Gym regimen - December 2010

A2: Chest and Calves
(WEDNESDAY): 50+ mins
96.5kg, BMI 27.5

Warmup: bench press, jumping jacks, stretching

CIRCUIT:

Bench press: 12, 9, 7*, 6* @ 70kg, 80kg, 90kg, 95kg
[Spotter helped me with, let's say, up to two-thirds of my 3rd and 4th sets. Too hands on: I think a spotter shouldn't touch anything until you say the word. Even so, felt good to be back on the bench: good pump, no shoulder pain.]

Alternating seated calf raise: 36, 36, 36, 30 @ 45kg, 50kg, 55kg, 60kg

CIRCUIT:

Cable crossover: 16, 12, 10, 8 @ 31.5kg, 36.5kg, 41.5kg, 45.5kg

Stair machine: 2 mins, 2 mins, 2 mins

CIRCUIT:

Dumbbell flye: 12, 9, 6 @ 18kg, 22kg, 26kg

"Staggered" calf raise: 36, 36, 36, 48 @ 22.5kg, 40kg
[I improvised this exercise. Barbell on the shoulders, one foot forward on a platform, the other foot back and angled out. An interesting exercise, since in reality, we use our calves at different angles, say, hiking or rock climbing.]

CIRCUIT:

Dumbbell pullover: 16, 14, 12 @ 22kg, 26kg, 30kg

Jumping jacks: 60, 60, 60

Incline situp: 24, 24

+ + +
The regular "pack" of "big" Taiwanese guys was doing squats tonight, the more experienced guys teaching the weaker ones. I could not help but notice, however, that they all shot for parallel knees and, indeed, only approached atg when they were fatigued. They also tended to squat a bit wider than I do, and had the bar higher on the traps than I have chosen to do lately. And one guy stared straight up every time, which, in my understanding, puts a lot of pressure on the cervical spine. Just observing.

Bed time now. Had a terrible night of sleep last night––the creatine?––but managed to get a three-hour nap this afternoon.

Gym regimen - December 2010

A1: Quads and Biceps
(MONDAY): 60 mins
96.5kg, BMI 27.5

Warmup: Exercise bike, stretching, curls, squats

CIRCUIT:

Leg extension: 10, 9, 8, 6 @ 45kg, 50kg, 55kg, 60kg

Squat: 12, 9, 6*, 12 @ 100kg, 110kg, 120kg, 90kg
[Last 3 reps of 3rd set were with a spotter, fairly big time.]

CIRCUIT:

EZ bar curl: 10, 8, 6 @ 40kg, 45kg, 50kg

Hyper-supinated dumbbell curl: 10, 8, 6 @ 18kg, 18kg, 20kg

Lunge: 16, 16, 16 @ 15kg (plate)

CIRCUIT:

Rope cable curl: 10, 8, 8 @ 30kg, 27.5kg, 30kg

Spin bike: 2 min, 2 min, 2 min

+ + +
I had been prepping myself for a heavy squat session all day, thinking about it, visualizing, rehearsing my form. I was disappointed I couldn't do 6 reps at 120kg without a spot, but, then again, starting at 100kg for 12 reps, then 9 reps at 110kg, is not too shabby. Made sure to go "atg." I also made a point of breathing deeply and driving from my heels. I also kept the bar low on my traps, elbows tight and back. Having established that 70kg is too light, I also feel like 100kg for 20 reps seems a bit insane… but… that's the thing about SMR: it's a periodic "rite of passage", so if it's not tough, it's not really SMR. I finally decided to do a "cooldown" set of 12 reps at 90kg, partially to steel myself for what SMR will feel like, but also to assess if 100kg is too much. I'd say that completing 12 reps at 90kg without much difficulty, after what I'd already done, puts me in a good position to start at 100kg. Oh well, I'll shoot for the same thing next week––12, 9, 6 at 100–120kg––and then start SMR the following Monday, God willing.

