Willgetnice's BodyBlog

Neurological Pathways and the Mind/Muscle Connection

Willgetnice — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:52:58 +0000

Today’s workout I tried something different: I didn’t count a single rep. Not for warm up sets. Not for work sets or drop sets. Not a single one. Why did I do this? I have no idea. I didn’t go in to today’s back workout with the intention of not counting reps. It’s not even something I’ve considered in the past. But when I got off the stationary bike after my brief warm up, my decision had been made without any consultation from any rational, logic based thoughts of my own. I’m left being unable to elaborate why I chose to do this, it’s just something that happened.

Instead of counting reps, I simply concentrated on the muscle being worked. Every rep was like a new experience as I neared my threshold. I honestly could not tell you where my rep range fell between. My best guess is 8-20, but it very easily could have been 10-25. Even the weight was a secondary decision that was made not based on anything I normally make those decisions on, i.e. what I can normally barbell row for 10 reps, etc. I feel as though I’m failing to provide an accurate description of my workout today. But the bottom line is that it was one of the best workout experiences I’ve ever had and something I intend on trying to replicate again in the future. It was almost like a walking hypnosis where I literally had no other thoughts in my usually busy and chaotic consciousness except how I was going to fully contract and stretch my muscles, almost micro-managing each fiber.

Hamstring/Lower Back Help

Willgetnice — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:25:22 +0000

Doing legs today I tried stiff legged deadlifts as my first hamstring exercise. Normally I would do standing leg curls or lying leg curls before stiff legs, but I had spent adequate time warming up on the bike and stretched enough to feel comfortable to begin my workout with them. I know it’s common to feel your lower back being slightly worked doing these, as opposed to regular deadlifts where your lower back is being utilized much more, but I feel as though my lower back is assisting my hamstring movements too much.

During lying leg curls later in my leg workout I could feel my lower back coming into play again during the movement. I went a lot lighter than I normally would have and focused on the neurological connection for strictly using my hamstrings, with exaggerated rep tempos and pauses at the top and bottom of each movement, really focusing on the stretch and contraction of my hamgstring. Still, I felt my lower back assisting more than I believe it should be.

Any tips or suggestions? I wish I could have taken videos of my movements so you guys could critique my form, but I’m always concerned with performing all my exercises with as strict form as I can manage, occasionally doing cheat reps just to keep things intense without risking injury.

Weight Fluctuation

Willgetnice — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:05:21 +0000

It’s normal for my weight to fluctuate from morning to evening with the amount of water and food I take in throughout the day. However, either the scale at my gym is broken or my body weight has been fluctuating considerably. I hover around 185 lbs., so it’s normal for me to weigh myself in the morning at 183 lbs. and after dinner at around 186 lbs., but in the past week I’ve been between 181 lbs. and 188 lbs. That’s a major +/- from my normal weight and I can’t pinpoint it’s cause to anything in my diet or training. I’m almost certain it’s just a faulty scale, but has anyone else had such major fluctuations in their weight in such small amounts of time (without major changes to their caloric intake or training)?

‘No Carb’ Day

Willgetnice — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:06:32 +0000

I’ve been experimenting with a carbohydrate cycling diet for some time now, just tweaking things here and there to see what my body responds best to. However, I’ve never had a ‘no carb’ day, only ‘low carb’ and days where I carbed up really high. Well, I just finished my first workout on my first ‘no carb’ day and all I can say is wow.

I had a great workout but I mentally didn’t feel right. I didn’t go as intense as I have in other workouts, but by the end I felt like my system was totally taxed. I was actually intending on taking this entire week off to rest and recover, but after taking Sunday-Tuesday off I just couldn’t stand the idea of not going to the gym today.

I’m going to try the whole ‘no carb’ days for a while and my diet schedule will look like this:

Monday and Tuesday: Low Carb

Wednesday - Friday: No Carb

Saturday and Sunday: High Carb

I’ll see how this works, but i gotta be honest…I’m craving pizza like a mofo!!!!

Welcome!

Willgetnice — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:15:04 +0000

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