Workout Log 9-13-12: Back

Back Day

My Workout

Workout Notes: 

Today I did yoga and weight lifting. The lifting session was Dorian Yates' Blood & Guts Back workout. I started with yoga and it was my first time getting back to yoga after a couple years.

Yoga

Yoga was tough, as expected. I've already mentioned how inflexible I am, which is a big part of why I want to get into it. Muscularly, there were a few parts that were difficult, like the plank poses and some of the warrior poses, but I didn't feel exhausted by any means. I probably would have been better off with the plank poses if I hadn't done chest the day before...I was pretty sore beforehand and got really shaky at points, but nothing that was going to make me sore.

There were also times when my muscle kept me from getting into a pose. For example, one required stacking your knees on top of one another. I never got a stretch from that because my calves wouldn't let me get them close to each other. Although generally I was able to get really good stretches.

One unexpected thing I noticed was pretty severe soreness in my feet from all the balancing and standing barefoot. My right foot, in particular, had trouble. I'm not sure if this is something I should be concerned about or welcome. With all the scar tissue in my feet, it could just be me working some of that out. On the other hand, it could simply be the injury. Can't be sure until I do it for awhile. If it gradually starts to get better or worse, I'll have my answer. In the meantime, I'll keep taking anti-inflammatories, icing, stretching, and massaging it.

Lifting

Lifting wasn't too bad today. I improved on all my working sets that count. It's hard to know on the wide-grip row and pull-downs because I had to use machines either because the equipment wasn't in the gym (pull-downs) or their were douchebags sitting on the machines for 10+ minutes (rows). So I improvised and still went to exhaustion, which is the real point here. I'll keep the weight the same next week and see if I really earned these improvements or if it was just the result of using machines.

For the lat pullovers, I wanted to hit it a little harder, so that's why I did the rest-pause set after I finished the straight-set to exhaustion. If you're not familiar with rest-pause sets, you've been missing out. They are an advanced technique if you're already in pretty good shape, so I don't recommend them for beginners. Get a good 3-6 months of lifting under your belt before you start these.

Rest-Pause Sets Definition

In a rest-pause set, you lift to failure, then rack the weight, as usual. But instead of taking 1 minute to rest, take 15 seconds of rest before performing another set with the same weight to exhaustion again. You can usually get another 1-3 reps out of it, thereby increasing your overall muscle damage to maximize growth and strength. Try it sometime, just make sure you have a spotter or are using a machine that enables you to perform the exercise safely.