Stay tuned.

P.S. My deadlift stalker is proud of his leg strength, saw me doing real work on the squat, asked me as we left the gym, "How much did you do on the squat?", heard my answer, and made his high-pitched little grunt of critical curiosity. Great, now is he going to "try me" on the squat too?

Gym regimen - December 2010

SMR simulation (MONDAY)
45 mins
96.5kg, BMI 27.5

[I had an unexpectedly draining Christmas weekend and decided I should shift my A-routine one day into the week. I then decided to "simulate" the SMR routine I want to start in January, but at low intensity. I figured doing A1 when my body's still tired from the weekend would just risk an injury.]

WARMUP: Spin bike, assisted dips and pullups, incline situps, squats, stretching

Squat: 20 @ 70kg

Pullover: 20 @ 15kg (plate)

Dips: 10, 10, 12 @ bdw - 20kg

Pullups: 10, 10, 10 @ bdw - 20kg

Alternating incline situps: 24, 24, 24

Pullover: 20 @ 15kg (plate)

Spin bike: 3 mins

+ + +
It was nice to confirm that my initial plan of starting SMR at 70kg would have been way too light. So, while 100kg might be slightly overly ambitious, I think I just need to man up and treat 100kg as my 10-rep max and go from there. One thing I read recently which added to my anticipation of SMR, is how the sheer efort of holding the bar on your traps for the duration of the set, and taking big breaths between clumps of reps strengthens your entire torso. I can detect a definite thickness in my lower back which has come from standing up under the bar. It hit me last week why the squat is so primal, and also so intimidating: it is a parable for "the human difference". We are a species of Homo erectus, so it is our birthright to stand up against the crushing burdens that may beset us. The deadlift is raw and effective because it works the whole body, but the squat is even more elemental because it literally pits you against the ancient risk of being crushed by a heavy object, and triggers every nerve and hormone in you to get the weight up so you can assert your erect spine. The will it takes to stand up is a quintessentially human act; the deadlift partake of that 'dignity' but not as purely as the squat.

It's been a while since I did plain ol' incline sitsups––and they were satisfyingly tough.

I intend to do A1 and A2 Tuesday and Wendesday, respectively, and finish A3 and A4 Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Perhaps the nicest thing about tonight is that I forced myself to be humble and 'scientific'. As 'awkward' as may have felt to do assisted dips and pullups and train everything under my capabilities, I knew I was doing it as part of a longer term strategy, so self-consciousness or ego coudl get bent.

Stay tuned.

SMR!

Cool article on the "20 rep squat" routine:

'Ball Busters', Widow-Makers, Man Breakers. These are words used to describe the 20 rep squat. But back in the golden age of bodybuilding, before expensive supplements and better living through chemistry, this is how the old school weight lifters got BIG. If you can suffer though the 6 weeks that it takes to get through this routine you will grow bigger legs and even bigger balls. Mark Rippetoe says, "Trust me, if you do an honest 20 rep program, at some point Jesus will talk to you. On the last day of the program, he asked if he could work in." Don't say I didn't warn you.

My version of the routine is apparently the "metabolic conditioning" regimen: squat, pullovers, and circuits of dips, pullovers and abs.

A related article by Randall Strossen has it:

It builds real muscle, increases one's strength enormously, and gives the cardiovascular system something more than a tickle in the process. About the only drawback to following this routine is that you will outgrow your clothes.

The nucleus of this venerable program is one set of squats - twenty reps in the set, to be sure, but just one set. Additional exercises are incidental, two or three sets of several other basic exercises at most, and the general caution is to err on the side of doing too few additional exercises rather than too many.

Amen!

Two things I've learned from recent research: 1) I'll do the SMR for 6 weeks, not 8, since there's no need to overtrain when the gains should already be adequate under 2 months. 2) I think I'll start with 100kg, since the consensus seems to be to start with 10-rep max. I can do 12 reps at 90kg fairly comfortably for my first set. 18 workouts in 6 weeks with a 2.5kg gain per workout means I'm shooting for 20 reps at 145kg by the end of it! Insane? Impossible? We shall see!

