooks or barbell supports to the front (outside) of a squat cage or power rack. They should be set up just below your knees. A couple of blocks will work, too. Now load up the bar with about 65% of your raw deadlift max and place it in front of the power rack about two full steps away from the supports. Take a shoulder-width stance and use a pronated grip (both palms facing you).
Deadlift the weight as you normally would, then take two steps forward, reset your stance and place the bar on the uprights, hooks or blocks. Release all muscular tension, re-lift the weight, take two steps backwards, reset your stance and lower the weight again. That’s one rep! Without resting, repeat for the desired number of reps. You may then go to the corner and throw up.
45x10 – 5 – 5 – 3
Oops, obviously I hadn’t read the explanation well enough. I’d already done 3 sets of 10-5-5 reps until I realized that the instructions called for just 1 single DL rep each and having you walk back and forth every single time. So, when I finally got that message, I was already too exhausted to do more than 3 reps. After all 7 RDL sets plus 3 deadlift walks is enough to wear out anyone, even with piddly weights of only 45 kg.
I had to be very inventive here as our gym doesn’t have racks. I used 2 benches which had to be placed really close together while using the shorter barbell. Couldn’t use the longer one as I’d have poked the guy next to me in the stomach.
Opinion: positive, but will have to try this one another time again, since being fully exhausted wasn’t helping here.
General
Still marvelling over the tons of extra time I have for casual lifting now I’ve dropped so many exercises. Feels good and comfortable. Also.. makes me feel strong!
Training statistics
Volume: 10032kg
# of sets: 27 - # of reps 235 - avg reps/set : 8,7 (7,6 w/o the pump sets) - kg/rep 42,7 kg
Yesterday I did my 2nd Body Pump class ever and things went better than anticipated.
There are several problems though:
- tempo doesn't allow for proper form, so people do only quarter squats and half ranges for DL
- which retard ever invented doing a combination of bent over rows (which I can do with 70kg max) and clean+press in 1 track?? Militaries are compound movements for the shoulders! I got hurt the first time I tried bodypump and had to walk out of the class 2 years ago. Now I was warned in advance and only took a piddly weight of 3,75kg for each side but I felt that I was wasting my time on the rows just in order to be able to do the presses.
In general, I wonder what people's thoughts are on BodyPump classes. Did a search for them but nobody ever seems to do them. Yet, they are immensely popular all over the world it seems. Not by true fitness enthousiasts?
My neck got hurt somewhat because of bad form for abdominal crunches..nexst time I'll have to look up, not towards my feet.
Apart from that, shoulders hurt a bit because I never do that many reps for them in order to save myself from injury.
As for real DOMS, only triceps are felt, mostly because I did 2 sets of REAL pushups (not on the knees)
No I just meant in general ... before when your workout volume was so much more including the cardio, you were having all sorts of problems with paresthesia and pain ... just wondering if that has changed since you swapped your program around?
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
I'm feeling tons better without cardio in my program. At first it felt weird, but I'm finally realizing that the intense cardio program held me back big time.
Held me back because I was continuously too exhausted. Since I was always doing it, I couldn't feel the difference until I didn't work out for 3 weeks on end and finally discovered that I wasn't gaining a ton of weight, contrary to what I always experienced before.
So the only thing I'm missing out on now is the major adrenalin rush from the cardio. Slowly that addiction is subsiding.
In a way I'm hoping that doing this new pump class will give me a bit of the same feeling.
Apart from being able to be more productive at home , I'm also having the distinct impression i might even be able to put on a tidbit of muscle during the cut. A bit unbelievable, but it just might happen because there's now less energy going to cardio and I'm never cutting on workout days, but instead eating at or over maintenance. So, who knows I might finally see some LBM gains?
Chronic condition
Chronic paresthesia indicates a problem with the functioning of nerve cells, or neurons. This malfunction, which is especially common in older individuals, is often the result of poor circulation in the limbs (such as in peripheral vascular disease), or may be caused by atherosclerosis—the build up of plaque on artery walls. Without a proper supply of blood and nutrients, nerve cells can no longer adequately send signals to the brain. Because of this, paresthesia is also a symptom of vitamin deficiency and malnutrition, as well as metabolic disorders like diabetes and hypothyroidism, and hypoparathyroidsim.
