Monday, February 23, 2015

"Now THAT'S a spicy meatball!" And other HIT notes...

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..."

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.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

HIT Basic - week 4 - Quickies, quality, and ... um, well, some other qu- word that eludes me...

Wednesday, 28 January 2015 
231 lbs, 10 min + 19 min. 
hydrated, confident, focused, curious though how a true HIT workout would have played (badly, I suspect)

[I set today as a Not To Failure (NTF) workout. Friday will be a true, all-out HIT workout. I learn something new every day with this entire method. For example, apparently, Arthur Jones himself--who trained like a beast--used a 3-3 cadence. That is what I tried tonight. As such, I want to err on the side of "heavy", and I feel that, unless I'm doing an explicitly "super slow" regimen, a 4-4, 3-1-3-1, etc. cadence forces me to go lighter than I could for MMF in the anaerobic window (6-10 reps). 

In other words, I like lifting/pushing/pulling heavy things, wot.

Let it be noted that, even though I did stopped short of HIT failure, I used heavier resistance, and will use the same basic numbers on Friday.] 

warmup: elliptical machine, stretching, bathroom, etc.

leg curl: 110 lbs. x 7

leg extension: 120 x 8

leg press: 250 x 7

seated calf raise: 180 x 11

Nautilus chest press: 210 x 8

Nautilus MP: 90 x 5

T-row: 125 x 6

pullover: N/A

cable curl: 80 x 10

Nautilus tricep extension: 70 x 8

farmer carry: 85/85 x 70 steps, 20 steps

Monday, January 26, 2015

HIT Basic - week 4 - Good workout! Hurray for rowing!

Monday, 26 January 2015 
230 lbs., 15 min + 30 min. 
well hydrated; focused; steady, tight form

[I made a serious effort to maintain a 3-1-4-0 cadence on all repetitions (as in, 3 seconds concentric, 1 second static, 4 seconds eccentric, and smooth turnaround, though it just dawned on me that I should have made it a 3-1-4-1 cadence. God willing, I'll do that next time and on Friday, though Wednesday will be a NqTF (Not quite To Failure) workout.]

warmup: elliptical machine, stretching-ish, motions

leg curl: 100 lbs. x 10c 

leg extension: 100 x 12c 

leg press: 225 x 15c 

calf raise: 230 x 12c 

Hammer press: 200 x 11e 

Pendlay row: 125 x 9c

pullover: 90 x 8c

cable curl (rope handle): 70 x 11e

Nautilus MP: 80 (?) x 10c 
[Was not really sure what the plates amounted to, but in the right ballpark it felt like 80 lbs.]

farmer carry: 85/85 x 81 steps 

tricep cable extension (rope handle): 70 x 10e

+ + +

A very good workout this evening. More controlled than last workout, though actually stronger in some exercises.

Today was also my first day as an assistant rowing coach at my old high school. I'll be helping with the middle schoolers. We did a baseline fitness assessment today, involving a circuit of a flexibility test, a timed run, jumpies, burpees, and planking. Some students remarked, with shock, "You're so quick! You're so flexible!" Funny to think that I'm in better shape than a bunch of healthy, young people, but, hey, I've got experience and obsession on my side.

It feels amazing to be back on my old stomping grounds. Rowing is "a part of me" on a deep, existential level. Even now I'm getting goose bumps thinking about what it meant and means to me. However, I need to keep reminding myself to observe (the other coaches, the existing boathouse culture, etc.), not only so I can refresh my rowing savvy after two decades off the water, but also so I don't come across (even moreso!) as a blowhard and/or know-it-all. Should be fun. :)

Patience... Humility... Confidence... Intensity... Progress...

Friday, January 23, 2015

HIT Basic - week 3 ... Sic et Non...

Friday, 23 January 2015 
15 + 37 min., 231 lbs. 

[Wow, I'm startled that I've put on at least five pounds in the past couple weeks. I've even cut a little fat. #yayHIT]

warmup: elliptical machine, BATHROOM, stretching, BATHROOM (pre-race shakes, right?)

leg curl: 100 lbs. x 14c

leg extension: 100 x 16c

leg press: 250 x 13e

db pullover: 90 x 10c
[First time I have ever truly "failed" on a pullover, hooray! Progress...]

Hammer press: 200 x 9c

T-row: 125 x 8c

db MP: 45 x 9e

bb curl: 80 x 8e*
[Slight cheat on seventh concentric, total body English on eighth, eccentric FAIL.]

bb tricep extension: 65 x 9e**
[Last two concentric phases were all body English for good negatives.]

farmer carry: 85 x 73 steps, [unintended but interesting chat break], 62 steps

calf raise: 240 x 13e

+ + +

Had some interesting exchanges tonight, about which I would like to make a brief video soon. The title "sic et non" refers to how this was (yes) a high-intensity workout in terms of exertion, but was not (no) in terms of some delays I allowed myself.

I did take a little more time between exercises compared to last workout.

HIT is awesome!

I am very tired tonight. That's nice. Not mentally tired, just, I can feel the exertion still smoldering in my muscles.

Next week I'll do a MWF regimen, but will not go to failure (i.e. will go lighter) on Wednesday.

I think I'll invest in some protein powder here sooner or later, but it's no rush.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

HIT Basic week 3 - Das what I'm talkin'bout...

Tuesday, 20 January 2015 
226 lbs., 35 min.

warmup: elliptical machine, stretching (6-7 minutes)

leg curl: 100 lbs. x 13c

leg extension: 100 x 11c

leg press: 250 x 13e

db pullover: 90 x 8e

seated Hammer press: 180 x 10c

T-row: 125 x 7c

db MP: 45 x 9e

bb curl: 80 x 7e*
[body English on last couple concentric exertions]

db tricep extension: 65 x 8e*
[body English on last couple concentric exertions]

farmer carry: 85 x 65 steps, pause 35 steps

standing calf raise:  230 x 13c

+ + +

I decided to increase the resistance, in order to lower the rep range, and thereby save more aerobic capacity for moving faster from one exercise to the next. This felt good, both going heavier and maintaining the "conditioning" aspect of HIT. I may wait until Friday to workout again, or just keep it on Thursday and then resume a MWF schedule next week.

Monday, January 19, 2015

HIT Basic regimen, week 2... and a readjustment...

Saturday, 17.1.2015
225 lbs., 52 minutes

warm-up: elliptical machine, stretching, motions

Leg curl: 90 lbs x 17c

Leg extension: 90 x 17c

Leg press: 210 x 22
(blech; Not true failure, but my exertion headache kept me in check)

db pullover: 85 x 11e

Hammer chest press: 150 x 15e

T-row: 115 x 10c

db MP: 40 x 3 / 45 x 7e

BBC curl: 75 x 10e
:)

db tricep extension: 60 x 10e
(with two body English concentric cheats)

db farmer carry:
85 x 65 steps left hand /
85 x 65 steps right hand /
80/85 (L/R) x 50 steps
85/80 (L/R) x 31 steps

standing calf press: 240 x 15c

+ + + 

Got an exertion headache on Wednesday, took Friday off, felt it again on Saturday on pullover and leg press, but focused on breathing (avoid Valsalva) and it felt much better, so the rest of the workout felt very good. Have been taking a lot more ibuprofen than usual, and really hydrating. I will survive.

I am pleased with my strength gains so far, and will only workout this Tuesday and Thursday, but will ratchet back some weight gradients in order to increase the conditioning component of this HIT regimen. Faster but lighter. Then heavier again.

Saturday and Sunday I did some forearm and ab workouts: mace, ab wheel, 1.5 gripper, 25-35 minutes each, and took a good walk with the family Monday evening.