A2 - DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS
90 Seconds rest between sets
1x5 x 80e
4x5 x 85e
Since we don't have a decent cable row station, I used the compound row deal which I'm sure is an adequate substitute. You load plates on each side and the arms are attached by a universal joint so they aren't so restricted - you can also take the overhand, wide grip on it. Something must not be quite right if I can pull 400 lbs. on it though! DB Bench Presses have really improved for me lately and my shoulders like them so much better than the barbell version.
Usually when there are dumbbells lying next to a bench I assume that someone is using it and I use another bench. Despite me leaving my dumbbells next to my bench today, everybody decided to use my bench to hold their water bottles and stand next to while doing front raises and various other who-knows-what while standing on a wobble disk! I did 5 sets and each time, the same people saw me there and then when I left to do my other exercise they headed back over to the bench I was using. This would not have bothered me if there wasn't 4 unoccupied benches right next to it! Okay rant over!!
ALTERNATING SETS
B1 - CHIN-UP OR UNDERHAND-GRIP LAT PULLDOWN
90 Seconds rest between sets
I still think doing weighted chins or pullups is a sign of complete badassness! Andy was right about the weight helping the form too - no swinging monkey today (that doesn't sound very good, does it?) I was surprised I was able to get 5 sets within the specified rest periods in spite of the mirror facing, dual cable curlers that typically occupy this area. Shoulder presses are a bit tougher without adding the "push" that I was doing during Max. Strength.
ALTERNATING SETS
C1 - REVERSE CRUNCH
30 Seconds rest between sets
2 x 15
C2 - PLANK
30 Seconds rest between sets
1 x 60 seconds
I'm convinced that this will work so much better than the 100 or so "crunches" people were doing on the ab crunch machines today.
_____________
Another great day at the ol' gym today. I spend a bit more time on Saturdays just because I have it. I usually extend my foam rolling and warm-up and then cool down with some incline walking or something.
So afterwards I tested my bodyfat on one of those handheld jobs and it read 15.4%. I know I've got some work to do but I don't think I could possibly be that high. The trainer told me that I should have checked it before training and not after. I think I read about that somewhere before as well because those things account for the water in your system. I need to get a good skinfold done probably but I guess I'll use that for a starting point? I think I'm probably closer to 12 or 13% though.
Tell me about it. I'll cut back on the food if its starts going up too quick. Or maybe I just need to go to the bathroom more
....and don't tell me thats too much information, you know you wanted it.
LOL I figured after some of your comments that would be right up your alley! That's why I made sure to specify 'training' log for those who's minds aren't always on track! (like mine)
Quote:
400lbs? Wow you're strong.
Yeah.....thanks but not so much though!
I think there is something about this machine's fulcrum point that makes it easier to pull the weight. It's probably better for the ego than it is as a substitute for a true wide grip cable row. Here is what it looks like:
WARM-UP: Foam rolling/tennis ball and some lower body "activation"
ALTERNATING SETS
A1 - FRONT SQUAT
45 Seconds rest between sets** WTF 45 seconds!!! ^*^%^%%@!
2x12 x 165
1x12 x 155
A2 - STEP-UP
45 Seconds rest between sets
2x12 x 90
1x12 x 70
Ya know. I didn't even want to get out of bed this morning. I guess I was not ready to face the imminent HELL this workout would be!! Apparantly, I should leave my ego and manhood at the door and just do this crap with body weight because this kicked the shit out of me!! I actually made the rest periods for the first 2 supersets but then after that I wanted bash my face into the mirror. I took about 90 seconds rest between 2nd and 3rd sets. The last set of front squats were alright but the step-ups were U-G-L-Y! I got about 8 reps through on each side and somehow eeked out the final 4 per side. My only comments were: THIS TOTALLY SUCKS!!