Irritation to the nerve can also come from inflammation to the surrounding tissue. Joint conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome are common sources of paresthesia.
Another cause of paresthesia, however, may be direct damage to the nerves themselves, or neuropathy, which can stem from injury or infection such as Lyme disease, or which may be indicative of a current neurological disorder. Chronic paresthesia can sometimes be symptomatic of serious conditions, such as a transient ischemic attack, a brain tumor, motor neurone disease, or autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis or lupus erythematosus. A diagnostic evaluation by a doctor is necessary to rule these out.
Paresthesiae of the mouth, hands, and feet are common, transient symptoms of the related conditions of hyperventilation syndrome and panic attacks.
Other known causes of paresthesia (aside from pressure on the affected area):
Alcoholism
Anticonvulsant drugs such as topiramate, sulthiame, and acetazolamide
Dehydration
Fabry disease
Fibromyalgia
Heavy metals
Hyperventilation
Lidocaine poisoning
Migraines
Multiple sclerosis
Radiation poisoning
Withdrawal from certain SSRIs, such as Paroxetine
Vitamin B12 deficiency
Immune deficiency, such as Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP)
Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)
Obdormition
Sorry! I forget that some of the terms I use daily are not in common language ... I just meant the pins and needles/tingling/numbness that you were having ...
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
They've not bothered me too much for the past few weeks, only when I had 2 low days in a row it came back in a mild form. Apparently it had a lot to do with both dieting and the intense cardio+lifting I was doing. Let's knock on wood.
Perhaps not lame, but not really a decent enough workout. Yet, I want to continue doing it as it's an endurance type of workout that comes closest to the cardio sessions I've been doing.
I could look into EDT as a more controlled way of metabolic workouts.
The tally of injuries from 1 body pump session is now:
- neck from craning it too much during crunches (my stupid fault!)
- wrists , but only slightly, could be unrelated, but if it is related.. going to failure = improper form
- rib cage, probably from the side-way crunches which were new for me, though I've been doing wood chops.. I'm not big on ab exercises, considering that I don't believe in spot reduction and think it's almost a waste of time.. at least thought so, but having a strong core is probably a good idea
Tuesday March 27 TRAINING Triple Anti-KISS – 3 week 5 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC (NROL) STRETCHING
1 walking lunge with UB twist (5 each side)
2 lateral lunge with opposite hand reach & touch (10 each side)
3 ball bridge /Russian twist (10 each side)
4 lame (knee) pushups , still tired (8 reps)
WAVE LOADING
A1 Yates Row
WU: 42,5 x 10
Wave 1 – 2
52,5 x 7– 55x7
57,5 x 6 –60x 5
62,5x 5 – 65x 4(last week 62,5x2 ; then it was not the ‘opening’ lift)
Seems that I’ve been pushing myself a bit too much already in the first wave. Better to keep back a bit.
MEDIUM
A2 incline db press
30 x9
28x9 (last week (28x10)
B2 EZ curl
20x 8
17,5x13 (last week: 20x9-6)
ODD EXERCISES Wrong Way" Pull Over This movement was "discovered" by doing dumbbell pullovers the wrong way. With traditional pullovers, the lifter attempts to keep the arms relatively straight, but if he bends the elbows and keeps them fixed, he'll get one heck of a triceps exercise!
Lie on a flat bench and hold one dumbbell with both hands. The elbows should be pointed behind your head and the upper arms should remain relatively fixed throughout the movement. Lower the dumbbell into an extreme stretch position, pause, then bring it back up and squeeze your triceps for two seconds at the top. Given that the arms are kept at an angle, tension remains on the triceps for the entire movement. The end result is that the movement is much more effective than traditional seated dumbbell extensions.
Go heavy with this one and shoot for four to six reps per set.
9x 6 – 7
Ouch.. with the slight pain from doing oblique crunches on Sunday, this really felt like ripping apart my rib cage. Only a 9kg db was hard. Only thing I had a problem with is knowing how far up to raise the db. Above the face or keep the arm extended backwards all the time.
