Workout Log 9-16-12: Delts/Tris

Deltoids & Triceps Day

My Workout: 

Workout Notes: 

This workout was really good. I increased weight or reps on every lift except for seated triceps press and side lateral raise. That means I'm still seeing good strength gains from this workout, which should indicate muscle growth as well given that my weight loss has been very gradual.

A couple of things that this workout has brought to attention is the fact that on certain lifts I can't perpetually increase weight. The only one where that will be a significant challenge in this particular workout is the triceps pushdown, which I maxed out for 10 reps. I may only be able to do 10 reps to exhaustion next week, but a week or two after and I'll be adding reps instead of weight. So I need to figure something out here. Maybe find a comparable exercise or find a way to add difficulty. I'll let you know what I decide to do. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Also, I have come a bit off schedule because of things in life. I'll gradually get back on schedule by nixing a rest day here or there, but it'll be at least a week before workout days correspond to the right day of week. I'm not going to cut out a workout to get back on schedule. So today is leg day and tomorrow I'll do chest/biceps.

I also haven't been keeping track of my diet lately, which is silly. No program is complete without accurate diet recording. I've not been eating too much calorie-wise, but some of my food choices haven't been "clean," so I'm going to get back into recording diet. This is both scientifically significant and helpful for accountability. 

I also have been doing research about what my next program will be after this one. I am pretty excited to try it out, but all I'm going to say about it now is that I'm glad I started with this program!

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.

Workout Log 9-12-12: Chest & Biceps

Chest & Biceps Day

My Workout

Workout Notes

You can see what the ideal workout is for this day here. It is Dorian Yates' Blood & Guts trainer, just like before. There are two exercises I messed up here a bit by not lifting heavy enough. The first was Incline Dumbbell Press. I was able to get nine reps and was supposed to hit exhaustion between 6-8 reps. Next time I'll have to raise weight again!

I also went too light on Dumbbell Flies, which was also supposed to be between 6-8 reps. I'll increase weight next time on those as well.

It's been striking how much stronger I feel from one week to the next since starting this program. This was only my 3rd Chest and Biceps day and the weight I'm lifting has gone up a lot. Granted, on Decline Bench Press, I was overdoing it for my warmup sets last week, but my working set weight has gone up consistently.

The two workouts I'm most impressed with, though, are Incline Dumbbell Press and Dumbbell Flies. I've gone up very quickly on the Incline Press. Last week I was doing 10lbs less and performed 2 fewer reps as well. It could be, in part, that I made my warmup sets truer warmups, but the improvement is still encouraging.

On Flies, however, I have no such excuse. I didn't change anything but my working set and still exceeded my own expectations pretty wildly with a 10lb increase and the same number of reps.

Excited to see what I can do next week!

Working Out While Sick

Is It Okay To Exercise While Sick? 

This is a very common question. In the past month, I've had three different friends ask me if it's okay to work out while they're sick; and if so, what they should do. Unfortunately, it's not a simple answer, so I always respond with a question of my own before answering...

What are your symptoms?

Your symptoms are the most important factor in whether or not you should work out.  There are certain symptoms you should avoid working out with and some that don't present significant risks. The rule of thumb is that it's okay to work out if your symptoms are all "above the neck"... provided you follow a few rules.

Rule 1: Never Exercise With A Fever

Working out with a fever can be dangerous for a couple of reasons. First, it dramatically increases your risk of dehydration, which can cause injuries or even heat stroke. Aside from the effects of dehydration, you also increase your risk for heart failure. It's not a question of how tough you are here, just don't work out with a fever.

Rule 2: Don't Work Out When Your Symptoms Are Below The Neck

Congestion, hacking cough, upset stomach, and body aches are all reasons to stay out of the gym. Exercising with "major symptoms" can prolong your illness or make it much worse.

Rule 3: Listen To Your Body

Obviously listen to your body and don't ever work out if your symptoms are severe, even if they're above the neck, because working out temporarily suppresses your immune system by forcing your body to use resources to rebuild muscle and connective tissue when it should be used to fight off your sickness. However, if your symptoms are light and isolated above the neck, it is generally okay to work out.

Practicing What I Preach

Last Friday I came down with a fever and severe sore throat. By midday Saturday, I also had nasal congestion, body aches, and chills. During that time, it would have been unwise for me to work out because of the fever and body aches, so I got extra rest and took care of my body.

On Sunday, my fever and whole-body symptoms subsided, but I started developing a cough, which kept me out of the gym again. As it turns out, my decision to avoid going to the gym on Sunday was a good one, because Monday my fever, body aches and chills all returned worse than before. I didn't even go to work that day (very rare for me) because I was so ill. I slept and stayed hydrated.

Tuesday morning I felt well enough to go back to work, but still had a fever and severely swollen throat for the first half of the day. Around midday, I began feeling better but didn't want to risk the improvement by going to the gym.

On Wednesday morning I felt much better than on Tuesday and most of my symptoms had subsided by the time I got off work, so I went to the gym. YAY!

Workouts From First Week Of October

Chest and Biceps Day: Tuesday Oct. 4th

The Workout

 

Back Day: Wednesday Oct. 5th

The Workout

 

Deltoids and Triceps Day: Thursday Oct. 6th

The Workout

 

Leg Day: Friday Oct. 7th

Enter The Sickness

I was supposed to do legs today, but got really sick. I didn't go to the doctor, so I'm not sure what exactly I had, but my symptoms indicated that I shouldn't work out until I was healthy, which was Wednesday the 12th. It was brutal taking so much time off, but it's better than dragging out an illness or risking my health.

Not sure when it's okay to workout sick? Check out my next post and I'll break it down for you. 

Workout Log 8-30-12: Leg Day!

My Leg Workout

Leg workouts have always been my favorites because they're what I'm best at. I've always had large, disproportionately-strong legs. So this workout was really fun for me because it was a heavy leg lifting day and I moved a lot of weight around.

As before, this workout comes from the Dorian Yates Blood & Guts 6-week trainer. You can find the leg workout here.

My workout is below. To save time moving forward, I've started using FreeWorkoutLog.com to keep track of my lifts. It's pretty cool because you can track things like weight, body measurements, and improvements on individual exercises. From time to time, I'll post updates charting my improvement. Most likely after each program is completed.

Workout Details

Workout Notes: 

I was a little surprised by my performance today. Since this was my first leg workout in the program, I underestimated on several of my lifts and wound up needing to perform extra reps to hit exhaustion on my working sets (last set of each exercise). Next time, I need to increase weight on every single lift to perform the workout properly. It did feel good though lifting as much as I did. I should probably be Hack Squatting about 450 and Leg Pressing well over 1000 to get into the 10-12 reps range at exhaustion. Hopefully I'll do a bit better next time of figuring out my weights.

The ideal workout plan is below for quick comparison, but you can also check out the program at the link above.

 

Sorry For The Absence

My computer died a couple weeks ago, making it difficult to keep up. I was able to get a new laptop last Friday, then got really sick, which threw off my productivity and ability to workout. Today I'll post my workouts for the past couple weeks and explain why it's not wise to workout when you're sick.