Yet Another Set/Rep System

Training Logs
21

BW: 180.6

FS: 45X5; 115X5; 135X5; 185X 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, 4, 6, 8.
DBMP: 55#/ X 2, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Pull-up (Neutral Grip) BW 40 X 2, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Neck Press: 75 X 20.

Okay, salt and supraspinatus are the themes of the day. I’m dialing in my salt requirements and think the loss of 0.6 pounds in the last two days is evidence to that effect. So … I’m now in the habit of putting a little salt in my water along with a post workout electrolyte drink; either powerade or gatorade. I’ll continue to track the body composition visually and adjust as necessary.

Supraspinatus. I’m thinking I may have over done the Waterbury suggested exercises for improving pull-ups. I woke up in the middle of Tuesday night with shoulder pain. This was sudden on-set. I’ve run through some other possibilities including a pinched nerve from sleeping on my side or stomach, but this really smacks of doing too much too quickly with too much weight. There was, however, no indicators of over use while doing the exercises. Anyway, I’m stretching and doing point work to destress the area and muscle. Things are getting better, and I did fewer military presses today than last time. I’m hoping continued stretching and point work coupled with five days off, I’m going to D.C. for a friends promotion, I’ll be painfree and back to previous strength levels next week.

22

Okay, my last and rather long post did not make it. So … the short version. I’ve been busy with my house and injuries. These have kept me out of the gym. However, I am embracing fully the concept of complexes for fat loss. They are awesome. And I rarely use the word awesome as I’ve found awesome usually means whatever it describes actually sucks. My current interest is combining heavy lifting and complexes. Not at the same time but something like waking up and doing a fasted complex and then at lunch going and lifting heavy. We’ll see how it goes.

Yesterday’s workout:
DL: 135X5; 225X5; 275X5; 300 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
BOR: 60# X 21 / 21.

Today’s Workout:
This complex: DB Swing 50# followed by Squat Thrust with a push up followed by five (until the end) pull-ups for the following reps:
15/5, 14/5, 13/5, 12/5, 11/5, 10/5, 9/5, 8/5, 7/5, 6/5, 5/5, 4/5, 3/4, 2/4, 1/2.
This yields a total of 120 DBS, 120 squat thruts, 120 pushups and 70 pull-ups.

Hopefully I’ll be more consistent with this blog now that crazy house stuff is about done and the injuries are almost fully healed.

23

This morning’s fasted complex:
DBS 50#, Squat Thrust with Push-up, Ab-Wheel roll out plus 5 wide-grip pull-ups per set:
15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Totals: 120 DBS, STwPU, AWRO; 75 wide-grip pull-ups.

This afternoon:
180# 2# bump from lack of salt or Wednesday dead lifts?
FS: 45# X 3; 115 X 2. I had to stop because of left wrist pain. I think I know what stretch to do to clear this one up. I just have to do it for ten or fifteen minutes.

Back Squat: 45X5; 115X5; 135X5; 185X3; 205X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Inclined Bench Press: 45X5; 95X5; 115X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
BOR: 60# X 22 / 22.

Alright. Back on track.

24

Saturday’s Complex:
DBS 50#, Squat Thrust with Push-up, Ab Wheel and pull-ups:
16/6, 15/6, 14/6, 13/6, 12/6, 11/6, 10/6, 9/6, 8/6, 7/6, 6/6, 5/6, 4/6, 3/ 5 1, 2/5 1, 1/ 4 1 1.

Today’s Complex:
DBS 50#, STwPU, AW and pull-ups:
15/6, 15/6, 15/6, 15/6, 15/6, 15/6, 15/6, 15/6, 15/6, 11/6, 9/6.

25

Morning Complex:
DBS 50#, STwPU, AWRO, PU:
10/6, 9/6, 8/6, 7/6, 6/6, 5/6, 4/6, 3/6, 2/6, 1/6.

Noon workout:
DL: 135X5; 225X5; 275X5; 310X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Push up then jump to pull-up bar: 7.

Wide Grip Inclined Bench Press (rehabbing right shoulder):
115 X 3, 120 X 3, 125 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.

Superset with
Wide Grip Pull-Up: BW X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.