Opinion: positive, feels more effective than a regular pullover. If I want to do those again, I’ll definitely do them this way.
A7 Reverse Incline Hammer Curl
Take an incline bench and adjust it so that it's at a 60 to 70-degree angle. Then, after grabbing a pair of dumbbells, sit backward on the bench so that your chest is leaning against the bench. Let the dumbbells hang straight down, and using a hammer grip, curl both dumbbells up so that they touch your shoulders.
This is a cool movement for a variety of reasons. First of all, it's impossible to use body English on them. Secondly, it makes it really difficult to recruit the front deltoids, which allows for a more "pure" biceps movement. It also allows you to draw the elbows back a bit as you curl the weights up, which helps recruit the long head of the biceps, which seems to be underdeveloped in most bodybuilders. And lastly — and this is subtle — it forces you to straighten the arm out completely. Most lifters have some sort of a Popeye syndrome where they almost never fully extend their arms, but by doing this movement — straightening the arm out completely — it may actually feel like the elbow is hyperextended.
(2x6)x14
(2x7)x11
Apart from the funny way you sit, a good exercise Feels better than a normal hammer curl, even with less weight.
Opinion:neutral-positive. Too much isolation work to my liking, but if you must do a hammer curl, this is a good alternative.
General
Was a bit bothered by the small pains in the rib cage and afraid to hurt the already overworked shoulders and abs, so skipped both these exercises. Otherwise , good workout. So NOT tired at the end, but feeling strong.
Training statistics
Rep index: 192 reps/hr (45min)
Volume: 4784kg
# of sets: 19 - # of reps 144 - avg reps/set : 7,6 - kg/rep 33,2 kg
Tuesday March 27 TRAINING Triple Anti-KISS – 3 week 5 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC (NROL) STRETCHING
1 walking lunge with UB twist (5 each side)
2 lateral lunge with opposite hand reach & touch (10 each side)
3 ball bridge /Russian twist (10 each side)
4 lame (knee) pushups , still tired (8 reps)
WAVE LOADING
A1 Yates Row
WU: 42,5 x 10
Wave 1 – 2
52,5 x 7– 55x7
57,5 x 6 –60x 5
62,5x 5 – 65x 4(last week 62,5x2 ; then it was not the ‘opening’ lift)
Seems that I’ve been pushing myself a bit too much already in the first wave. Better to keep back a bit.
MEDIUM
A2 incline db press
30 x9
28x9 (last week (28x10)
B2 EZ curl
20x 8
17,5x13 (last week: 20x9-6)
ODD EXERCISES Wrong Way" Pull Over This movement was "discovered" by doing dumbbell pullovers the wrong way. With traditional pullovers, the lifter attempts to keep the arms relatively straight, but if he bends the elbows and keeps them fixed, he'll get one heck of a triceps exercise!
Lie on a flat bench and hold one dumbbell with both hands. The elbows should be pointed behind your head and the upper arms should remain relatively fixed throughout the movement. Lower the dumbbell into an extreme stretch position, pause, then bring it back up and squeeze your triceps for two seconds at the top. Given that the arms are kept at an angle, tension remains on the triceps for the entire movement. The end result is that the movement is much more effective than traditional seated dumbbell extensions.
Go heavy with this one and shoot for four to six reps per set.
9x 6 – 7
Ouch.. with the slight pain from doing oblique crunches on Sunday, this really felt like ripping apart my rib cage. Only a 9kg db was hard. Only thing I had a problem with is knowing how far up to raise the db. Above the face or keep the arm extended backwards all the time.
Opinion: positive, feels more effective than a regular pullover. If I want to do those again, I’ll definitely do them this way.
Reverse Incline Hammer Curl
Take an incline bench and adjust it so that it's at a 60 to 70-degree angle. Then, after grabbing a pair of dumbbells, sit backward on the bench so that your chest is leaning against the bench. Let the dumbbells hang straight down, and using a hammer grip, curl both dumbbells up so that they touch your shoulders.