ALTERNATING SETS
B1 - SUPINE HIP EXTENSION/LEG CURL
60 Seconds rest between sets
3x10 x BW
B2 - CABLE WOOD CHOP
60 Seconds rest between sets
3x10 x 50 per side
So after my 3 or 4 minutes of rest I was able to scrape myself off the bench and keep going! No single leg action on the leg curls today though. The fact that I was even able to put my legs on the ball was good news! Oh and I did the cable chops on a different machine today and 50 lbs. was about the same as 100 lbs. on the other machine. Not quite sure what that's all about?
C - SIDE PLANK
30 Seconds rest between sets
2 x 30s per side
By now I thought I was just going to puke or die. Thankfully I did neither!
__________________
Well I've been learning (painfully) that my muscular endurance sucks. I guess I'm using too much weight but the book says something about 12 RM being about 66% of your 1RM? Maybe for the "normal" person but I'm embarrassed about how badly these are kicking my ass!! Oh and I certainly wasn't following any of the stuff that I've been learning in Waterbury's new book about doing reps as fast as you can then stopping after they slow down, resting and then resuming. My last set of step-ups took forever!! Went something like this: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 holy shit, 9 um this sucks, 10 okay why the hell am I doing this, 11 you've got to be kidding me, 12 waaahhhh!!!
At least you made it through, good work
any single leg work is pure evil, but supersetted with front squats, NO THANKS!
Any reason you chose BFS over Chads book??,
I dont have either book, but I like Chads idea of shooting for a
total # reps per set as apposed to being strict 5x5 or whatever
At least you made it through, good work
any single leg work is pure evil, but supersetted with front squats, NO THANKS!
Any reason you chose BFS over Chads book??,
I dont have either book, but I like Chads idea of shooting for a
total # reps per set as apposed to being strict 5x5 or whatever
LOL. I'm totally with you! I can handle front squat's in straight sets but this whole superset thing with step-ups has been an ass-kicking!!
It's not that I chose BFS over Waterbury. I've always wanted to do a Waterbury program but didn't have the book. I thought I would do 6 weeks of BFS after Max. Strength as I was kinda familiar with the format due to there being a lot of similarities to NROL. I then ordered the Waterbury book and have been reading and digesting the contents.
After I'm done with 6 weeks of BFS (3 weeks each of fall phase 1&2) then I'm going to start HIAH.
Well I've been learning (painfully) that my muscular endurance sucks. I guess I'm using too much weight but the book says something about 12 RM being about 66% of your 1RM? Maybe for the "normal" person but I'm embarrassed about how badly these are kicking my ass!! Oh and I certainly wasn't following any of the stuff that I've been learning in Waterbury's new book about doing reps as fast as you can then stopping after they slow down, resting and then resuming. My last set of step-ups took forever!! Went something like this: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 holy shit, 9 um this sucks, 10 okay why the hell am I doing this, 11 you've got to be kidding me, 12 waaahhhh!!!
Hey, I've been reading through your log too, but haven't commented yet...
12RM and 3x12RM with 45s of rest is a biiiiiig difference
Looking at both you and AS, looks like Maximum Strength doesn't help too much for increasing strength endurance :P Or maybe it just gets you overconfident because it shoots up your 1RM much more than higher rep RMs.
Actually I think my other higher rep RMs went up by a similar percentage. It just took me a few workouts to get used to higher rep sets...it had been a long time since I had done many sets of 10 or 12 reps.
There is so much guesswork when you get up into the higher RMs that not everyone is going to be around the same percentage. Some people do better closer to their 1RM and some people do better with higher reps.
Hey, I've been reading through your log too, but haven't commented yet...
12RM and 3x12RM with 45s of rest is a biiiiiig difference
Looking at both you and AS, looks like Maximum Strength doesn't help too much for increasing strength endurance :P Or maybe it just gets you overconfident because it shoots up your 1RM much more than higher rep RMs.
