Yet Another Set/Rep System

Training Training Logs
61

Monday, November 13, 2011

This morning
Complex: DBS w/ 50#, JS with 2 Push ups, AR / WGPlU.
11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7/7, 6/6, 5/5, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1, 1/1.

At the gym at noon.
DL: 45X5, 135X5, 225X5, 315X4, 360x3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
WGIBP@45 degrees: 150X1; 135X2; @~30 degrees: 150X3, 3, 3, 3.
WGPlU: BW 45: 3, 3, 2, 1, 1.

Okay. I got 2X my body weight today and did not tweak my back. Interesting how changing the inclined angle really changes the amount of weight I can move. The DHEA experiment moves forward.

62

BW: 181

This morning: Complexes DBSw50#, STw2or3PsU, AR / WGPlU:
11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7/7, 6/6, 5/5, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1.

Noon:
BS: 45X5, 135X5, 225X5, 245X3, 3.
DBMP: 56.6#/ X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Front Squat: 45X5, 5, 7.
Overhead Squat: 45 X 5, 5, 5.
BOR: 85 X 10 5/15, 8 2 / 10, 5, 3, 2, 10.
Heavy Bag: 15 minutes.

A couple things. First, I’m trying to get better sleep. I’ve moved my bedtime back an hour and am hoping this will help with some fatigue I’ve been experiencing. The second is the back squat with 245 pounds was doing unpleasant things to my neck. I think I’ll dial is back next week and really concentrate on form. Man, it is just not worth messing up my neck for the extra weight. I’m moving forward with the dumb bell military press. I made my sets and reps today. I’ve just got to be patient. I’ll get the weight up.

63

Morning Complex:
DBSw50#, STw2PU, AWR / WGPlU:
20/7, 19/7, 18/7, 17/7, 16/7 in 30 minutes.

I’m getting better with my sleep. This is improving every aspect of my life.

64

Okay, shotgun blast of workouts.

Saturday: Complexes
DBSw50#, STw2PU, AR / PlU:
~15/7, 14/7, 13/7, 12/7, 11/7, 10/7.
Lots of work on the house.

Sunday: Off. I was up late dancing and wanted to have energy for the house.

Monday:
Morning Complex:
DBSw50#, STw2PU, AR X 2 / PlU:
12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7/7, 6/6, 5/5, 4/4.

Afternoon At Gym:
DL: 45X5, 135X5, 225X5, 315X4, 365X3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
IWGBP: 150X3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
WGPlU: BW 45X3, BW 35X3; BW 25X 3, 3, 3.

I’m noticing the impact the morning BW pull-ups are having on my noon workout. I’m adjusting the weight down to compensate.

Today, Tuesday:
Morning Complex:
DBSw50#, STw2PU, AR X 2 / PlU:
12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7/7, 6/6, 5/5, 4/4.

65

Morning:
Complex: DBSw50#, STw2PU, AR / WGPU:
12/7, 11/7, 25/7, 20/7, 15/7, 10/7.

Crunches: 30 min.

66

BW: 180

Front Squat: 45X5, 50X10, 55X10, 60X10, 65X10
Overhead Squat: 45X5, 50X5. Stopped because I felt like it was compromising my military press.
DBMP: 57#X3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
It’s getting better, but slowly. If anyone has suggestions on training pressing strength, I’m all ears. But I did get my reps and will bump up a half pound next week.
Leg Press: 225X20, 315X20, 405X 10, 10, 10, 10.
BOR: 85#X 15 5/20, 10/10, 5/5, 3/3, 2/2, 10/10, 5/5, 3/3, 2/2.
Sprints: 7, ~ 2:00 per sprint rest period.

Okay, I added in the leg presses since I dumped the back squat. I dumped the back squat because I didn’t like how my neck felt after doing only three reps. Of all my body parts, my neck is one of my favorites. Because my left wrist is still dinged from bike fall earlier this year, I’m doing low weights on the front squat. In the front squat, I’m coming to a complete stop at rock bottom, as close to heels to butt as I can get, and then focusing on lifting with the chest before pushing with the legs. In time I’m hoping to get my front squat up. Until then, I’ll use leg presses to hit the quads.