This is a cool movement for a variety of reasons. First of all, it's impossible to use body English on them. Secondly, it makes it really difficult to recruit the front deltoids, which allows for a more "pure" biceps movement. It also allows you to draw the elbows back a bit as you curl the weights up, which helps recruit the long head of the biceps, which seems to be underdeveloped in most bodybuilders. And lastly — and this is subtle — it forces you to straighten the arm out completely. Most lifters have some sort of a Popeye syndrome where they almost never fully extend their arms, but by doing this movement — straightening the arm out completely — it may actually feel like the elbow is hyperextended.
(2x6)x14
(2x7)x11
Apart from the funny way you sit, a good exercise Feels better than a normal hammer curl, even with less weight.
Opinion:neutral-positive. Too much isolation work to my liking, but if you must do a hammer curl, this is a good alternative.
General
Was a bit bothered by the small pains in the rib cage and afraid to hurt the already overworked shoulders and abs, so skipped both these exercises. Otherwise , good workout. So NOT tired at the end, but feeling strong.
Training statistics
Rep index: 192 reps/hr (45min)
Volume: 4784kg
# of sets: 19 - # of reps 144 - avg reps/set : 7,6 - kg/rep 33,2 kg
I bet a lot of people have serious forum withdrawal problems!
BTW, everytime I see your avi, I'm getting confused LOL! Do you get confused as well over at BR.com?
LOL! I have been in serious withdrawal all day!! But I got a lot more done than I usually do I haven't been over to Lyle's forum in a while ... I'll have to check it out again ... they scare me over there!!
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Thursday March 29 TRAINING Triple Anti-KISS – 3 week 5 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC (NROL) STRETCHING
1 walking lunge with UB twist (5 each side)
2 lateral lunge with opposite hand reach & touch (10 each side)
3 ball bridge /Russian twist (10 each side)
4 lame (knee) pushups , still tired (15 reps)
WAVE LOADING
A1 db press
WU: 22 x 11
Wave 1 – 2
30x8 - 32x8
34x7 –36x 7
38x5 – 40x5(last week 38x7).
Setting the tone for the rest: probably weaker all over
MEDIUM
A2 front bb squat
30 x9-10 (last week : 30x10-11)
General
This workout was done in the afternoon and I was already quite tired from over around 80min of cycling (60min rural over 1 major hill plus 20min city cycling). Had my first appointment with a specialist that may shed some light on my physical problems, which was draining too. So, did only the bare essentials and didn’t even feel bad or guilty about it. Learnt that it’s no use to push myself when not feeling fresh.
Training statistics
Rep index: 288 reps/hr (30min)
Volume: 5602kg
# of sets: 17 (incl WUs)- # of reps 144 - avg reps/set : 8,5 - kg/rep 38,9 kg
That will be quite a while. Hes an extremely busy man, but there's a follow-up contact in 6 weeks and a whole slew orf research that needs to be done.
By the way, I went to the nearest railway station over a nice hill. Despite that my gearing didn't work properly I managed to get up there without getting off while my bf had to stop half way to catch his breath. His HR goes sky high on these longer stretches.
Actually I was surprised at how low my own HR stayed for the effort.
No wonder I skipped 2 of the squat sets.. had done enough quad training already while cycling.
A3 pull through
16,3x19-22 (last week: 13,8x22-19)
B3 pull up
BWx2-2
ODD EXERCISES Towel Chin-up
This one will set your back, biceps, and forearms on fire! All you need is a towel, a chin-up bar, and a high tolerance for pain. Now, without tying any knots in the towel, throw it over the bar. Grasp the towel and hang on tight. Now perform as many chin-ups as you can. After a few sets, when you can no longer pull yourself up, just grab the towel and hang off of it. Then call a cab, because you won't be able to steer your car home.
BWxF
No f*ing way I can do this. Keep sliding down and can’t even hold on because I’m lacking grip strength. Probably too small fingers. The weird part was when I asked an innocent girl, that I’d just met in the gym to try it. While she didn’t seem strong, she was able to hang onto the towel. Yet she proclaimed to not be able to do any pull-ups. We figured it was because she is taller than me and didn’t need to jump high in order to keep in the highest position. Along with her being taller, she has longer fingers too, enabling a better grip, despite lower strength. Boy was I ever pissed!
