2/7/15
34 minutes, 228 lbs.
[This was a free trial workout at the Bailey's gym nearest to me. Good machines, but I lost time finding them and figuring out how to use them. There was definitely a harder core population there, which is a plus, and the price is right, but my current gym is just located so conveniently, and almost certainly less crowded than Bailey's would be.]
warm-up - 6-10 minutes
leg curl: 110 x 13c
leg extension: 130 x 12c
horizontal leg press: 250 x 7c (!)
[At first I thought the tracks were locked, but after inspecting it, I tried again, only to find that, in fact, THAT is what 250 pounds of dead weight really feels like! This discrepancy in equipment almost convinced by itself to switch to Bailey's, but... we'll see.]
chest flye: 130 x 10c
chest press: 205 x 6c
T-row: 130 x 12c
seated MP: 80/90/100 x 1/1/6
bb curl: 80/70 x 6e/2e
cable tricep extension: 80 x 11c
seated hypers: 240 x 14c
[Nice machine, but nothing can touch the MedX lumbar training machine. I am very desirous of trying it out!]
farmer carry: 90 x 74 steps, 40 steps
------------
2/13/15
29 minutes, 230 lbs.
[Around this time, my exertion at rowing practice combined with my HIT workouts, began to take a toll. I dropped the thrice weekly schedule, focusing on recovery. It was not long after this that my left knee also started bothering me: a weird tenderness/weakness in the outside lateral area that showed up when I sort of hyper-extended my leg (i.e. leaned forward on a straight left leg); no pain occurred when I flexed it, though kneeling on it was weird on occasion. I've cut back on the leg curls and jumpies, and it's feeling better.]
warm-up: 6-10 minutes
leg extension: 130 x 12c
calf extension: 240 x 13c
leg curl: 110 x 6e
chest flye: 140 x 11e
Hammer press: 230 x 9e
T-row: 140 x 11e
seated MP: 90 x 9e
underhand cable pulldown: 140 x 8e
triceps cable extension: 90 x 9e
bb curls: 70 x 9e
-------------
[Ellington Darden, whose HIT program I am currently following, mutatis mutandis, emphasizes that the real focus should be on two-week periods, instead of one workout after another or just a week's results. So, I'll be posting my results in two-week chunks from now on.]
-------------
2/20/15
24 minutes, 230 lbs.
[By this point I was feeling pretty run down, but I needed to get a workout in before the weekend. I muscled through, and it turned out to be not such a shabby HIT workout, after all. No major number plateaus, but intensity is relative to each workout, so I achieved the main goal: maximal muscular contraction.]
warm-up: 6-10 min.
leg extension: 130 x 12c
leg press: 225 x 13e
chest flye: 140 x 12c
T-row: 140 x 13c
chest press: 210 x 10c
underhand cable pulldown: 130 x 9c
seated MP: 90 x 11c
bb curl: 70 x 10e
[Body English up, killer negatives]
triceps cable extension: 90 x 8e
------------
2/23/15
26 minutes, 232 lbs.
[I have recently made some changes to my diet and begun taking some nutritional supplements. Nothing "crazy," just good, solid minerals and herbal stuff. I've also been trying to sleep more.
Well, kiddies...
Tonight was one of the hardest workouts I've ever performed in my life.
It was truly high-intensity. I got home and felt like I would vomit (this is largely due to the BCAA/creatine drink I finished right after the workout, but still!). All I could do was lie down on the couch for almost ten minutes until I revived and ate. Highly doubtful I will train again as soon as Wednesday. It was a glorious workout.]
warm-up: 4-6 minutes (motions)
leg extension: 160 x 10e
hypers: bdw + 35 x 10e
leg press: 250 x 14e
pec flye: 150 x 11c
chest press: 220 x 9c
T-row: 150 x 11c
underhand cable pulldown: 140 x 8c
seated MP: 110 x 12c
bb curl: 70 x 12e
[Body English up on last couple reps, killer negatives]
triceps cable extension: 90 x 11e
----------
Stay tuned. Rowing practice is going really well. "Nine hearts beating..."
Monday, February 23, 2015
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
HIT Basic - weeks 4 and 5 - Less is more... Rowing gains!
Saturday, 31 January 2015
10 min + 28 min, 228 lbs.
3/3 cadence
leg curl: 110 x 10c
leg extension: 120 x 11c
leg press: 250 x 9e
Cybex chest flye: 110 x 14c
Cybex chest press: 220 x 2/6c
[Switched machines.]
Cybex MP: 90 x 1/6c
[Switched machines.]
T-row: 125 x 9c
pullover: 90 x 7c
bb curl: 100 x 1c / 90 x 2e / 80 x 5c
[Switched bars to find the right weight.]
cable tricep extension: 70 x 7e
farmer carry: 85 x 70 steps, 23 steps
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
10 min + 24 min + 3 min, 228 lbs.
3/3 (or 3/4) cadence
leg curl: 110 x 10c
leg extension: 120 x 12c
leg press: 250 x 12c
Cybex chest flye: 120 x 10c
Seated chest press: 220 x 8c
[Lost time on these trying to figure out the Cybex plate weights and then waiting for a guy to finish with the machine that I could make sense of. Probably need to raise the seat a bit next time.]
bb MP (seated): 90 x 6e
[Man, I suck at presses.]
T-row: [oops, forgot to do this, but that worked out on a different level; see notes below]
pullover: [skipped these, for same reason explained below]
bb curl: 80 x 6e
cable tricep extension: 80 x 9c
farmer carry: [did not do these either]
----
Had I done my usual eleven exercises, I surely would have exceeded thirty minutes, but I chose to skip some exercises today for a couple reasons.
