Muscle Mania Matt’s BodyBlog

I have started doing power circuits to get my cardio up. I have been running a mile for time as a warm up, and then proceed with a couple of core/stability exercises, and then 4 sets of a heavy strength/power movement. I then follow that up with a giant set of 3-4 exercises, selected from core multi-joint movements. The rep ranges are submaximal 6-8 on most of the giant set movements. This has gone very well for me thus far, except in the busy gyms it can be hard to do circuits. Here is what my first workout doing this looked like:

Warm-up 1 mile run

4×20 sets overhead squat (light)

4×20 sets snatch balance (light)

4×3 mid-hang power snatch(heavy)

4 sets of the following, performed in circuit:

clean and jerk; chin up(weighted), push up(to failure), situps (to failure)

I was doing my leg workout yesterday (calling out buff brady for not showing up) and hurt myself doing front squats. i did 5 sets of back squats, and on my 5th set of fronts i went for one too many. I was feeling pretty good about them, but i have never done more than 275(x5) on the front, and sunday that felt fairly easy, so i took it to 295. On the third one i had trouble coming out of the bucket and my form broke enough to lose my "shelf". The left side of the bar moved down my shoulder an inch or so. I got it up, but i wrecked my back doing it. I think i pulled my multifidous, which is a muscle that runs parallel to the erectors in your back. Foolish pride!

Last week i picked up one of the altus thermal training suits. I thought it might be something to try wearing while running out in the cold. Firstly, i got a large, and this thing is HUGE. I could get 2-3 of me in this thing, but their is elastic on the cuffs and waist, so it stayed on (to a point). Friday i put this juggernaut on the first time and go for a 2 mile timed run. at exactly one mile, while turning around, one of the pant legs ripped apart from the very bottom, and all the way through the seam in the crotch. I stop running, and decide to walk the mile back to the house, while attempting to cover the goods with the flap of material from the pantleg. A few cars passed, but i wasn’t too bothered by this. I also had a dog chase me at one point, which was awkward. And right as i was getting to my house, the neighbors saw me and rolled down the window to say hello. At least i wasn’t naked underneath that thermal suit piece of crap.

I have been doing my normal workouts this week, but they are making me unbearably sore! Not here to whine exactly, but it is suspect! I have been taking X-factor, and arichadonic acid supplement that is supposed to increase androgen sensitivity as well as inflammation, for about 5 weeks now. I never noticed any difference until this week, and most users that report soreness notice it within the first ten days. who knows? As of right now, my monday leg workout is leaving me hobbling around.

Last night i did chest and abs with a good friend of mine. He usually lets me take point, and i did so with our chest workout. I haven’t trained with anyone in a good while, and it was nice having a spotter. The fun part was actually abs. I typically find ab training to be quite boring, so usually i don’t train very intensely in this area and try to just get it overwith. I let my buddy take point here, and he put me through the abdominal grind. I felt like my abs were going to rip off at one point, so i was quite happy about that. It went well enough, i think i will come out of my bubble and try to train with him more frequently.

My grandparents slept in separate bedrooms. So did my best friends parents when i was growing up. I always thought that was extremely odd, and wondered if they were having marital problems, because my parents slept in the same bed room. Recently Michael Savage was saying that he thought the only reason that couples would actually sleep in the same bedroom is due to money. Anyone who could afford to should have separate bed rooms to help sleep quality. My wife snores (sorry honey), and last night I finally tried sleeping on the couch at around 3 am, but my cat wouldn’t leave me alone. I woke up at 5 am for a leg workout, and i fell right back asleep(until my cat woke me up about 90 minutes later). I will do the leg workout tonight, but I am starting to understand the value of this potential separate bedroom, because this occurrs regularly. I was going to put a recliner in my office, maybe a daybed for futon instead?

The reason i hate january is the crowding in the gym. I go in last night at 8:00 pm, and i couldn’t even find a parking spot. I am pretty sure there were at least 10,000 people working out last night at my club. Even so, i noticed the squat rack was empty. Too bad it wasn’t a leg workout: i was training chest and bi’s! I had to compete to get on a bench. I also had to laugh at someone(on the inside). The gym has a power bar, rated for at least 1000 lbs, and like most every other place all the other bars are the cheap aluminum. They look almost identical, but you can tell from the collar on the bar which one is the better, and that bar probably runs for over $200 new. The boneheads switched bars during bench presses, but the switched to the cheap aluminum! If i had to guess, the aluminum is probably a couple pounds lighter, and the grip not as course as a high grade bar. So i chuckle.

I did my leg workout monday morning before work. I typically do it in the middle of the day during the weekend, but the new workout program needs to be tweaked so that can still happen. I tend to have better leg workouts that way, as well as typically feeling incapacitated after a leg workout. I kept my cardio that night on the elliptical, as we are getting buried in snow here. I had the same story this morning; i was going to attempt an a.m. run in the snow, but it wasn’t feasible due to weather.

I didn’t work yesterday, but my wife did. I mostly cleaned the house, then i worked out and was feeling ambitious, so i started running on the treadmill at the gym. I don’t know that I’ve ever mentioned, but I really don’t like running, primarily because my back hurts when I do so. But i did say i was feeling ambitious. After a few minutes on the treadmill, I wasn’t digging it. I have found the only way for me to get a good run is to go outside. I am not sure if its the environment, the fact that if i run out somewhere I have to run back, or if I have some unconscious fear of flying off the treadmill. I decided to go  outside and run. I only ran 2 miles, in about 15:30, but i LOL’ed at myself because i was hacking my lungs out afterwards and trying not to puke.