I’ve often thought about why I like going to the gym so much. While it’s true that I feel fantastic when I work out, it’s also true that I love being around people making positive changes in their lives. It doesn’t matter what shape we are in, or what our workout is – we are all doing SOMETHING. It is so easy to just whine and say “it’s not fair” or “I wish it were different”, but everyone is empowering themselves and working to change or enhance their lives.
The story I tell on myself is years ago when I bought the “Sweating to the Oldies” video and was watching it to see if it was too hard. While sitting in my lazy boy. With a pint of Chunky Monkey (kind of appropriate, wasn’t it?). Somehow I don’t think Richard would have approved. :) Surprisingly I didn’t see any results. As you can see, I kind of need the accountability factor.
I feed off of the energy of those around me. Whether it’s secretly seeing if I can beat the speed of the person next to me on the bike, or if I can just last 5 minutes on the Elliptical Machine without collapsing, it’s easier when people are around. The same is true of my training sessions. A lady mentioned last night that she remembers me in my first session last April. Apparently my face was beet red and I looked like I was going to pass out. But I kept at it. And she said it encouraged her so now she signed up for training. It will be nice to kind of work out with her. Other people who train at the same time with other trainers and I have a good natured ribbing and competitiveness going – it will be good to add another person to the “Club”.
Oh, and I gave the Lazy Boy away and haven’t had ice cream since last March. ALTHOUGH when I tell people I went to an all-natural diet to keep in mind that both Ben and Jerry’s AND Hagen Daaz are BOTH all natural. Hmmmmmmmmm………..
Friday, January 29, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Soreness and DOMS a Brief Review
We have all experienced it many times, yet no matter how often or rarely it occurs it's always a pain in the...well you know. You're sore the day or two days after your workout. Some of the muscles you used are tender to the touch, weak, and ache when you work them through a complete range of motion. What is the cause of soreness, what is DOMS, and what can you do?
The cause of soreness has been up for debate in recent history. Up until recently soreness following a bout of exercise has thought to be due to lactic acid accumulation in the body. Exercise scientists even gave soreness that rears its ugly head 24-48 hours after exercise a fancy moniker- delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. This is known as the metabolic theory. In this theory high intensity repetitive exercise causes the muscles to use highly anaerobic pathways to create energy for the contracting muscle, causing an excessive production of lactic acid. This lactic acid floats around the blood stream until it is removed by buffering agents within the muscle when it has sufficient oxygen to do so, or by the liver as it passes lactic acid off to the Cori cycle to create glucose to be stored as glycogen in the liver or muscle. With me so far? This was thought to be the burn experienced during exercise, when lactic acid production exceeded lactic acid clearance by the body, excessive lactic acid concentrations were thought to cause the burn, pump, and also cause soreness. What a crock! :-)
The first problem with this theory is that lactic acid cannot even exist in the body under normal human physiological conditions. To be clear, it is LACTATE not lactic acid that is produced by the anaerobic pathway used by muscles during high intensity exercise. Lactate is not capable of forming the acid (lactic acid). Second, lactate is readily cleared, converted, or even used by various metabolic pathways in the body to create more energy. So why do we get fatigued, experience a burn, pump, etc?
During exercise movements there are usually two phases of the movement, a concentric and an eccentric. If we take the squat for example, the concentric is the UP phase or the lifting phase, while the eccentric phase would be the down portion, and it is more passive. However, it is the eccentric phase that causes the muscle damage responsible for fatigue, burning sensation, pump, and muscle soreness. During the eccentric portion of a movement, the muscle is stretched into an elongated position. In the case of the squat the hamstrings, glutes, and adductors are stretched. Moreover, they are loaded with weight, either by a bar and weight, or simply your own body weight. When a muscle is both stretched and loaded small microtears occur in the muscle tissue, specifically the muscle cells. This has a dose-response relationship in that the more the muscle is stretched, loaded, or when the velocity of the movement increases so do the amount of microtears in the muscle. Furthermore, when the movement is repeated many times, more and more microtears occur. The tearing of muscle cells (on a microscopic level) allows internal cell chemicals to seep out into the blood stream. Some of these chemicals include creatine kinase, myoglobin (the oxygen carrier within muscle tissue), and hydrogen ions.
If you think back to your chemistry class you remember that hydrogen is associated with being acidic. To take that one step further, it affects the pH balance of any solution, and in the body this occurs in the blood, muscle tissue, etc. The normal pH of the body at any one given time is about 7.2. Any deviation from this pH results in serious issues such as gastric dumping, protein degradation (organ and tissue degradation), reduced function, and in severe cases death. This is why the body will undergo many functions and processes to prevent a change in the pH body-wide. However, in localized muscle tissue, hydrogen ion accumulation from intense exercise involving eccentric muscle contractions occurs. This increase in localized hydrogen ion concentration causes a slightly acidic situation in the muscle (remember acidic = a pH of <7.0>7.0). With the muscle being slightly acidic the body gets into a fury of activity trying to repair, remodel, and rid the tissue of the acidosis incurred.