Gym regimen - December 2010

A4: Tris, Shoulders, Traps
FRIDAY: 50+ mins
96kg, BMI 27.5

Warmup: Spin bike, stretching, delt flyes, tricep extensions

CIRCUIT:

Cable lateral raise 10, 8, 8 @ 9.5kg, 13.5kg, 16kg [LINK]

Cable reverse raise: 10, 8, 8 @ 9.5kg, 13.5kg, 16kg [LINK]

Standing barbell military press: 10, 8, 6 @ 40kg, 45kg, 50kg

Elbows-out dumbbell extension: 10, 8, 6 @ 18kg, 22kg, 26kg

Cable pushdown: 25kg, 30kg, 35kg @ 10, 8, 6

Lever bench press: 16, 15, 14 @ 60kg, 65kg, 70kg

Spin bike: 2+ mins, 2+ mins, 2+ mins

CIRCUIT:

Barbell shrug: 12, 9, 6 @ 100kg, 110kg, 120kg

CIRCUIT:

Alternating ab cable pulldown: 36, 32, 28 @ 30kg, 32.5kg, 35kg

+ + +
I had it in mind to do this A4 Saturday, but by Friday afternoon I was "itching" so much that I just left the cram school during a long break and worked out in my undershirt and pants. Then I went home to shower and "fuel up" and returned to the cram school for class. It felt good to work my shoulders again: my right shoulder is only mildly stiff and I felt no pain in the joint yesterday or today. It was also great to do shrugs again! I admit I was stunned at how big my sholders looked in the mirror when I did them. I have taken to working out in sweatshirts the last few weeks, but yesterday I was wearing a "wifebeater", so I got a chance to see some of my own gains. I prefer working out in long-sleeve shirts, first, because I like my muscles to be very warm when I train and, second, I like the psychological edge they give me. In more "modest" clothing, I'm not distracted by glances at my muscles in the mirro,r and even less distracted by other guys sizing me up. Call it the "gym burqa" mentality, but I prefer to focus on the feel of the exercise rather than my looks. Come summer time, however, when I am all but forced into cooler clothing, I can see the gains I made while my muscles "hibernated" in more concealing clothes.

My back is very sore from A3 this week and my forearms (inner) are extremely sore. That's what one day of deadlift, pullups, lever rows, followed by heavy shrugs, will do! The pain is all for the better, as I want to keep gaining grip strength. When I commence SMR in January––but, oh, how hard it is to part with my beloved 4-day split!––, I want to train my wrists/hands on off-days (say, Wednesday and Saturday). I've got one more week of A1–A4, which means SMR will begin Monday, January 7––God willing.

Stay tuned.

Gym regimen - December 2010

A3: Back and Hamstrings
(THURSDAY): 70 mins
96kg, BMI 27.5

Warmup: spin bike, stretching, leg curls, good mornings, pullups

CIRCUIT:

Leg curl: 12, 9, 6 @ 40kg, 45kg, 50kg

Good mornings: 10, 8, 6 @ 45kg, 50kg, 55kg

Deadlift: 12, 9, 5 @ 105kg, 115kg, 131kg

CIRCUIT:

Pullups: 13, 10*, 8*
[* The last 4 reps of my 2nd set were basically negatives, and the last 5 reps of the 3rd set were negatives. I simply couldn't hold on!]

Standing gluteus extension: 12, 10, 12 @ 45kg, 55kg, 65kg
[First time doing these, so I was cautious but vigorous. I like them.]

Lever bench row: 12, 9, 6/3 @ 80kg, 90kg, 100kg
[Added 3 close-grip rows to seal the 3rd set.]