Hey!! Welcome! I seem to be finding this out the hard way. I'm a stubborn pain in the ass some, well most the time - or pretty much always. It's just been so long since I've done higher rep work. I used to survive the 3x15 from NROL - this is just a shock after so much high weight, low rep work!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by AS
Actually I think my other higher rep RMs went up by a similar percentage. It just took me a few workouts to get used to higher rep sets...it had been a long time since I had done many sets of 10 or 12 reps.
There is so much guesswork when you get up into the higher RMs that not everyone is going to be around the same percentage. Some people do better closer to their 1RM and some people do better with higher reps.
Yeah, my strength even on higher rep stuff has gone up - just not as much as I think it should!! It's a learning curve for sure - that coupled with the fact I didn't take part in many "energy" workouts hurts my endurance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by liftintexas
I look away for a few days and the log goes to this.
Piece of pie! Except for the last 10 seconds of the planks! First 30 seconds is cake, then it really sucks!
_____________
So even though I didn't want to drag my ass out of bed.... again today - I had one goal going in: I was going to do all the sets and reps fast, with good form and adhere to all the rest periods. I knew that I'd feel like I wouldn't be using enough weight but I checked the ego at the door today and went to work.
Well I did it. Some of the weights were a bit light but that wasn't the focus today. All my reps were solid and fast and I hit every rest period without stopping off to die in between! I finished so fast, I even had time for incline walking. I make this fun by doing Stevie Wonder impressions while jamming to the iPod.
Oh I know!! That's why I was such a whiny baby on Monday!! 12 front squats followed by 12 step-ups per leg with 45 seconds in between was cruel and unusual!!
WARM-UP: Foam rolling/tennis ball and some lower body stuff.
Thoughts of going back to bed were also pondered.
ALTERNATING SETS
A1 - FRONT SQUAT
60 Seconds rest between sets
4x8 x 185
A2 - STEP-UP
60 Seconds rest between sets
4x8 x 100
Well I tried to build off my momentum from Wednesday and hit all the rest periods and do good solid reps. This worked until after the 3rd superset where I was again, ready to die and needed 90 seconds! I actually really like front squats and I don't mind step-ups but I FREAKING hate supersetting them!!!
ALTERNATING SETS
B1 - SUPINE HIP EXTENSION/LEG CURL
60 Seconds rest between sets
2x10 x 1 leg on ball - 10 per side
1x 10 x BW (2 legs on ball)
B2 - CABLE WOOD CHOP
60 Seconds rest between sets
3x10 x 100 per side
Again. After taking about 4 minutes rest between the "A" sets - these weren't as bad. Even though I felt like shit and wanted to go home.
C - SIDE PLANK
30 Seconds rest between sets
2 x 30s per side
Wanted to skip these too but I didn't.
__________________
So I'm getting to the point where I'm not "excited" about going to the gym right now. I'm not enjoying this workout all that much!! I thought we were supposed to feel challenged and "invigorated". I just feel like shit - at least on lower body days.
This is my fault though: The book even says to only do 3 workouts per week and I'm doing 4. I thought I was a bit cooler than I really am . Nate even says in the book; "Don't e-mail me and ask if it's okay to do two workouts on back-to-back days. It's not."
I really should have followed the advice and done a M-W-F routine. I made up my mind to do it this way though, so I'm going to stick with it. I'm taking a vacation in 2 weeks and will take that week off from lifting! Just hope I can make it that far!!
A2 - DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS
90 Seconds rest between sets
4x8 x 75e (+ 5 lbs.)
Well the "ego" row makes me look a whole lot stronger than I really am!! Made it through both of these supersets without any trouble with good speed and form. 75e on the dumbbell bench press was a nice improvement from last time. I tell ya, the upper body days are SO much easier than the lower body ones!!
ALTERNATING SETS
B1 - CHIN-UP OR UNDERHAND-GRIP LAT PULLDOWN
90 Seconds rest between sets
Felt strong today and probably could have added 10 or so lbs. to the chin-ups. I did have some "extended" rest periods due to the high traffic at the 3 areas we have to do chin/pull-ups. Nobody actually doing those exercises; cable curls and pushdowns are the exercises of the masses. I was not complaining about the extra rest periods though!