Remember the body's main repair pathway for any tissue, cell, organ, etc is the inflammatory pathway. When the muscle is damaged and subsequently in an acidic state the inflammatory process is signaled. Basic inflammatory responses include an increased blood flow to the area (vasodilation), immune system cell infiltration, swelling, redness, pain, etc all in an effort to repair and remodel the effected cells. So the hydrogen ion accumulation from the microtears in muscle tissue causes the inflammatory pathway to go to work and in conjunction with the immune cascade causes soreness which can occur either directly after a bout of exercise or 24-48 hours afterwards.
But this is not necessarily a bad thing. The body has what is known as a general adaptation syndrome to all stressors. When you stress a muscle to a point that damage occurs, the body rebuilds and remodels it to a point to better cope with the stress. Once the muscle is completely recovered a similar bout of exercise should cause less soreness than before and work capacity of the muscle or body should increase. However, in the training world since we are constantly trying to progress, we tend to never see the exact same stimulus over and over again. The goal is to progressively overload the body in such a way to force it to get bigger, faster, stronger, and prettier. Think about it, say the workout involved 50 squats and that made your legs really sore. After you recovered, the next time you saw 50 squats in a workout you would either add resistance, move faster through the number of squats, or some other measurable improvement. So now the stimulus has changed and the body is again, forced to adapt.
Soreness is not necessarily a marker of a good workout, or a bad one. Depending on someones recovery ability they may be sore very infrequently or very often. To break this down even further, the inflammatory pathway only has a set capacity that it can deal with at any one given time. If your body is chronically inflamed in other tissues such as the blood vessels, joints, brain, organs, etc and now you add in acute muscle inflammation then the recovery will be slower and soreness is likely. Conversely, if you don't have much, if any, chronic inflammation going on you will quickly recover from exercise as the inflammatory pathway can work swiftly, unabated by other nagging inflammation. Make sense?
Even so, a very fit person with excellent recovery capacity can become sore from workouts involving repetitive eccentric portions of movements. Especially if the weights are heavy, the reps are many, or the velocity is high of the movements. But don't be so quick to drop kick the eccentric portion of exercise. Studies have shown that concentric-only based strength programs fail to provide any increase in strength, muscle hypertrophy, or work capacity. So we need the eccentric portion, but we need to program training sessions properly to make sure that adequate recovery is attainable and consistent progress can be made.
Can you exercise, stretch, foam roll, massage your way out of DOMS? Studies have also shown that light exercise can help alleviate DOMS by increasing blood flow to the effected muscle tissue and thereby increasing the clearance of inflammatory, immune, and metabolic by products lying around in the tissue causing discomfort. In contrast, stretching has shown no benefit to decreasing soreness, particularly static or ballistic stretching. A Dynamic warm up and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitative stretching (PNF) have shown slight decreases in discomfort and an increase in the effected muscle's force production. Foam rolling has been postulated to decrease recovery time, and is smart practice pre and post exercise to yield the fastest recovery time possible. Massages, while relaxing and fun, offer no increase in recovery capacity, force production, etc.
Perhaps the best way to decrease your chances of soreness is to properly warm up, use proper bio mechanics during exercise, and utilize a sound nutritional approach that decreases body wide inflammation so you can use that inflammatory pathway to recover the effected muscle instead.
Sorry for the long post, if any body has any additional questions email me at jfeigenb@gmail.com
The cause of soreness has been up for debate in recent history. Up until recently soreness following a bout of exercise has thought to be due to lactic acid accumulation in the body. Exercise scientists even gave soreness that rears its ugly head 24-48 hours after exercise a fancy moniker- delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. This is known as the metabolic theory. In this theory high intensity repetitive exercise causes the muscles to use highly anaerobic pathways to create energy for the contracting muscle, causing an excessive production of lactic acid. This lactic acid floats around the blood stream until it is removed by buffering agents within the muscle when it has sufficient oxygen to do so, or by the liver as it passes lactic acid off to the Cori cycle to create glucose to be stored as glycogen in the liver or muscle. With me so far? This was thought to be the burn experienced during exercise, when lactic acid production exceeded lactic acid clearance by the body, excessive lactic acid concentrations were thought to cause the burn, pump, and also cause soreness. What a crock! :-)
The first problem with this theory is that lactic acid cannot even exist in the body under normal human physiological conditions. To be clear, it is LACTATE not lactic acid that is produced by the anaerobic pathway used by muscles during high intensity exercise. Lactate is not capable of forming the acid (lactic acid). Second, lactate is readily cleared, converted, or even used by various metabolic pathways in the body to create more energy. So why do we get fatigued, experience a burn, pump, etc?
