[quote]JoeGood wrote:
Looking forward to seeing how things shake out. I find the idea of cable DL’s very interesting.[/quote]
The cool thing about cable dls is that your lats get lots of stimulation: maintaining the end position for 2-3 seconds (squeezing them glutes), your lats have to work extra hard to keep the bar/cable to your body.
Work had me on the road a lot this week.
5x Super Set 1
3x Super Set 2
There’s stuff I’m doing on a daily basis that I don’t log: most of it is core stuff.
This is more about cueing/activating than about stimulating hypertrophy. After all, I don’t want my core to limit upcoming lifting sessions.
It’s boring, mostly, but totally worth it.
Bear in mind: my biggest obstacle in realizing my health/physique goals is my shitty posture.
Since some of my joints have become pretty lax over the years, actively assuming correct posture is an absolute must. One of the reasons I wasn’t able to go for a jog for 4 years is exactly this: hiking hip/shoulder which leads to functional leg length difference and thus puts undue pressure on my torn SCJ (joint between collarbone and sternum). What typically ensues is swelling, limited arm loadabiliy for days, pain when swallowing, limited neck rotation.
So we’re talking unilateral/balance stuff (i.e. standing on one foot while applying some contralateral lever).
Basically, my right side is the shitty side: torn ACL, torn SCJ, torn SIJ, noticeably weaker/smaller e. spinae (and I guess multifidi), weaker abdominal muscles, constantly sore quadratus lumborum.
Up until about 2 months ago, no matter what measures I tried, they didn’t stick.
Manual therapy, trigger point therapy, chiropractic manipulation: all of it would restore my balance only for a day or so.
It turned out my abs wouldn’t fire properly. That was somehow connected to intestinal issues I had. Once I started to get better in the regard, my abs would finally respond to training.
So, back to cueing my core:
For example:
This exercise serves multiple purposes:
2x Super Set 1
1x Super Set 2
Well, I ran. For the first time in more than 4 years. Seems the core training starts to pay off big time.
This is a game changer. EPOC was awesome: I was sweating profusely the rest of the day.
Still, the HIIT session in and of itself was kinda modest.
All on 9 degree incline:
Although this is a far cry from where I used to be 5 years ago (I could sprint at 11 mph on a 17 degree incline after a gruelling squat/row/pull-up session), I’m happy as a camper, I seriously am. My SCJ didn’t hurt all that much and I just felt great after that HIIT bout. And if that wasn’t enough, deadlifts were a breeze a few hours later. I had so much leg drive and breath I had to restrain myself lest I’d tear my SCJ all over again. Also, I finished my lifting session a whopping 7 min earlier than I was used to. I hope this was somewhat tied to the HIIT session and wasn’t just one of those perfect days that a few and far between.
6x Super Set 1
3x Super Set 2
9° incline
2x Super Set 1
1x Super Set 2
Going through that training felt like a breeze (again) and was fun (again).
It seems doing HIIT a few hours before my lifting session pays off.
10° incline
Well, I overdid it. Had to abort thanks to my calves.
The raised body temp even 5 hours later was worth it, though.
Actually, I can’t figure why doing HIIT has such a stimulating effect on me. Doing it in the past always worked wrt fat loss and increasing VO2max, but it had more of a draining effect on me. Maybe this is just my enthusiasm speaking, let’s see how this one’s going to turn out.
Apart from that, I spent some 30 min doing static core work. That boring stuff I spoke of earlier that really makes a difference.
Didn’t fall of the wagon or some such thing.
Still training and improving, but a lot on the road, lately and too lazy/tired to log or participate in threads.
Seeing how I won’t be frequently updating this thread for the time being (my training routine is a boring read, anyway), I decided to do intermittent updates about where I’m at:
Mid-April
HIIT improvements / changes - trying to work up to the Wingate Protocol: 10x [1 min rest/walk + 1 min HII]
Increased work capacity and work loads - nothing spectacular, but I won’t complain about progression
Core
Arms
Delts
Lats
Body Comp
Once I’m down to 240-ish, I’ll have the wife snap some photos.
If it were up to me, I’d speed fat loss up by a notch or two (more HIIT, more LISS, less calories), but I know from past experience that’d only be working short-term. This is the first time I’ve been able to drop lard, gain muscle, feel reasonbly well at an energy input of 3300 kcal. I’m going to try to stay well above 2500 kcal for as long as possible. No way am I going back to my old 1500 kcal a day route.
Gotta respect them adrenals, aight!
Fatty over and out.
I find the specific focus of yours on training muscle I mostly, thus far, have assumed I was hitting well enough with just compounds. Looking forward to seeing how this works for you, particularly the core stuff.
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
I find the specific focus of yours on training muscle I mostly, thus far, have assumed I was hitting well enough with just compounds. Looking forward to seeing how this works for you, particularly the core stuff. [/quote]
Not sure I’m getting your drift.
If you’re wondering whether my approach (isolation work of compounds) is better than mainly compounds, wonder no longer: I’m forced to rely on isolation work, mostly. If my body was up to it, I’d be shifting my training to, say, 80 % compounds.
Also, forget to talk about my legs:
Was more saying your training has me thinking I’ve ignored some assistance areas.