Opinion: neutral-positive, despite the failure. Neutral because I wonder what the actual advantage is of this exercise. Positive coz’ I love everything related to pull-ups (macha thing yanno )
Superman
This is a very basic but very neglected core exercise that's great for athletes and bodybuilders alike. Lie on the floor facedown with your arms and legs outstretched. Lift your arms and legs as high as possible and hold them there for a three to five second count. Return to the floor and repeat. Leaping tall buildings with a single bound optional.
BWx6, holding for 5s each
Seems easy but is more difficult than I had imagined. Hurt at the hip when raising the legs.
Opinion: positive, can be a good exercise to increase flexibility
General
Nice and calm workout, except for having wobbly legs once again at the start. Really got to stop with having sugary stuff pre-workout as it makes me weak as a kitten, necessitating more carbs and caffeine to get over it. Didn’t do the most challenging odd lifts since I’m planning to do another workout tomorrow with a friend where we’ll discuss lifts to do for a beginning lifters’ workshop.
Things to consider:
- rear lunges (easier than front lunges),
- lateral lunges,
- Bulgarian split squats or step ups?
- goblet squats,
- Swiss ball leg curls
- (knee) pushups
- supine rows
- Swiss ball crunches
- Saxon side bends
I’d be happy with other suggestions for exercises that are good for resistance training with free weights.
Training statistics
Rep index: 193 reps/hr (60min, due to long coffee break)
Volume: 8867kg
# of sets:22 (incl WUs)- # of reps 193 - avg reps/set : 8,8 - kg/rep 45,9 kg
Towel pullups,looks interesting. I don't know if I can do it but hanging on the towel must be doable :p.Will you be pissed even more if I can?
Now I will also think about some exercises for tomorrow.I think we should also do some more explosive exercises.Jump squats,high pulls etc.Lunges will be good but now the odd lunges? Off course I still want to try them,then we will see.
Further,there is no way I will be doing pushups on my knees
And you forgot to say those beginners are runners.Maybe someone knows which exercises are good for them.
Also, like you said and reminded me, it's good to separate exercises to which you can add weight for periodization and real strenght training from exercises that are good for improving general strength and balance. Best would be both.
BW exercise for balance , no wt
lateral / rear /walking lunge
step ups
supine row /pull up
push ups
Swiss ball leg curl
exercises with weights
deadlift
goblet/1-db squat
step ups with dbs
bb rows
db press
Saxon side bends (abs)
One of the major problems will be to know what kind of facilities there will be. I don't know exactly what materials will be available and also whether or not particpants are supposed to work out themselves too. If they do (which would be good), some very basic things would be good.
Today I worked out as well with a friend (Miss DL above) with whom I discussed what exercises would be good for complete newbies. I worked out in a gym where there are some things that my normal gym doesn't have like a hack squat, a squat rack and some ab/pushup thingies.
1 set of walking lunges @ BW
1 set of rear lunges @ BW
1 set of lateral lunges
1 set of Farmer's walk w 21 kg dbs
1 set of normal pullups
1 set of towel chinup @ BW (failure again) (retry from yesterday)
1 set of sumo squat (50 kg)
1 set of hack squat (20kg)
1 set of goblet squat
1 set of Iron cross, see below!
1 set of wall squats
1-3 sets of clean & press w 10kg (we were mimicking the very bad style as seen in the Body Pump class and then seeing how it should be done the 'right' way)
1-2 sets of high pulls (my friend thinks they are easy, we think they are too difficult for newbies and only for advanced trainees like her )
1 set of knee pushups
2 sets of Saxon side bends w 4kg / 2x4 kg
1 set of chest-supported pushups (a thingy)
1 set of ab crunches in an ab crunch 'thingy'
None of them were taken to failure.
From odd exercises. Iron Cross
This is a great overall conditioning exercise we picked up from Coach John Davies. It also makes a good warm-up or finisher.