During exercise movements there are usually two phases of the movement, a concentric and an eccentric. If we take the squat for example, the concentric is the UP phase or the lifting phase, while the eccentric phase would be the down portion, and it is more passive. However, it is the eccentric phase that causes the muscle damage responsible for fatigue, burning sensation, pump, and muscle soreness. During the eccentric portion of a movement, the muscle is stretched into an elongated position. In the case of the squat the hamstrings, glutes, and adductors are stretched. Moreover, they are loaded with weight, either by a bar and weight, or simply your own body weight. When a muscle is both stretched and loaded small microtears occur in the muscle tissue, specifically the muscle cells. This has a dose-response relationship in that the more the muscle is stretched, loaded, or when the velocity of the movement increases so do the amount of microtears in the muscle. Furthermore, when the movement is repeated many times, more and more microtears occur. The tearing of muscle cells (on a microscopic level) allows internal cell chemicals to seep out into the blood stream. Some of these chemicals include creatine kinase, myoglobin (the oxygen carrier within muscle tissue), and hydrogen ions.
If you think back to your chemistry class you remember that hydrogen is associated with being acidic. To take that one step further, it affects the pH balance of any solution, and in the body this occurs in the blood, muscle tissue, etc. The normal pH of the body at any one given time is about 7.2. Any deviation from this pH results in serious issues such as gastric dumping, protein degradation (organ and tissue degradation), reduced function, and in severe cases death. This is why the body will undergo many functions and processes to prevent a change in the pH body-wide. However, in localized muscle tissue, hydrogen ion accumulation from intense exercise involving eccentric muscle contractions occurs. This increase in localized hydrogen ion concentration causes a slightly acidic situation in the muscle (remember acidic = a pH of <7.0>7.0). With the muscle being slightly acidic the body gets into a fury of activity trying to repair, remodel, and rid the tissue of the acidosis incurred.
Remember the body's main repair pathway for any tissue, cell, organ, etc is the inflammatory pathway. When the muscle is damaged and subsequently in an acidic state the inflammatory process is signaled. Basic inflammatory responses include an increased blood flow to the area (vasodilation), immune system cell infiltration, swelling, redness, pain, etc all in an effort to repair and remodel the effected cells. So the hydrogen ion accumulation from the microtears in muscle tissue causes the inflammatory pathway to go to work and in conjunction with the immune cascade causes soreness which can occur either directly after a bout of exercise or 24-48 hours afterwards.
But this is not necessarily a bad thing. The body has what is known as a general adaptation syndrome to all stressors. When you stress a muscle to a point that damage occurs, the body rebuilds and remodels it to a point to better cope with the stress. Once the muscle is completely recovered a similar bout of exercise should cause less soreness than before and work capacity of the muscle or body should increase. However, in the training world since we are constantly trying to progress, we tend to never see the exact same stimulus over and over again. The goal is to progressively overload the body in such a way to force it to get bigger, faster, stronger, and prettier. Think about it, say the workout involved 50 squats and that made your legs really sore. After you recovered, the next time you saw 50 squats in a workout you would either add resistance, move faster through the number of squats, or some other measurable improvement. So now the stimulus has changed and the body is again, forced to adapt.
Soreness is not necessarily a marker of a good workout, or a bad one. Depending on someones recovery ability they may be sore very infrequently or very often. To break this down even further, the inflammatory pathway only has a set capacity that it can deal with at any one given time. If your body is chronically inflamed in other tissues such as the blood vessels, joints, brain, organs, etc and now you add in acute muscle inflammation then the recovery will be slower and soreness is likely. Conversely, if you don't have much, if any, chronic inflammation going on you will quickly recover from exercise as the inflammatory pathway can work swiftly, unabated by other nagging inflammation. Make sense?
Even so, a very fit person with excellent recovery capacity can become sore from workouts involving repetitive eccentric portions of movements. Especially if the weights are heavy, the reps are many, or the velocity is high of the movements. But don't be so quick to drop kick the eccentric portion of exercise. Studies have shown that concentric-only based strength programs fail to provide any increase in strength, muscle hypertrophy, or work capacity. So we need the eccentric portion, but we need to program training sessions properly to make sure that adequate recovery is attainable and consistent progress can be made.
Can you exercise, stretch, foam roll, massage your way out of DOMS? Studies have also shown that light exercise can help alleviate DOMS by increasing blood flow to the effected muscle tissue and thereby increasing the clearance of inflammatory, immune, and metabolic by products lying around in the tissue causing discomfort. In contrast, stretching has shown no benefit to decreasing soreness, particularly static or ballistic stretching. A Dynamic warm up and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitative stretching (PNF) have shown slight decreases in discomfort and an increase in the effected muscle's force production. Foam rolling has been postulated to decrease recovery time, and is smart practice pre and post exercise to yield the fastest recovery time possible. Massages, while relaxing and fun, offer no increase in recovery capacity, force production, etc.
Perhaps the best way to decrease your chances of soreness is to properly warm up, use proper bio mechanics during exercise, and utilize a sound nutritional approach that decreases body wide inflammation so you can use that inflammatory pathway to recover the effected muscle instead.
Sorry for the long post, if any body has any additional questions email me at jfeigenb@gmail.com
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Can't believe I'm grounded!!!
