Blog Entry
I worked out pretty heavy on Friday, and then I started talking to a friend at the gym that I had chatted with before and he and I hashed out some stuff. I do want to work out for health reasons, but also for functional reasons, and even for aesthetic reasons. But I think I work better with smaller, reasonable goals, like adding 10lbs to my bench or doing full reps or doing a pull-up (unassisted), compared to like.. getting down to 10% bodyfat or 17" biceps. Anyway, we have some of the same goals and it was refreshing to talk with somebody who really knew what they were talking about. He trains on a strange schedule but it was great training with him. I did about 25 minutes of cardio after working out that I otherwise wouldn’t have done if it weren’t for him, and he offered to be a training partner and I said that’d be great. So maybe 1-2 days per week I’ll have a training partner that’s great to talk with!
He told me about a method that I can use alongside the assisted pull-up machine that uses the eccentric contraction at certain intervals. I stand on a chair and jump up and raise myself to chin above the bar and hold myself there for as long as I can and then slowly lower myself down, with a goal of staying up for 10 seconds; then I rest 90 seconds and continue for 2-3 more times. Eventually once I can do the whole 10 seconds, I can decrease the rest periods and/or do more sets, and supposedly once I can do it for the full 10 seconds for 4 sets with 60 seconds or less rest, I should be able to do one pull-up. Assuming I’m otherwise training the rest of my arms and chest. (I used to be really fat as a child too so I never was able to do a pull-up in P.E., and thus I’ve never done a pull-up my entire life, so this is a big deal for me.)
I also had to do some overtime on Saturday on bike patrol at work (usually I’m at a desk job at a dock), and that was like 7.5 hours of on and off cardio, so I was really tired come Sunday when my workout partner had wanted to work out, but yeah I was tired. My pecs and tris are still sore so I’m taking today off until they’re healed, but oddly my legs are already better. I guess cardio is a quicker heal for me? Or maybe my legs are just in better shape than my upper body… I KNOW that is the case, because I have frickin’ awesome quads and calves but not an upper body to match. I think that’s the fat boy syndrome (vs. the mirror-workout-syndrome). Lol.
Monday, 8th October, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Your going to love working with a partner. You will learn so much and progress so much faster - have fun!