Hold two light dumbbells or plates in your hands and squat from a wide stance with the buttocks pushed back. Arms should be held straight ahead, parallel to the ground and thumbs up. As you squat up, push your hips forward while simultaneously moving your arms to the sides in a cross position. Return to the start position by moving in the precise inverse fashion and keeping your arms constantly parallel.
(2x4kg)x6
Didn’t do it to failure. Had expected it to be really hard to balance myself, but while the front raise was challenging on its’ own, the exercise was really far less difficult than expected, and really fun to do!
Opinion: positive, a great warm-up & balancing exercise!
Saturday April 7 TRAINING Triple Anti-KISS – 3 week 6 all weights in kilograms
For lack of motivation and a bit too much stress to handle, I haven’t worked out since Sunday and decided to take the same weights as last Saturday.
DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 supine/inverted row (10 reps)
2 ball bridge /Russian twist (10 each side)
3 SHELC/Swiss leg curl (10 reps)
4 lazy (knee) pushups (10 reps)
5 lateral lunge with opposite hand reach & touch (10 each side)
(no walking lunges, the balancing takes a lot of energy out of me, perhaps I’ll add them to the post-WO stretching)
Felt weak, but didn’t even do worse than last week.
MEDIUM
A2 Yates row
47,5x14-12 (last week : 47,5x11)
Going much better
B2 good morning
40x14-13 (last week: 40x11-13)
A3 pull through
16,3x21-24 (last week: 16,3x19-22)
Time to raise weights!
B3 pull up
BWx1-1
Feeling weak again.. and more tired than I should be. Called it quits here.
ODD EXERCISES
None today.
General
Weird workout. Thought I’d be energetic from not having lifted this week and having had a bad streak of overfeeding.. Not so, at least, started out as strong or even stronger but then quickly ‘petered’ out? I’ve been having trouble focussing the last few days. Now I’m experimenting with taking sulbutiamine on different frequencies (currently one cap every 3 days, I feel very deprived on the days I’m not taking them.. how can you get addicted to vitamins in just a couple of weeks ). Hadn’t used Endure either (forgot), which mostly helps with stamina.
When going home, I decided to not continue with the current program but start another one. Not that the program is bad, but I really prefer to be in sync with my natural cycle. That is, lift really heavy when I’m naturally strongest around mid cycle and then when I’m having a relentless appetite anyway in the 2nd half of the cycle, do metabolic work to burn more calories so the extra cals I’m eating are going to get used. Viz. cut hard in first half of the cycle and keep reps low/weights heavy to further diminish appetite surges, and then eat at maintenance or higher in the second half but go for depletion style workouts and interval cardio. Which means: go back to previous schedule, but then not FB but UB/LB style 3x/wk.
Training statistics
Rep index: 198 reps/hr (60min, too much yakking)
Volume: 9054kg
# of sets:21 (incl WUs)- # of reps 198 - avg reps/set : 9,4 - kg/rep 45,7 kg
Tuesday April 10 TRAINING Go with the Flow # 7 week 1 all weights in kilograms
Started another routine today. The former routine was annoying for a couple of reasons: no supersets for the waveloading which bored me to tears. Been supersetting for almost 6 years now and won’t give it up, ever.
Also wanted a shorter cycle that matched my natural menstruation cycle, like the previous routine. Difference with the former one: now UB/LB again and only 3 workouts/week. Will try to add cardio again, but go by feel.
DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 supine/inverted row (10 reps)
2 normal pushups (8 reps to failure)
3 Russian twist (15 each side)
4 lateral lunge with opposite hand reach & touch (10 each side)
5 ‘windmill’ (12 each side)
WAVE LOADING
A1 Yates row underhand grip
WU: 27,5 x 12
Wave 1 – 2
37,5x12 - 40x12
42,5x11 –45x11
47,5x10 – 50x10 (last few times with 50kg: 7-8-6 reps).
Huge improvement over what I’d done before. Man, I love supersetting!
B1 db press
WU: (2x8)x13
Wave 1 – 2
20x12 - 22x12
24x11 –26x11
28x10 – 30x10 (last few times with 30kg: 7-8-8-9-8 reps).
Good improvement!