I’m Grounded - from the gym
Or so it feels like. Yes, I fell again yesterday. Yes, we thought this time the ankle might be broken. But no – it’s not – it’s only a bad sprain/strain. And yes, I agree Jake (not so great right now) made the right call on saying I should take a week off to heal – but it got me to thinking. I am scared to death that I will return to where I was.
Not only just re-gaining the weight - but everything. I LOVE the way I eat – but what about when I want to just get something to eat on the fly and not spend hours cooking from scratch. And a person can only eat so many salads in their life before they start mooing. Plus there is a part of you that thinks when you've overcome so much, that you've overcome EVERYTHING. I still believe one day I will - but for today - there are momentary challenges.
Do any of you have these fears? Now I don’t work out solely because of the fear factor, I honestly LOVE it. And honestly I know I’ll NEVER go back to where I was …..but still …..
But you know what – occasionally I fall and hurt myself. That’s a fact of my life. But my recovery time is SOO much better now. When you’re in better shape BEFORE the fall, you can’t help but be in better shape AFTER the fall (another benefit to working work – quicker recovery time). And you’ll be hard pressed to find a more motivated person. So I guess I’ll lay off the gym. I mean it’s only a few days, right? Cuz TECHNICALLY Sunday is the beginning of a new week – right? J Ok, he’ll be Jake the Great again. J (But if you see me sneaking into the gym, don’t tell him, ok?)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
300 pounds!!!
I have nothing really to say - I am just excited beyond excited tonight. My trainer (Jake the Great of course) and I were doing leg lifts in the back. They were really light so he said "want to see what you can do?" Of course I did. We added them all together and they were 280 lbs. He said "want to try and make it an even 300?"
Guess what???????????????????????? :)
I LOVE THIS STUFF.
Disclaimer: This as done under trainer supervision. I'm not silly enough to try this every day. But after coming off a "challenging" health time, we were both just really pumped by the workout. Jake mentioned that these days when I have an attack causing weakness I seem to bounce back even stronger than before. And more determined. This stuff SO WORKS!! :)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Size and Strength Part 4
This section will be on periodzation. The variables that need to be tinkered with to see maximum results. Periodzation is defined as the methodical alteration of training variables over the course of a training cycle. Training cycles are classified as microcycles, mesocycles, and macrocycles. Microcycles are most often the training week, but does not have to be limited to that exact amount of time. It is usually the smallest repeatable cycle of a training program. Mesocycles last anywhere from 4-12 weeks the majority of the time, but may extend for longer in certain cases. (I write most of my programs using Mesocycles) It is a collection of several microcycles. The macrocycle is the largest of periodization divisions; it consists of multiple mesocycles. Some macrocycles may last as long as a few years, as is often the case with Olympic athletes. I will be working with mostly the first 2 cycles in this entry.
The variables that need to be tinkered with are the following:
Frequency
The amount of workouts given in a period of time. Normally this is during a week. The frequency at which muscles are used as prime movers in resistance training is an important variable that most gym goers don't use. Bodybuilding magazines will tell you to lift a muscle group a day, what they fail to mention is most of these guys aren't your natural trainee.
Intensity
This isn't for strength purposes how hard we workout. This is based around your 1-5 rep max. You will see me say you want to do 10 reps with a 12-13 rep max. This means you pick a weight that you could do for 13 reps and not another rep, but you stop at 10 reps. I see it everyday, novice lifters maxing out their 8 rep max and completely destroying their chances of progressing.
Volume
No this is not the sound on your stereo. Its normally defined by the number of reps during a training session. Seems like every bodybuilding magazine I have ever read asks you to do 3 sets of 8-12 reps on every single exercise there is. That's just silly.
Rest Intervals
Yes it is as simple as it sounds. This is the time you rest in between each set. I rarely see guys who are lifting for strength and size actually time their rest times between sets.
Exercise Selection
Easy, the exercises you choose to do. It's funny because we all know the guy who comes into the gym every single day and lays on the bench and gets right down to his 1 rep max. The most common occurance is people enjoy doing exercises they are good at. Make sure in your programs you are doing exercises you are bad at as well.
Tempo
This is the speed the weight is moved during each phase of the lift (concentric, eccentric, and the isolation). You will see something like this 2/0/x/0. Meaning on the eccentric you are taking 2 seconds on the negative part of the lift. The first 0 means no pause on the isolation. The x refers to explode on the lifting potion of the exercise. And the final 0 means to immediatly go back into the next rep. Alot of programs you see online or in books will be called TUT programs, meaning time under tension.
I want to touch on different forms of periodzation now:
Linear
This is the systematic increase or decrease in the value of a variable over the course of a mesocycle. Intensity is the variable most often manipulated in this, but it is certainly applicable to other training variables. A simple example would be the following, using intensity as an example: week 1: 60%, week 2: 70%, week 3: 75%, week 4: 80%, week 5: 85%, week 6: 90%, repeat. A linear periodzation outline would look like this for a powerlifter:
Monday-Squat Day
Squat – RE to ME
Week 1: 4x12 @ 65%
Week 2: 4x10 @ 70%
Week 3: 3x8 @ 75%
Week 4: 3x5 @ 83%
Week 5: 3x3 @ 88%
Week 6: 3x2 @ 90%
Week 7: 2x2 @ 95%
Week 8: 1x1 @ 100%
Week 9: 1x1 @ 105% - Attempt record
Undulating
This form of periodization involves alternating variables within each microcycle or even within each individual training session. An example of this type of program would be the following: week 1 - session 1: 4 sets of 12 repetitions @ 15RM using 45sec rest intervals, week 1 – session 2: 8 sets of 3 repetitions @ 5RM using 75sec rest intervals, week 1 – session 3: 4 sets of 8 repetitions @ 10RM using 60sec rest intervals.
