For sure, but I don’t have a ton available to me where I am right now and the running at least means I’m not punking out because I know I don’t like it.
Today sucked. I feel horrible; hopefully I just got too much sun or something, but I have a splitting headache and could not get moving. I woke up at 3, and the gym here is 24 hours, so I went ahead and knocked this one out.
Conditioning:
10 minutes of the rolling hills treadmill program at 6.0 again
Main:
KB Swings 50/8
Paused DL
135/3
225/3
315/3
365/1
405/1 The intent was certainly a good 2-count pause, and maybe it actually was, but I’m not sure video evidence would have confirmed it.
10 Leg Raises
20 Jumping Jacks
Volume:
Nope. Set up the bar to go, and just could not get into position and start pulling. I’m relatively cautious with my lower back, so no more today.
Dynamic:
Squat
45/8
135/5
205/2 EMOM x 10 Big fan of the dinosaur grip!
Assistance:
50 reps on the hyperextension, then off to lick my wounds and feel sorry for myself.
I cannot even contemplate an early morning deadlift session, just feels like an injury waiting to happen, so well done for attempting it!
Good effort on top set as well, I also have paused dls today (sumo) for 3s, last time I was there it was 150kg top set, hoping to beat that today, but I remember the volume work on paused DLs was horrific, think from memory I just stopped pausing on the last set!
Thanks man. Good luck today. The pauses can be pretty soul-sucking. It’s cool to work up and feel in control, but then, like you said, thinking about doing it for reps is daunting.
This is where I think getting too sore sometimes gets in my way, too. It can make me not get into a good position for the lifts that matter. I think intraworkout will be making a reappearance tomorrow.
It is, but TfP might’ve been in a better place than usual due to his lack of sleep. Our vertebral discs are full of fluid first thing in the morning. The spinal fluid gets absorbed when we sleep. The end result is fuller, but stiffer discs in the morning. It takes a very thorough warm up to get to a safe place for spinal loading. I don’t squat or deadlift in the mornings anymore.
I’m fortunate that I can work out during my “lunch break”. I also hate early mornings. I’ve trained early in the past, but I think I’d rather train after work if I had to pick one.
I’m opposite - I hate going after work. What I should do while we’re still in distance mode is block lunch off on my calendar and go then, but I never do and something always gets scheduled
12 minutes of one of the virtual spin bike programs
Main:
BB Row
45/8
135/5
185/3
225/3
245/3
Paused Bench
45/8
135/5
185/3
225/3
245/3 These were solid 3-count pauses on every rep; I can likely do more here, but I’m scared to get stuck
20-second Side Planks
5 Plyo Push-ups This additional “mini-conditioning” is here only to annoy me in a space-constrained environment.
Volume:
BB Row
195/8 x 3
Paused Bench
195/8 x 3
15-second Side Planks, because 20 seconds is for suckers
5 Plyo Push-ups
Assistance:
Machine Bench Press
Started at the bottom and did 4 reps, moving one plate up at a time doing 4 reps until I failed, then back down the stack doing 2 reps at a time
DB Side Raise
45/20 (partials)
35/20 (partials)
20/10 (full reps)
12.5/10 (full reps) Drop set - no rest
Triceps Machine
70/20 + 15 + 10 + 10 About 15 seconds between each
I still don’t get how you do accessories! It’s optional and at the end of the second giant set section, I can barely see because I’m sweating so hard!
Great work on paused bench, you not got safeties?
How’d the afternoon feel? My training has been in my lunch break for a few years now, but it’s changed to after work (around 4/5pm) recently I’m fine with anything past 1030/11ish.
Same here. And as @Frank_C pointed out, due to the spinal fluid in the discs, it’s MUCH easier to herniate or rupture a disc shortly after waking up, even with very light lifting.
That said, at my previous gym, there were a couple guys who’d arrive at 4 a.m. and squat or deadlift 405 for reps every week. No idea how they did that. Morning people mystify me.
I occasionally think about the benefits of being a morning person (and get woken up at 4/5/6am on sometimes and have to get up - so I do some mornings) but I’m just not wired that way, my most alert time of the day is around 9pm!
Studies have found that we’re biologically wired to have peak energy at different times of the day. When free to set our own sleep/wake schedules, one in five people naturally falls asleep around 9 p.m., wakes up around 4 a.m., and has peak energy 7 a.m. - 10 a.m. Researchers call them ‘morning sparrows.’ One in five is the opposite - sleeps around 3 a.m. to noon and hits peak energy in the evening. Being a ‘night owl’, which I am, is biological. The circadian rhythm for the other three out of five are who the business world is set for. They fall asleep around 11 p.m. to midnight, wake up around 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., and have peak energy late night morning to early afternoon. Researchers call them ‘sprowls’
When I was younger I was definitely more night owl, I think I’ve managed to pretty much program myself to “sprowl” territory, but when I get the opportunity the night owl comes alive again (problem with kids is they never let you have that opportunity to be a night owl - if I went to bed at 3 if get about 3 hours sleep!)
I think I recover a lot during the dynamic work. I dunno. Some higher rep stuff at the end seems to make my body a little less cranky, especially elbows and lower back, so I’m happy to play around for a few minutes at the end. It’s also the only not-monotonous stuff for the day, so it’s good for my brain.
Thanks! I really have barely anything here (there is one bench, so I’m sure everyone is pissed when I’m on it for half an hour). I’ll be back in my normal gym late next week, so the world will open up a little bit.
Eh. Not bad. My ideal time would probably be around 10am, but the world hasn’t quite figured out it needs to work around my whims. I’m still giving it time to get on board.
Do you guys really think this is true? I understand the theory behind it, but I just don’t see how that could play out in practice. To be fair, almost all my squatting/ deadlifting has been later in my workout (even on this program you at least do some conditioning first), but I’m nearly exclusively a morning lifter, and I’ve had broken vertebrae and ruptured discs prior to all this, and I just don’t feel any worse early than late. I’m a little stronger later, usually, but that’s just from waking up and eating I think.
I was exposed to this study in the book Why We Sleep - good book, but, spoiler alert, I don’t believe the author ever really nails THE REASON; I think we still know what happens when we don’t sleep, but not why evolution decided on such an inefficient process in the first place. Anyway, I’m on this end of the spectrum - I get up early and have to get moving; I don’t like to stay awake, though. Sparrow power!
It relies on being able to run each giant set with no rest and then resting 90-120 secs between giant sets. If you’re in reasonable condition it’s not overly long. The 1rm days are my favourite because lower reps tax my CV system less and shorten rest!
Didn’t realize gyms still weren’t open in this state (I absolutely don’t see how you can do that to people’s livelihoods), so I’ll be doing some body weight nonsense instead of overhead press