MEDIUM
A2 standing military press
17,5x18-15-15 (last time: 17,5x12)
Hyoooge improvement here. But at the time , a MP was a new exercise
B2 pullup
BWx2-1
First one with mixed grip, 2nd one with neutral/narrow grip.
A3a wood chop
16,3x12
A3b golf swing
13,8x8
First time with heavier weights. Feels scary. Not planning to go further than just 2,5 kg heavier and that will be it.
B3 renegade row
4x15
Thought 1 set was enough.
LIGHT STUFF
A4 chest press
26x17
Actually a tad heavyish for ‘light’ stuff. Plan to drop these exercises , they are done for better blood flow and are kinda superfluous.
A5 alternating lat pull down (narrow)
28 x 22 (11 each side)
This is another new exercise actually. Been reading up on a crawling type of lat pull down and tried my hands on it. I just can’t get a good feel for it yet. Like , I’m leaning back much more with this one than with the normal lat pull downs because otherwise there’s no tension.
Need to repeat the exercise few times to get into the ‘groove’.
REHAB STUFF
A6 exorotations
3,8x17 (each side)
Haven’t done this one in a while. Feels good to be doing them again!
Cable Row to Neck with Rope (or face pull) Here's an exercise 90% of gym rats should be using. Why? Because they probably spent a good part of their lifting careers doing a lot of bench presses and very little reciprocal work for the upper back (which can negatively affect posture.) Cable rows will make up for those youthful indiscretions.
Set an adjustable pulley so that it's directly in front of your pecs. Use a triceps rope — it'll reduce the stress on your forearms and wrists. Grab the ends of the rope as if you were grasping a pair of hammers. Start with the shoulders protracted and the forearms extended. Begin the movement by retracting the shoulder blades, and immediately bend the elbows to continue the movement until the forearms make contact with the upper arms.
Make sure to eliminate the lower back from the equation by keeping it perpendicular to the floor at all times. If the development of your rhomboids is lacking, you may choose to pause for a moment when the shoulder blades are retracted.
11,3x20
13,8x8
Not a new or odd exercise at all. Been doing this one for a long time now. Previously always seated, later as a standing ‘face pull’ as I tend to call them. Seated ones are way easier.
Opinion: positive, otherwise they wouldn’t have been a mainstay of my routine for so long.
Rolling Swiss Ball Press Charles Poliquin can do two things well: come up with unique exercises and bake brownies. (You should see the big guy in an apron. He's adorable we tell ya!) He refuses to let us post his brownie recipe here, but here's one of the unique chest movements he invented.
Lie back on a Swiss ball as if you were about to perform normal dumbbell bench presses. Press the dumbbells up and (here comes the interesting part) drop your hips until you're now in an incline position. Now lower the weights slowly. After a pause, roll back up to the "flat" bench position and start over. In effect, you're doing a flat bench on the way up and an incline bench on the way down.
Since you're weaker in the incline press than in the flat press position, you'll use the strong leverage from the flat position to help you get the load up in preparation for the eccentric part of the movement. A very cool use for the 'ol Swiss ball.
(2x8)xF
(2x4)x12
Not sure what happened, but when I started with 8 kg dumbbells my hip suddenly gave up on me again, so I scurried back to the weight rack and took a pink weight of 4 kg.
Weird exercise, but actually quite a lot of fun to do. Opinion: neutral, it is a fun exercise, but unsure about how practical it really is.
General
Felt good to be back to supersets for my heavy exercises as I was just plainly bored to tears and losing momentum while waiting. Only trap is trying to once again cram in too many exercises. Will drop the superfluous ones like the light stuff.
Some exercises I started really too light , others like the wave loading ones were a real surprise that I was able to do that many more reps than foreseen.