More for bodybuilding and not powerlifting:
Monday-Upper
Overhead Press
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Chinups
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Decline Press
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Cable Rows
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Wednesday-Lower
Squats
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Stiff Legged Deadlifts
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Lunges
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Friday-Upper
Flat bench
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Bent Over Row
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
The biggest thing to keep in mind whenever you are setting up your plan to success is don't overthink it. Just use the basic guidelines and go from there. Continue to confuse your body and it will grow. Pretty simple right? Then why do so many people continue to use the same programs day in and day out? That's simple, they just don't know any better. Lucky for you, you've spent the past 5 minutes reading this and have a head up on others in the gym!
The variables that need to be tinkered with are the following:
Frequency
The amount of workouts given in a period of time. Normally this is during a week. The frequency at which muscles are used as prime movers in resistance training is an important variable that most gym goers don't use. Bodybuilding magazines will tell you to lift a muscle group a day, what they fail to mention is most of these guys aren't your natural trainee.
Intensity
This isn't for strength purposes how hard we workout. This is based around your 1-5 rep max. You will see me say you want to do 10 reps with a 12-13 rep max. This means you pick a weight that you could do for 13 reps and not another rep, but you stop at 10 reps. I see it everyday, novice lifters maxing out their 8 rep max and completely destroying their chances of progressing.
Volume
No this is not the sound on your stereo. Its normally defined by the number of reps during a training session. Seems like every bodybuilding magazine I have ever read asks you to do 3 sets of 8-12 reps on every single exercise there is. That's just silly.
Rest Intervals
Yes it is as simple as it sounds. This is the time you rest in between each set. I rarely see guys who are lifting for strength and size actually time their rest times between sets.
Exercise Selection
Easy, the exercises you choose to do. It's funny because we all know the guy who comes into the gym every single day and lays on the bench and gets right down to his 1 rep max. The most common occurance is people enjoy doing exercises they are good at. Make sure in your programs you are doing exercises you are bad at as well.
Tempo
This is the speed the weight is moved during each phase of the lift (concentric, eccentric, and the isolation). You will see something like this 2/0/x/0. Meaning on the eccentric you are taking 2 seconds on the negative part of the lift. The first 0 means no pause on the isolation. The x refers to explode on the lifting potion of the exercise. And the final 0 means to immediatly go back into the next rep. Alot of programs you see online or in books will be called TUT programs, meaning time under tension.
I want to touch on different forms of periodzation now:
Linear
This is the systematic increase or decrease in the value of a variable over the course of a mesocycle. Intensity is the variable most often manipulated in this, but it is certainly applicable to other training variables. A simple example would be the following, using intensity as an example: week 1: 60%, week 2: 70%, week 3: 75%, week 4: 80%, week 5: 85%, week 6: 90%, repeat. A linear periodzation outline would look like this for a powerlifter:
Monday-Squat Day
Squat – RE to ME
Week 1: 4x12 @ 65%
Week 2: 4x10 @ 70%
Week 3: 3x8 @ 75%
Week 4: 3x5 @ 83%
Week 5: 3x3 @ 88%
Week 6: 3x2 @ 90%
Week 7: 2x2 @ 95%
Week 8: 1x1 @ 100%
Week 9: 1x1 @ 105% - Attempt record
Undulating
This form of periodization involves alternating variables within each microcycle or even within each individual training session. An example of this type of program would be the following: week 1 - session 1: 4 sets of 12 repetitions @ 15RM using 45sec rest intervals, week 1 – session 2: 8 sets of 3 repetitions @ 5RM using 75sec rest intervals, week 1 – session 3: 4 sets of 8 repetitions @ 10RM using 60sec rest intervals.