I’m loving the sprints. That article last week on the three energy systems combined with the heavy bags being busy after a workout to inspire me to sprint. Nothing empties the tank like sprinting for me. It’s an hour and a half after my workout and my heart rate is still elevated! Between the additional abdominal cardio work in the morning and sprinting, I think I’m going to be getting leaner and leaner quickly.

67

Thursday: I did a complex. I don’t have the numbers here.
Sunday: I did a complex and a half hour of ab work.
Monday Morning: A complex and a half hour of ab work.

Monday at Noon:
DL: 45X5, 135X5, 225X5, 315X5, 370X3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
WGIBP: 155X3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
WGPlU: BW 25X3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Sprints: 6.

The deadlift felt better, easier. I think the ab work is helping. The bench press was a challenge. The pull-ups were easy. It’s sometimes tough to gauge how much gas I have left in the tank after the morning pull-ups. The sprints definitely were a nice finisher.

68

I woke up later than I wanted to today mostly because I went to bed later than I wanted to last night. Funny how that works. So I abbreviated my morning routine quite a bit.
I did ten minutes of complexes; DBSw50#, ST w and w/o PsU, Push Up, Dumbell Press / DBMP w/35#.
Ten minutes of ab work, 5 min with the Ab Wheel, 5 with crunches.
Ten or fifteen minutes of tantric stuff.

It was good; woke me up and got the blood flowing. I’m going to focus on getting to bed earlier so I can get more exercise in after waking.

69

The Morning Workout:
Complex: DBSw50#, ST, Ps, AWR / PlU X 30/10, 21/9, 26/8 2, 13/8, 5/5.
Abs: 10 min Crunches, 10 min Ab Wheel, 10 min Crunches.

70

I did complexes and ab work Saturday and Sunday and ab work this morning. I skipped the complexes because of my noon workout. I’m mixing and matching things now based on a lot of factors: intended afternoon workout, energy level, amount of time available in the morning, etc.

This noon at the gym I did:
BW: 180

DL: 45X5; 135X5; 225X5; 315X4; 375X3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
IWGBP: 155X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
WGPlU: BW 30 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Sprints: 5 with a cramp, one slow sprint (jogging more or less) to test things out.

So: The DL was good. I think the ab work is going to really help this. The IWGBP was good. I worked at this weight last week and it was easier this week. I’ll bump next time. The pull ups were pretty easy. I think not doing a complex with push ups and pull-ups in it helps. Go figure. The first four sprints felt good. There was a new level of relaxation and I felt like I was running easier and faster. The fifth sprint yielded a cramp about half way through. This felt different from cramps I’ve gotten before. I’ll see how it evolves.

71

The wake and weights:
I woke up a bit later than usual. This resulted in shortening my workout.
Complex: DBSw50#, ST / PlU: 30/10, 25/10, 2/2. (10 min total).
Abs: 5 min crunch and reverse crunch, 5 min ab wheel.
Anyhow: 35# X 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9.

72

Morning:
Abs: 10 min crunches, 10 min ab wheel, 5 min crunches, 5 min ab wheel.
DBCurl: 35#X 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.

Noon:
FS: 55X10, 60X10, 65X10, 70X10; 75X10.
DBMP: 58#X ST, 1; 55#/X3, 58#X 2, 2, 1.
I can’t believe three pounds made such a difference. Also, I did some lighter DBMP (anyhow) on Tuesday morning for higher reps; 35#X9X9. Perhaps a days isn’t enough time to recover as I didn’t expect to get stapled so quickly by the exercise.
Leg Press: 315X20, 405X10, 495X8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8.
BOR: 90# X 12 8/20, 10, (5, 3, 2), 10, (5, 3, 2), 10, 5, (3, 2), 10.
Sprints: 6
The sprints felts good. I didn’t get a cramp and felt fairly quick for the last couple.