First, since I have begun coaching crew, I have been "the fitness coach". As a result, I have been doing jumpies, running, pushups, planking, crunches, rowing, etc., on my off-days, and have felt some soreness in my run-up to tonight's workout. I'm also starting to feel some aching in my lower calves (shin splints... again??).
Second, for the past few days I have felt some achey tension in my upper back, probably due to the pressure on my shoulder blades during pullovers, T-rows, and farmer carries. So even though I had slated T-rows for tonight's workout, it's just as well that I skipped them.
On top of all that, I continue to read as much as I can about High Intensity Training and made an executive decision to implement one of its most central but most neglected principles (which I'll put into my own idiosyncratic words): rest is more important than any one exercise. In terms of frequency, less is more. So I nearly put tonight's workout off another day, but I'm glad I did it. Despite the pains, I could tell that rowing (ergs and calisthenics) has increased my fitness.
Oh, two other things:
1) I had a small epiphany last week: alternate primarily lower-body and primarily upper-body HIT workouts. This will allow even more time for recovery, without succumbing to full-on multiple splits.
2) The programming wars will never end, of course, and ultimately pretty much every program "works", but the reason I am so "into" HIT these days is twofold: first, it achieves what other programs do in less time, and, second, it prevents injury better than other programs. A lot of noise is made about the fact that many, even most, of the bodybuilding greats did not (strictly, or perhaps ever) practice HIT.
Yet the point remains that the greats could have achieved the same results in less time. More than that--my little epiphany--I would be surprised if anyone who ever really committed to HIT ever went back to a different type of training. Apparently, Schwarzenegger did try (one workout of) HIT, with Arthur Jones, but he never dug into true HIT-failure--and then gave up on the method. But I have a feeling that once a serious lifter has seen how effective HIT is--and no, Dan John, with all due respect, HIT does not mean "Nautilus only" training--he would not return to some other method... UNLESS he simply decided HIT is too demanding.
I have seen remarkable progress, both in terms of strength and body composition, since beginning HIT a mere five weeks ago (if not just more than a month), and I have loved how much time I can save with it.
10 min + 28 min, 228 lbs.
3/3 cadence
leg curl: 110 x 10c
leg extension: 120 x 11c
leg press: 250 x 9e
Cybex chest flye: 110 x 14c
Cybex chest press: 220 x 2/6c
[Switched machines.]
Cybex MP: 90 x 1/6c
[Switched machines.]
T-row: 125 x 9c
pullover: 90 x 7c
bb curl: 100 x 1c / 90 x 2e / 80 x 5c
[Switched bars to find the right weight.]
cable tricep extension: 70 x 7e
farmer carry: 85 x 70 steps, 23 steps
+ + +
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
10 min + 24 min + 3 min, 228 lbs.
3/3 (or 3/4) cadence
leg curl: 110 x 10c
leg extension: 120 x 12c
leg press: 250 x 12c
Cybex chest flye: 120 x 10c
Seated chest press: 220 x 8c
[Lost time on these trying to figure out the Cybex plate weights and then waiting for a guy to finish with the machine that I could make sense of. Probably need to raise the seat a bit next time.]
bb MP (seated): 90 x 6e
[Man, I suck at presses.]
T-row: [oops, forgot to do this, but that worked out on a different level; see notes below]
pullover: [skipped these, for same reason explained below]
bb curl: 80 x 6e
cable tricep extension: 80 x 9c
farmer carry: [did not do these either]
----
Had I done my usual eleven exercises, I surely would have exceeded thirty minutes, but I chose to skip some exercises today for a couple reasons.
First, since I have begun coaching crew, I have been "the fitness coach". As a result, I have been doing jumpies, running, pushups, planking, crunches, rowing, etc., on my off-days, and have felt some soreness in my run-up to tonight's workout. I'm also starting to feel some aching in my lower calves (shin splints... again??).
Second, for the past few days I have felt some achey tension in my upper back, probably due to the pressure on my shoulder blades during pullovers, T-rows, and farmer carries. So even though I had slated T-rows for tonight's workout, it's just as well that I skipped them.
On top of all that, I continue to read as much as I can about High Intensity Training and made an executive decision to implement one of its most central but most neglected principles (which I'll put into my own idiosyncratic words): rest is more important than any one exercise. In terms of frequency, less is more. So I nearly put tonight's workout off another day, but I'm glad I did it. Despite the pains, I could tell that rowing (ergs and calisthenics) has increased my fitness.
Oh, two other things:
1) I had a small epiphany last week: alternate primarily lower-body and primarily upper-body HIT workouts. This will allow even more time for recovery, without succumbing to full-on multiple splits.
2) The programming wars will never end, of course, and ultimately pretty much every program "works", but the reason I am so "into" HIT these days is twofold: first, it achieves what other programs do in less time, and, second, it prevents injury better than other programs. A lot of noise is made about the fact that many, even most, of the bodybuilding greats did not (strictly, or perhaps ever) practice HIT.
Yet the point remains that the greats could have achieved the same results in less time. More than that--my little epiphany--I would be surprised if anyone who ever really committed to HIT ever went back to a different type of training. Apparently, Schwarzenegger did try (one workout of) HIT, with Arthur Jones, but he never dug into true HIT-failure--and then gave up on the method. But I have a feeling that once a serious lifter has seen how effective HIT is--and no, Dan John, with all due respect, HIT does not mean "Nautilus only" training--he would not return to some other method... UNLESS he simply decided HIT is too demanding.
I have seen remarkable progress, both in terms of strength and body composition, since beginning HIT a mere five weeks ago (if not just more than a month), and I have loved how much time I can save with it.
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