More for bodybuilding and not powerlifting:
Monday-Upper
Overhead Press
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Chinups
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Decline Press
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Cable Rows
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Wednesday-Lower
Squats
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Stiff Legged Deadlifts
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Lunges
Week A: 4x10 @ 12RM – 45sec RI
Week B: 5x5 @ 7RM – 75sec RI
Week C: 5x8 @ 10RM – 60sec RI
Friday-Upper
Flat bench
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
Bent Over Row
Week A: 8x3 @ 5-6RM - 75sec RI
Week B: 3x12 @ 15RM – 30sec RI
Week C: 4x6 @ 8RM – 60sec RI
The biggest thing to keep in mind whenever you are setting up your plan to success is don't overthink it. Just use the basic guidelines and go from there. Continue to confuse your body and it will grow. Pretty simple right? Then why do so many people continue to use the same programs day in and day out? That's simple, they just don't know any better. Lucky for you, you've spent the past 5 minutes reading this and have a head up on others in the gym!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Be Honest With Your Trainer
You know there’s a fine line between being honest with your trainer about challenges you are going through and just “toughing it out”. Now if I said I was tired because I’d tied one on the night before I’m thinking Jake would probably put me through an even more intense workout. But last night was one of those nights when we needed to talk prior to our session. I honestly told him I was having a mini episode: which meant I was having vision challenges, weakness, and muscle spasms. BUT I said I wanted a good workout because the best thing for me is not to baby it – but to also use wisdom. So we modified the workout somewhat – but by the end I was sweating more than I had in a long time. (I think Jake was too – but that’s because he not only had to put me through the workout – he also had to keep upright!) :) But more importantly I FELT better.
I think our tendency (or mine at least) is to give the impression we are tougher than we are (the term “hard-headed” has been used more than once to describe me). But we are not in this for the short haul – we are looking for long-term and lasting results. And that is not just the job of our trainers. Our job is to modify our diet and work out on our own apart from our sessions. Our training session job is to work hard, ask questions, and come motivated and ready to give 100%. But we also need to tell them about injuries or physical limitations we have. And telling them BEFORE we fall on them is usually a good thing.
But I can honestly say that even in the weakest times, the results are astonishing. This morning I almost fell at work – as I was going down I looked around and did a move straight out of The Matrix. A woman in the office had jumped up when she saw me going down – and said “Janet – are you ok??” I did a quick assessment to make sure I was, then said “that was kind of cool, wasn’t it?” She said she didn’t know how I stayed on my feet – we laughed and I said this stuff really does work. Because not only does it make us look and feel better, but for me – it is keeping me on my feet!!
Now put down those fries and go to the gym tonight. ;)
I think our tendency (or mine at least) is to give the impression we are tougher than we are (the term “hard-headed” has been used more than once to describe me). But we are not in this for the short haul – we are looking for long-term and lasting results. And that is not just the job of our trainers. Our job is to modify our diet and work out on our own apart from our sessions. Our training session job is to work hard, ask questions, and come motivated and ready to give 100%. But we also need to tell them about injuries or physical limitations we have. And telling them BEFORE we fall on them is usually a good thing.
But I can honestly say that even in the weakest times, the results are astonishing. This morning I almost fell at work – as I was going down I looked around and did a move straight out of The Matrix. A woman in the office had jumped up when she saw me going down – and said “Janet – are you ok??” I did a quick assessment to make sure I was, then said “that was kind of cool, wasn’t it?” She said she didn’t know how I stayed on my feet – we laughed and I said this stuff really does work. Because not only does it make us look and feel better, but for me – it is keeping me on my feet!!
Now put down those fries and go to the gym tonight. ;)
Monday, January 11, 2010
Size and Strength Part 3
This section will be over training splits. I probably get asked once a week what kind of workouts I am doing. Lets face it the majority of people who are going to the gym are doing bodypart splits. Example: Monday-Chest/Tuesday-Back/Wednesday-Legs/Thursday-Shoulders/Friday-Arms/Saturday and Sunday-Off. I would have to say the majority of people coming to the gym have a workout that looks alot like that. The problem with splits like that is your lifting 5 days a week and time away from the gym is just as valuable. Remember you don't grow in the gym, its what you do after your workouts that is the key. My goal is to inform you of other ways to split up your routine that way your body doesn't adapt and you goals don't come to a screaching hault.
*I won't be talking about aerobic work in this section.
Just a few tips along the way:
-Don't train more than 2 consecutive days without taking a day off.
-Try to keep the lifting portion of your workout to an hour or less.
-Take a week off every 3 months or so, or implement planned deloading phases.
-Do at least one freeweight movement for push movements, pull movements, and leg exercises. Do more if at all possible.
-In general, you should workout larger muscles first. As well, perform heavier compound movements first.
-Try to balance your pressing and pulling movements. Also, try to balance your quad-dominant and hamstring-dominant lower body exercises.
I am going to put the exercises in groups first off so you have a template then exercises to pick from:
Lower Push (Quad dominant)
*I won't be talking about aerobic work in this section.
Just a few tips along the way:
-Don't train more than 2 consecutive days without taking a day off.
-Try to keep the lifting portion of your workout to an hour or less.
-Take a week off every 3 months or so, or implement planned deloading phases.
-Do at least one freeweight movement for push movements, pull movements, and leg exercises. Do more if at all possible.
-In general, you should workout larger muscles first. As well, perform heavier compound movements first.
-Try to balance your pressing and pulling movements. Also, try to balance your quad-dominant and hamstring-dominant lower body exercises.