"Cooldown":

Jump rope: 140, 150, 160 skips
[Calves on fire!]

Alternating ab cable pulldowns: 20/16, 18/14, 16/12 @ 30kg, 32.5kg, 35kg

+ + +
A horde of "big guys" were all over the squat tower tonight, so I and "my deadlift stalker" had to improvise. He used an H-bar near the tower, while I opted for a 7.5kg bar in another area. Deadlifts felt good, although my lower back felt very tight, or perhaps extremely "charged", from doing the good mornings and deadlift in succession, so I did a lot of stretching between sets. I used tonight as a way of getting back into a 4-day split, after a few weeks of either spotty or missing, injury-laden workouts. Interestingly, my stalker pointed out, because the plates I was using were shorter, the bar was lower, which makes the lift harder. That was encouraging. As I say, he's not a total douche, and I'd say we are friends in that brooding, macho, gym-monkey way. He even asked me how my shoulder is doing. He did also advise me to stop doing pullovers, since they are both "useless" and "dangerous", useless because they don't really expand the chest, and dangerous because of the angles. I beg to differ and shall continue to do pullovers, albeit with caution. I don't believe they really "expand your ribcage", but I do believe they work the upper pecs well at the end of a routine and work the serratus anterior.

As for my pullups, feeling so weak on my old standby exercise was startling, but I realize 1) doing any back work after the deadlift is going to be a chore and 2) I have gained weight all over, so I am literally lifting more weight than I've been used to the past several years. Even so, I shall keep at them; shedding a little fat wouldn't hurt (another point my stalker made, teasing me). I'm certainly not fat, but I'm also not "skinny" anymore either.

It was interesting, as always, to see a guy who had a technically "better physique" than me, but who trained weaker than I did in every respect. High reps, low weight, flitting from one station to another like a muscular hummingbird (a bird, mind you, without wings… or a beak… or, yeah…).

Here's to seeing how I feel tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Gym regimen - December 2010

A2: Chest and Calves
(TUESDAY): 50 mins
96kg, BMI 27.5

Warmup: pec deck, lever press, cable crossover, jumping jacks, stretching

CIRCUIT:

Seated lever press: 15, 15, 12, 10 @ 55kg, 65kg, 75kg, 85kg

Pec deck: 16, 16, 12, 10 @ 50kg, 55kg, 60kg, 50kg

Cable crossover: 16, 16, 12, 10 @ 27kg, 31kg, 36.5kg, 41.5kg

Alternating incline calf raise: 38, 36, 36 @ 150kg

CIRCUIT:

Barbell pullover: 18, 15, 12 @ 25kg, 30kg, 35kg

Seated calf raise: 30, 30, 30 @ 60kg

Incline crunches: 36

+ + +
My "deadlift stalker"––whom, for the record, I have no illusions or desires of surpassing again any time soon–– helped me keep my form "tight" on some exercises tonight, namely, the pec deck. See, he's not an asshole, just a bit rough around the edges.

I was really pressed for time tonight, since I agreed to help a coworker leave early by teaching later. (At work tonight, a shirt I bought a few years ago was really feeling tight. Getting into my first "shedding phase" as a weightlifter!) Despite my shoulder and neck injuries which have slowed me down a lot the last couple weeks, the good news is that my chest has not atrophied too much.

I renewed my membership for another six months at Central Power, and I am really looking forward to the "Squats and Milk" regimen (SMR) starting in January. It's cool because for eight weeks I will just be doing elemental training: squats, pullovers, dips, pullovers, situps. The progression of SMR involves adding 5lb (2.5kg) to the 20-rep squat every workout. So, if I start on January 3 at 70kg, I will do 77.5kg the following Monday. I'm committing to 24 SMR workouts in January and February, which means I will ultimately add 60kg. I think 70kg is a suitable place to start. Just think, if things go well, by March I will be squatting 130kg 20X and will be over 100kg!

Stay tuned.