kinkoshinkai’s BodyBlog

Some people may think I’m a bit obsessive in tracking my training, but I have logs from the first day I started my regular resistance training on my Bowflex to the present at my gym.  4 years worth.  But here’s what I’ve found it does for me.

1) It allows me to try to exceed my previous performance, knowing exactly what that previous performance was.  Every session, I try to do at leats one more rep, or one more set, or move a couple minutes faster, or lift a couple extra pounds.  Having a record lets me know what I need to do to move that one step forward, consistently.

2) That in turn motivates me.  It gets my mindset focussed on a performance based session.  That said, I still keep my technique clean, as clean as possible, because at MY age, who has time for injuries??

3) The log also takes the guess work out of which dumbell to pick up, or how many plates to load.  I just look back to whenever I last did that particular exercise and know.  Then I try to do as I said in point #1.

4) There are days, inevitably, due to rest, diet, mood, whatever, when I’m not as strong as I want to be, and can’t lift the same weight, or do the same reps or whatever as last time.  THEN WHAT!?  Well, even when unsuccessful, you can find success based on your log.  Maybe I didn’t get the 100 lb dumbells up for incline presses.  So, I drop the weight, slow the reps, push for one more set or a post-fatigue finishing technique (drop sets, rest pause, partials, whatever).  That way, and based on my training log, I still know the target muscle is going to get challenged to grow, whether it wants to or not!!

So, even when I’m unsuccessful on a lift, or take a week or a day off, my training log allows me to continue to work toward my goals, and be successful. 

We drove to Vegas Christmas night, and knowing the size of my sister-in-law, I was worried about the cuisine for the weekend.  So to be safe, I brought my proteing powder and a few cans of protein pudding.  But lo and behold, we were greeted with an evening meal of baked sweet potato, steak and lobster, and fresh salad!!!  BEAUTIFUL!

I did justify a rather generous visit to a buffet for lunch yesterday.  Given that we tromped all over the Strip with kids in tow, I felt the cardio more than justified a little indulgence, but I mostly had the meat entrees, shrimp, cod, chicken (peeled off the skin), and salad.  But LOTS OF MEAT!!!  Mmmmmmmm. No dessert bar for me!  (My kids avoided it, too, bless them, since the buffet challenged their limits anyway!)
So, generally, I’ve tried to be good.  I had a slice of pecan pie with my breakfast protein, but high glycemic in moderation is OK at two different times of day, breakfast being one.

I hope everyone else indulged if it was in their plan, or stayed super clean if that was the plan, and in general stayed on track with their continued fitness goals.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So, I know that everyone has different gyms, home or commercial, with varying levels of equipment options.  The freeweight room in my gym is well stocked and very organized, especially compared to freeweight rooms at the famous chain gym, atomic symbol Ag, or at least the branches I’ve seen.  But the actual variety of plate loaded equipment is very limited, and our squat rack is different.  It’s not a cage and has no front hooks for partial deadlifts.  There are a few hammer strength machines. Anyway, I sometimes am jealous of people who have more variety in their gyms.  But it has led me to be creative.  Sticking the bar from the bench in a corner for t-bar rows with a v-handle, for instance. 

So, I really wanted to do partial dead-lifts to finish off back workouts.  I moved two flat benches(fortunately they’re not bolted down like in some gyms), which are just above mid-shin level for me, and took a bar from the bench-press rack.  It takes a bit of set up time, but is much better than trying to do them on the Smith rack, which I’ve done.  The free movement of the bar allows me to move more naturally, and for the last 4 or 5 weeks that I’ve incorporated partial dead lifts, I’ve felt my back REALLY getting a nice full finish! 

My gym, as much as I like it, doesn’t have much in the way of helping develop my calves, which have always been a weak spot.  So I’ve had my Craig’s-list-eye open for quite some time.  The main piece I’ve wanted is a seated calf machine.   Standing calf raises, whether with dumbbell or barbell, require engagement at the hip joint (core stabilizers) and knees.  Good for overall calf work.  But our gym doesn’t have even a ‘calf board’, so I have to use the plastic aerobic step, which isn’t as solid a surface, allowing some ball of the foot slippage.  Leg press calves and the seated calf press stack take the hip joint out of the equation, increasing the focus on just the targetted calves, but still engaging the knee joint flexion (unless you use bad form and LOCK your knees, endangering the joint).  Donkey calves I’ve done by putting a pad on my lower back and sliding my butt under the Smith bar.   But none of these hit JUST the calf, including the soleus, as effectively as the plate loaded seated calf can for really finishing them off. Dumbells on the knees, done it.  But the pad right on the knees of a seated calf machine takes all the other joint flexion out more effectively, and puts all the flexion in the ankle, meaning all the contraction is in the calf.

There is a stack calf press that I’m still waiting to pick up from the high school where I got my other dandy garage treats.  But we have that and a leg press at the gym where I can do the same thing.  A seated calf would allow greater isolated/targetted focus on my weak calves.  I’ve tried, with some minor success, using pads and the Smith rack to do seated calves.  I’ve used the lying leg curl, sitting at the end with my knees under the pad to do seated calf raises.  So, on Craig’s I finally found it.  75 bucks and a drive to Vegas! (figure 100 bucks total).  A bit more than I wanted to pay, but still a bargain.  I found it to be in GREAT shape, and apparently custom built by the guy who makes stuff for one of the Gold’s in Vegas.  OK, so I got the piece I’d wanted. 

Then I went to visit a good friend whose house is being essentially rebuilt due to extreme water damage that occured while he was overseas.  We did a walk through, looking at all the repairs being done.  In the bathroom off what HAD been his home gym room, were weight plates strewn on the floor.  I asked him if he was re-stocking his gym after all the damage, and he said he might, but didn’t really need all the plates, so help myself if I wanted some.  I got 250 lbs (4 45’s and 2 35’s) and left the majority of his weights.  Didn’t want to take advantage TOO much of a friendly offer.  But that made my 100 dollar trip  MUCH more productive, adding 250 lbs of plates to my garage gym.  PRETTY GOOD, I think!!