I am going to put the exercises in groups first off so you have a template then exercises to pick from:
Lower Push (Quad dominant)
- Back Squat
- Front Squat
- Lunge
- Bulgarian Squat (split squat)
- Step Ups
- Jump Squats
- Jump Lunges
- Pistols
- Leg Press
- Leg Extension (Isolation)
Lower Pull (Ham Dominant)
- Stiff Legged Deadlift
- Sumo Deadlift
- Good Mornings
- Glute Ham Raise
- Pullthroughs
6. Back Extension
7. Conventional Deadlift
8. Leg Curls
Upper Push (Vertical)
- Standing Barbell Overhead press
- Push Press
- Push Jerk
- Seated Dumbell Press
- Arnold Press
- Incline Dumbell or Barbell (Ya I consider this vertical)
- See Saw Overhead Press
- Dips
Upper Pull (Vertical)
- Pullups
- Chinups
- Pulldowns
- Reverse Grip Pulldowns
- 1-armed Pulldowns
- Close Grip Pulldowns
- Upright Rows
- Cleans
- Snatches
Upper Push (Horizontal)
- Pushups
- Barbell and Dumbell Flat Bench Press
- Flat Flies
- Cable Crossovers
- Plyo Pushups
- Decline Bench Press
- Machine Flat Press
- Smith Flat Press
9. Floor Press
Upper Pull (Horizontal)
- DB Row
- Bent Over Barbell Row
- Bent Over Laterals
- Cable Row Variant
- Hammer Strength Row
- Machine Row
- Supine Row
8. Pullover
Now I can go into the bascis of a total body workout. Normally this is 3 days a week. Something like Mon/Weds/Fri, or Tues/Thurs/Sat. I am going to put together 2 workouts and they will be used every other. For example; Workout A-Mon, Workout B-Wedensday, Workout A-Friday, Workout B-Monday, Workout A-Wedensday, Workout B-Friday, etc...
Workout A
- Lower Push
- Upper Push Horizontal
- Lower Push
- Upper Push Vertical
Workout B
- Lower Pull
- Upper Pull Horizontal
- Lower Pull
- Upper Pull Vertical
*If you need to do an specific work (Calves, Forearms, Core), just throw them in at the end of any day.
Or another Total Body Workout could be as follows:
Workout A
- Lower Push
- Upper Push Horizontal
- Lower Pull
- Upper Pull Horizontal
Workout B
- Lower Pull
- Upper Pull Vertical
- Lower Push
- Upper Push Vertical
*Again throw in any specific work at the end if needed
Next will be a 4 day a week split:
For ease of understanding we will do it per day instead of workout A and B.
Monday
- Squat
- Lunge
- Step Up
- Leg Extension
Tuesday
- Flat Bench
- CG Row
- Weighted Pushups
- DB Row
Wedensday
OFF
Thursday
- Stiff Legged Deadlift
- Hyperextension
- Glute Ham Raise
- Leg Curls
Friday
- Pullups
- Standing Overhead Press
- Reverse Grip Pulldowns
- Incline Press (DB's)
Saturday and Sunday
OFF
*If you feel like you want to do direct arm work do it after an upper day. Possibly throw a few sets in. My theory is your arms will grow doing bench and pullups, so why do a set of curls?
Those are just some examples of what typical workouts would look like based on movements and not bodyparts. If your still doing bodyparts and not training movements you have missed a ton of information written over the past 10 years (Mike Boyle Strength coach for pro teams).
There is alot more to this like what reps, sets, tempos, and rest periods. This will all be covered in the next section.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Size and Strength Part 2
From the time we were in PE at the ripe old age of 10, we have been taught stretching was good before we workout that way we don't pull a muscle. What they failed to mention stretching a cold muscle isn't the right way to go about things. Think of your muscles as a piece of taffy. If it gets cold stretching that piece of taffy could actually cause it to snap. But if we heat up that piece of taffy it stretches very easily. The same goes with out muscles. I have already told you about what your pre-workout regimine should look like, so let's discuss your post-workout regimine.
Benefits of stretching post workout:
1. Alleviates soreness.
2. Improves range of motion.
3. Improves overall Posture
4. Increased range of motion in the joints
5. Enhanced musclular coordination
6. Increased circulation of blood to different parts of the body
7. Strengthen joints (which is obviously important because of the workloads you will be putting on your body)
Personally I prefer both foam rolling and static stretching for post, but for this section I will focus primarily on static stretching. And here we go. Static passive flexibility, the ability to assume and maintain extended positions using external means (such as your own body weight, holding a position with assisting limbs, or a partner), is best developed through a combination of isometric stretching and/or relaxed stretching below the pain threshold. Since PNF is hard to explain, I am going to stick with static stretching only. Normally we hold a static stretch for a period of 25-45 seconds. Along with that you should feel mild discomfort the entire time so don't worry its natural.
As you see in our clubs we do partner assisted stretches. I enjoy this type of stretch and I am sure each and everyone of you enjoy it as well. I mean come on, who doesn't like being stretched and doing absolutely no work? The reason why this can be more beneficial than stretching yourself is the trainer will push your muscles to that level of discomfort you need to make static stretching effective. But if you are going to stretch by yourself here are some of the areas that should be primarly focused on:
1. Hamstring
2. Quad
3. Calves
4. Chest
5. Lats
6. Low Back
7. Tricep
8. Bicep
Those are your main areas. If you need any help stretching any of those areas just look up a trainer at any of the Club Fitness's you go to, they would be more than happy to help!