ALTERNATING SETS
C1 - REVERSE CRUNCH
30 Seconds rest between sets
2 x 15
C2 - PLANK
30 Seconds rest between sets
1 x 60 seconds
Everything normal here.
_____________
Well I got to sleep in a bit today and therefore felt a bit better at the gym. Still not feeling "great" though. My left shoulder has been a bit sore lately so I'm trying to do some extra work and rolling on it!
Saturdays are always interesting at the gym. There are always a lot more people around versus the early week mornings and it makes for more "interesting" observation. I saw a couple of exercises today that I've never seen before:
I'll call the first one the "supine plank" (I thought of another word that starts with 'S' first but we'll go wth this one instead). This particular movement has you lying face up with your heels and elbows on the floor and then you do a "plank", holding the rest of your body off the ground. This looks like loads of fun for the shoulders and elbows!! My thoughts were "WTF" ??!#(!
Second exercise of the day was the "Tricep Bench Dip with Girlfriend/Wife sitting on your Lap". When I finally get around to writing my exercise book, I"ll probably need to shorten that title a bit. Use your imagination and you'll figure out how this one works!! At least the fellow had the decency to face his "weight" to the side instead of himself which would have been a little more interesting for us onlookers! If he/they would have done that, I probably would have handed her a cowboy hat and a lasso! I could not help a little chuckle and laugh at this one! Apparantly they didn't notice because there weren't any dumbbells thrown in my direction!
Hey, I just thought of an idea for the gym I'm going to open - oh man, this is gonna be huge!!
Second exercise of the day was the "Tricep Bench Dip with Girlfriend/Wife sitting on your Lap". When I finally get around to writing my exercise book, I"ll probably need to shorten that title a bit. Use your imagination and you'll figure out how this one works!! At least the fellow had the decency to face his "weight" to the side instead of himself which would have been a little more interesting for us onlookers! If he/they would have done that, I probably would have handed her a cowboy hat and a lasso! I could not help a little chuckle and laugh at this one! Apparantly they didn't notice because there weren't any dumbbells thrown in my direction!
Sounds like a typical day at the gym - why does this just have to be a Saturday workout?
MONDAY MARCH 2, 2009 (anyone seen February? It was just around here somewhere?)
WARM-UP: Foam rolling/tennis ball and various lower body stuff.
ALTERNATING SETS
A1 - FRONT SQUAT
90 Seconds rest between sets
5x5 x 235 (+10)
A2 - STEP-UP
90 Seconds rest between sets
5x5 x 145 (+10)
So I finally caught on to this red thing that others are doing on their training logs. I'm telling you - 90 seconds seems to be just about right for me!! I felt good today - despite that on Friday I was dreading coming back in for another lower body day!
ALTERNATING SETS
B1 - SUPINE HIP EXTENSION/LEG CURL
60 Seconds rest between sets
3x10 per side with 1 leg on ball.
B2 - CABLE WOOD CHOP
60 Seconds rest between sets
3x10 x 110 per side (+10)
It's a bit of a challenge doing these with 1 leg raised off the ball! Like I was saying though, so much nicer than the GHR's!! Wood chops were making me want to go play some golf!!
C - SIDE PLANK
30 Seconds rest between sets
2 x 30s per side
No problem!!
__________________
I enjoy this workout about 1,00000000 times more than the 3x12 w/ 45 seconds rest! Unfortunately there weren't any "interesting" exercises being performed by the other gym-goers today though.
Sunday was great around here - weather was in the mid 60's. Even took the motorcycle out for a spin! Now that made me feel so much better! It's about time for riding season again!!
I did 5 sets and each time, the same people saw me there and then when I left to do my other exercise they headed back over to the bench I was using. This would not have bothered me if there wasn't 4 unoccupied benches right next to it! Okay rant over!! 
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