Training statistics
Rep index: 291 reps/hr (80min, getting used to taking my time)
Volume: 10268kg
# of sets:33 (incl WUs, a bit too many)- # of reps 388 - avg reps/set : 11,8 - kg/rep 26,5 kg
Thursday April 12 TRAINING Go with the Flow # 7 week 1 all weights in kilograms
DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 walking lunge (5 reps each leg)
2 ham stretch : Frankenstein + squat/toe reach (5 reps for both) inch worm was taking too much time
3 Swiss leg curl (10 reps)
4 sissy squat (10 reps)
WAVE LOADING
A1 Romanian DL
WU: 40x10
Wave 1 – 2
50x10 - 52,5x10
55x10 –57,5x9
60x8 – 62,5x8 (last few times with 62,5kg: 8-7-7-7-7-7 reps)
Hmm not much progress in this one. Had a nasty twinge in left hip joint when I started. Old problem coming back?
B1 front squat
WU: 22,5x10
Wave 1 – 2
27,5x10 – 30x9
30x9 –32,5x9
32,5x8 – 35x8 PR! (first time with both 32,5 and 35kg; last few times 30kg: 10-11-9-10 reps).
First time I’m doing extended sets with front squats. I love it how I’m getting into the groove with this exercise now. But geez.. loathe the time it takes to switch around the disks, since I’m using same bar for RDL. Will drop the RDL for a while, also because of the pain and switch with Smith squat lunges.
MEDIUM
A2 Smith split squat
Dropped it, spent too much on the waveloading sets.
B2 pull through
18,8 x 18-21
Another PR, haven’t used 18,8 kg before. Last workouts: 16,3x19-22-21-24.
LIGHT STUFF
A3 leg extension
33x18
Probably won’t be doing these again, and it’s been a very long time ago I did this one. Last similar exercise: 31x22-24 (August 2006)
A5 leg curl
Dropped it, have done enough ham stuff today, pull through was pretty light anyway.
REHAB STUFF
A6 Mensendieck
Bad Espi skipped this one, once again.. for lack of time.
Plate Pinch Grip strength isn't all about crushing power. It's also about finger power, or what some call "pinching" power. To improve finger strength, try doing plate pinches. Grab a pair of dimes (newbie translation: ten pound plates) and place them together, smooth side out. Hold them with your finger tips and keep them pinched together. That's probably easy, so now move up to a pair of quarters (25's). Keep track of how long you can hold them and each time you try it, see if you can squeeze out a few extra seconds. You're a certified bad ass if you can do it with 45s!
2x5 kg x 20-30s while walking around.
Here it shows again these articles are biased for men. There’s no way I can pinch 2 10kg disks as even lifting them up is impossible. It is possible to do this for two 5kg plates and walk around with them. It feels very easy at the start, but gets progressively more difficult.
Opinion: neutral, probably good exercise if pinch gripping strength is important to you, like for rock climbers. But personally, I can’t see the benefit of it.
That was it folks. Had wanted to try the most fun exercise of them all, viz. iron cross, but I was a bit tired from all the disk swapping I had to do for the wave loading.
Next time it will be lifts from article 5.
While this was the only exercise from the series, I even did 3 new exercises.
I first started with 2 new dynamic stretching exercises, called spiderman crawl and Frankensteins. Here’s a video of the Spiderman curl. It wasn’t even that easy and here I really noticed how stiff my hip joints are.. really need to work on loosening these up again with the neglected Mensendieck exercises.
Frankensteins are relatively easy: Extend your arms out in front of your chest. In the process of your walk, swing one leg into the air keeping the leg as straight as possible to achieve a hamstring stretch, and attempt to hit your hands.
And finally at the end, tried out how an assisted pull up works in the gym’s cable station. It involves putting on a belt and attaching the cables to the rings on the belt. It is a bit tricky to set up, but doable when you really can’t do pull-ups at all or want to crank out 10 (I can manage 4 with a lot of effort). Obviously our gym doesn’t have an assisted pullup machine.
General
Liked all exercises, but like I said, hated how much time the loading and unloading took for the first 2 exercises. Will try something else. Almost forgot that I even had to repair the bar. A screw fell out and the cuff at the end was coming off, so dirtied my hands screwing it back on.
Training statistics
Rep index: 161 reps/hr (90min, yes, I did talk to people)
Volume: 12597kg
# of sets:23 (incl WUs)- # of reps 241 - avg reps/set : 10,5 - kg/rep 52,3 kg
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Linear Mode