73

I woke up later than expected.
Complex: DBSw50#, STw2PsU / WGPlU: 30/10, 20/10. => 10 Minutes
Abs: 5 min crunch, 5 min ab wheel.
DB Curl: 50#/ X 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8. 8 in one hand and then the other. I only have one fifty pounder.

74

The Morning:
ABS: 10 min crunches, 10 min Ab wheer, 5 min crunches, 5 min Ab wheel.
I think high duration ab work is the way to go.

MP: 35# X 10 X 10.
I am still figuring out deltoids and how to train pressing strength. I’ve tried low reps with higher weights. The jury is still out on that approach. I can definitely see the pump with lower weights and higher reps. I don’t know what that’s going to do for my upper end strength. So I’m going to continue to work both ends and see what happens.

For the higher rep stuff, I’m going to bump up to the 40# dumb bell and drop the reps to whatever I can do; maybe 6X6 or 8X8. Then I will increase the reps. To hopefully avoid conflict with the two styles, I’m going to give myself 48 hours of rest before doing my low rep, higher weight workout on Wednesdays.

75

Noon:
BW: 182
Trying some 8X8.
BP: 135# X 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8.
WGPlU: BW X 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 6 3, 7 P.
Leg Curl: Machine was being used and my abdomen was pretty uncomfortable. So I did
Sprints: 6 (fairly slow).

The current balance I’m trying to strike is between sleep and exercise. The most I usually get at night is 9 hours. The question is how much exercise or activity can I get in on that amount of sleep and have good energy throughout the day and week. I’m getting closer to an answer, but I don’t have one yet.

76

BW: ?
Okay, so I overdid the abdominal work in the morning and then doing a bunch of, 8X8, leg presses didn’t help matters. I’ve spent the last three days nursing an abdominal wall strain. I’ve now figured out how to move around and decompress the tender region when sitting. I’m on the mend. We’ll see when I get back to the gym. I’m guessing next Monday.

77

And this is where the difference between me and some of the people on this site becomes most apparent. My approach to rehab is very conservative. If I followed what seems to be the dominant advice of columnists, I’d be back lifting heavy right now. But I’m not going to do that. My litmus test for returning to the gym is waking up pain free. That hasn’t happened yet.

This tells me I’m still dealing with something that is getting inflamed enough during the night that it’s causing nerve impingement. Now, I can get comfortable in about a half hour with ice and just walking around.

However, it’s clear I some sort of tendon or ligament issue. I doubt I’ll make it worse by lifting and keeping things comfortable, like doing pull-ups which I tested this morning, but I really don’t think any of that will help make it better. Therefore I’m staying away from the gym for a while. Once I’m pain free, I’ll get back to my routine.

78

BW: 177
DL: 45X5; 135X5; 225X5.
WGIBP: 135X5, 5, 5.
WGPlU: BW X 5, 5, 5.
Sprints: 5.

It was a five kind of day. Things felt okay. I twinged in the DL and WGPlU. That’s part of the reason I kept things minimal. I’m not really going to know if I’ve set myself back until tomorrow morning.

79

I’m getting back to it slowly. The strain feels like it’s healed. I haven’t felt any twinges in a couple days. This morning I did a very abbreviated workout. It consisted of five minutes of complexes followed by five minutes of core work.

Complex: DBSw50#, STw2PsU / WGPlU: 10, 9.
Core work: 2.5 min crunches, 2.5 min ab wheel from knees.

The nature of this injury was that I didn’t really feel too much stress in the moment. It was the following day(s). I’ll evaluate tomorrow morning. If things feel good, I’ll add more time. If not, I’ll let it heal. Conservative, but I’d rather take the two weeks off now rather than have a nagging injury that limits my workouts and hangs around for months.

80

Still building back. Things are feeling good and this morning I did a little bit more.

Complex: DBSw50#, STw2PsU / WGPlU: 11, 10, 5.
Core work. 2.75 min crunches; 2.75 min of ab wheel from knees.

I’ll add more time over the next several days and get back to the gym next Wednesday.