Benefits of stretching post workout:
1. Alleviates soreness.
2. Improves range of motion.
3. Improves overall Posture
4. Increased range of motion in the joints
5. Enhanced musclular coordination
6. Increased circulation of blood to different parts of the body
7. Strengthen joints (which is obviously important because of the workloads you will be putting on your body)
Personally I prefer both foam rolling and static stretching for post, but for this section I will focus primarily on static stretching. And here we go. Static passive flexibility, the ability to assume and maintain extended positions using external means (such as your own body weight, holding a position with assisting limbs, or a partner), is best developed through a combination of isometric stretching and/or relaxed stretching below the pain threshold. Since PNF is hard to explain, I am going to stick with static stretching only. Normally we hold a static stretch for a period of 25-45 seconds. Along with that you should feel mild discomfort the entire time so don't worry its natural.
As you see in our clubs we do partner assisted stretches. I enjoy this type of stretch and I am sure each and everyone of you enjoy it as well. I mean come on, who doesn't like being stretched and doing absolutely no work? The reason why this can be more beneficial than stretching yourself is the trainer will push your muscles to that level of discomfort you need to make static stretching effective. But if you are going to stretch by yourself here are some of the areas that should be primarly focused on:
1. Hamstring
2. Quad
3. Calves
4. Chest
5. Lats
6. Low Back
7. Tricep
8. Bicep
Those are your main areas. If you need any help stretching any of those areas just look up a trainer at any of the Club Fitness's you go to, they would be more than happy to help!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Through the Years
The new year has made me reflect on past years and their significance regarding my health.
In 1994 I had my first medically recorded episode of they then called sclerosis. I was told multiple episodes would lead to multiple sclerosis. I had lost part of the vision in my left eye, fell repeatedly, and was tired beyond tired. But at least now I knew why.
2000 – After multiple MRI's, a barrage of tests, and two spinal taps I started taking the interferon drug Avonex (weekly injections with a 2” needle into muscle). While I never got over HATING the shot, I learned to self-inject and tolerate it.
2007 – After 7 years of weekly shots, MUCH prayer, I decided (against my neurologist’s orders) to go off the injections. While other people have had great success with the drug, I was one of the people that had horrible side effects. For 7 years I got flu-like symptoms that lasted 1-2 days after injecting. Do the math. For 7 years I was sick for 1-2 days of every week. And that was just from the drug - the disease was “interesting” as well. Most of my vision was back, but during extreme fatigue or “exacerbations” (attacks) it can be challenging. The vision challenges (Optic Neuritis) kind of comes and goes – but mostly these days it is fine. Falling was something else though. At least I learned the art of falling like a lady.
2009 –After MORE prayer and a lot of investigation, in March I went to an all-natural “clean” diet. The only meat I eat are turkey and chicken breasts, and fish. All of the fruits and veggies I eat are either raw or cooked in their natural state. I will occasionally eat frozen veggies or fruit, and still like cooking with canned tomatoes, and love all-natural peanut butter - but that’s about it as far as pre-prepared foods. All grain items are whole grain. I eat no (or try not to) preservatives or additives of any kind. I took the Swank M.S. Diet, combined it with a “clean” diet, put my own spin on it and there you are. In April of 2009 I got enough nerve (after about 5 cancelled appointments) to come into the gym. A lot heavier – walking with the assistance of a cane – and even then having a lot of balance issues. But I came. And I fell in love – with working out. The cane is gone. I am so much stronger - walking is no longer something to dread, but is actually fun again!
Now it’s 2010. I received a new trainer – Jake the Great – after the old one left -but the original trainer will always hold a special place in my heart. However, what I have with Jake is a totally different level of fitness. He pushes me more and has increased the workout to new levels. There’s a new DFM Manager at my gym (hi Chad). But you know what – not all change is bad. I NEVER would have chosen new people, but they put a new spin on things. And there’s something about them not knowing me before and just watching what I can (or at least try) and do now. ALL of the trainers at the St. Charles gym have been SOOO encouraging. Of the 3 (yes, 3) trainers who were waiting for me initially, only Mike remains. And I love Mike because not only has he become a friend, but he was the first person who told me he could tell I was losing weight and becoming more toned. You have NO idea what words said in passing mean to someone. Just telling us you notice the effort or saying our face looks slimmer – whether you’re our trainer or not – can give us what we need to keep going.
So through "simple" diet and exercise I have taken my life back, as you can. It isn't always easy, but it is ALWAYS worth it.
Thanks for indulging this little trip down memory lane. But that’s what all this is – a memory. I believe in learning the lesson from the past while always moving towards the future. And the future is pretty darn bright. So if you see (or probably hear) me in the gym laughing, maybe you'll know why. And laugh WITH me. Then let's get our sweat on!
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