kinkoshinkai’s BodyBlog

I tried to follow all the good advice I found prior to the day of Thanks.  I did, as blogged, a pretty good leg work-out on Wednesday, prepping the body for the nutrient needs to be filled on Thanksgiving.  I’m feeling a good leg stiffness today, so that’s nice.

I prepared mentally to eat frequently throughout the day.  A Labrada breakfast bar started the day.  Then a mid-morning protein shake.  Then the big meal.  I had plenty of veggies - asparagus, cucumbers, radish, olives.  White meat only, a little loose ont he carbs, but not too bad, with mashed potatoes (from red potatoes, with skins, and skim milk), some dressing and yams.  That was it.  No pie at all, but I really didn’t even want any, because I stayed satisfied all day.  I took a 3 mile walk with my daughter and brother after that.  Stayed hydrated with plenty of water all day, too.

Then, at 2-3 hour intervals, snacked on the turkey, added some brown rice stirred in to the potatoes once.  Then a shake again at 10 pm.  That was it.  Watched a volleyball match, the USC-ASU game, some movies, took a brief nap.  Kicked back.  We’ll see in the gym tomorrow how I did, but I feel pretty good.

I had planned to go back to straight sets after the last two program rotations.   You know, 3-5 sets, 8-12 reps, 3-4 exercises per body part, 15-20 sets total.  That’s a pretty basic standard routine for steady growth.  And when combined with good intensity (get in and out in less than an hour) and failure or slightly beyond on the last set of each exercise occasionally, gives decent steady growth.  As I’ve mixed it up with some "plateau breaking" programs over the last couple months, I felt it was time to get back to the routine.  And I sort of have, but with a twist, in the spirit of mixing it up.  I’m still learning and gettin new ideas, so…

I’m still doing the 3-4 exercises per bodypart, 3-5 sets per exercise, but here’s the twist.  To hit both types of muscle fiber (since I’ve never done a complete analysis of the percentage of each type in the various muscles of my body), I’m doing a couple warm-up sets, then, my first working set is high weight, shooting for 3-6 reps but no more than 8, just short of failure.  The second working set is high rep, in the 15-20 range.  Any subsequent sets - from 3rd to 5th sets - are in the standard 8-12 range.  The plan is to be sure to hit one "strength/power" set, low rep, and one high rep set, and one "size" set for each exercise.  I may vary the order week to week, or after a month, but that’s the basic composition.

It worked for chest Monday.  It felt pretty good, except I probably didn’t hit enough warm-up sets before my "strenght" set.  But I got a good pump and the next couple weeks will tell if I can gain strength or not.  Today I hit legs, (instead of yesterday) on the advice of a BB.com article to put the leg workout before Thanksgiving as a strategy before the big meal day.  Took my time.  Hit it hard. Wobbled out.

I’ve now completed 2 weeks of the High Intensity/Low Volume approach, espoused by such pro’s as Mike Ergas and Ronny Rockel for all or part of their training.  Essentially, after a warm up set or two, each exercise is done with only 1, or at most 2 high intensity sets.  Every set is Rest/Pause, or Drop sets, all out, and move on.

For example, my Saturday is arms.  I start with light barbell curls and close push-ups to warm up.  I alternate bicep and tricep, though since I’m doing high intensity sets, they are not supersetted, just alternated.  1st up was skull crushers.  I did triceps first because I feel they’re lagging a bit, so I hit them with a rest/pause set at 125 lbs.   Then I did straight bar curls, superstrict form, with 80 lbs, also rest pause.  Then the same two exercises again, but dropped the skull crushers back to 115.

Next was one arm DB french press w/ 40 lbs, rest/pause, followed by standing DB curls, superstrict with 35 lbs.  I did a second set of French press with a single 75 lb DB.

Next was overhead rope tricep cable extensions at the 50lb pin, and concentration curls with 35’s.  Both were rest/pause sets.

Last was rope tricep cable presses down, 1 drop set from 85 down to 60 lbs in 5 lb drops , and tricep rope curls to go from brachialis to peak, drop set from 52.5 to 35 lbs.

That took less than an hour.  I sip my protein shake with creatine and glutamine during all workouts between sets.  Sometimes I’ll have a carb drink to mix my protein, sometimes not, just depending on mood and availability.

Another week on this program, and that will complete 2 very high intesity program rotations (the German Volume training being the previous program) in just under twon months.  After that, I think I’ll go back to traditional sets for a week of "active rest", basically a standard 3 - 5 sets per exercise for 8-12 reps, but at a slightly lighter weight (maybe 10% lighter) and not to complete failure on ANY sets just to let my body heal and catch up a bit.  Then I’ll start over.  6 weeks standard set/rep with last set to failure, followed by 3 weeks GVT, and 3 weeks Low Volume-High Intensity.  That seems like a nice 3 month program rotation, and I feel like I’ve made some nice gains from the last two rotations so far.  By next March, I SHOULD BE HUUUUGE!!!!!!!!

OK, first, the confession.  When I have been taking my measurements in the past, they’ve been in flexed position.  Like the 46 inch chest or 16.5 inch arms.  So, today, I swallowed my pride and re-did all the measurements and entered my lifting stats based on the most recent workouts in which the designated lifts were performed.  It’s a bit humbling, but will give me a more realistic and consistent baseline to use from now on.  Sadly, it makes it look like, based on my previous incorrectly taken measurements, that I’ve gotten smaller or weaker.  But in reality, I’ve gained significantly.  I’d like to just delete the previous measurements if and when I figure out how to do that.  But at least, from today forward, the baseline set is correct.