I’m still blown away with my energy level from the complexes. And the fat is more rapidly melting away. I’ve tweaked my diet a bit and am eliminating more carbs. You know, I’ve been chasing this leanness/ripped thing for a while now. Part of what made it such a gradual process was promising myself I would enjoy the process. Too many reports on most of the diets went something like, “The results were great but I was miserable the whole time.” So I had to find my own way. While I’ve been gradually losing fat prior to the complexes, now it’s like the end is in sight. It’s funny, this is very similar to what I’ve seen at the end of Iron Man competitions. I’ve seen people who I knew walked the last couple miles get to within sight of the finish line. Somewhere inside, they find the energy and will to sprint that last quarter mile. I feel like I’m there with this diet / fat loss / leanness stuff. I can see the finish line and it’s time to pull out the stops to finally get there.

26

Tuesday:
Morning Complex: DBS 50#, STw2PU, AWR and 7 Pull-ups:
15/7, 14/7, 13/7, 12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7.
I went as far as I could in thirty minutes.

Note: I was toast yesterday. I think a combination of the complexes, less than stellar sleep and working on the house all combined for a lot of fatigue.

Today:
I skipped the morning complex for recovery.

Noon at the gym:
Back Squat: 45 X 5; 135 X 5; 185 X 3; 205 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Dumb bell military press: 40#/ X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Stiff Legged Dead Lift (SLDL) 80# X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 3, 3.
BOR: 60# X 15 / 15.

Notes of the day: The first one is relatively pedestrian. I’m back to military presses, but I’ve dropped the weight and changed the rep scheme. The shoulder felt good. However, the left wrist is still not allowing me to front squat. I think I’ve got to drop the hammer in terms of facial release in hopes of relaxing the interosseous membrane between the ulna and radius. I think that’s where the problem lies.

The second note is a bit more esoteric. The pelvic floor is a complex area. Basically, I’m putting a lot of awareness towards relaxing my pelvic floor. It’s going well, and I found that, for me, there is a relationship between the pelvic floor and lower abdominal cavity. It’s basically a push-pull relationship. With the pelvic floor tight, the lower abdominal cavity soft tissue is soft. With the pelvic floor relaxed, it’s much easier to activate the lower abdominal cavity soft tissue. This tissue includes the rectus abdominus, the obliques, and, very importantly, the transversus abdominus.

The transverus is important because it supplies lot of support to the lower lumbars via its horizontal fibers and attachment to the lumbar fascia. The result of the relaxed pelvic floor was an ability to more thoroughly activate the transversus abdominus which led to easier time with the back squat.

Now I know I’m not using a bunch of weight in the back squat right now, but the relative effort was much easier with the pelvic floor relaxed. Alright, enough bio-mechanical mumbo jumbo. I’m done.

27

Today’s Complex: Pretty much the usual suspect
DBS w 50#, STw2PU, AWRO, 7 Pull-ups:
15/7, 14/7, 13/7, 12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 3 DBS in 30 Minutes

I suppose the only thing to report since yesterday is getting more consistent with the whole pelvic floor relaxation thing. I’ve had the capacity to 1) be aware of my pelvic floor for a while (probably since Rolfing training) and 2) relax it. The issue is consistency. If there is a continuum for tightness and relaxation of the pelvic floor from maximum pucker to defecation/urination, I’ve tended towards maximum pucker. Now that I’ve shifted to more relaxation, there is a definite difference in the whole pelvic bowl. I know, more anatomy and bio-mechanics stuff. Sue me. I’m an anatomy geek in addition to all my other geek tendencies.

I haven’t refreshed my memory of the anatomical details yet, so I can only loosely speculate on what’s happening in this random sample of one. To start, the whole pelvic bowl is quite complex. This is even more true with women, but I would be digressing to go there. There are myriad nerves and blood vessels which innervate and travel through this region. The facial network is impressive in it’s complexity. The long and the short of it is I think the extra muscular tension I was activating transmitted through the fascia and subtly inhibited the nerves and blood vessels. I think it’s important to remember that it only takes the pressure of a dime on a nerve to cause issues. As this muscular tension continues to be smaller, I think the nerves and blood vessels are allowing more signals or blood to travel through the region. This would account for the increase in sensation and warmth of the whole pelvic bowl. While this might be too much information, it’s what I’m feeling. Also, I tend to believe any increase or ease in fluid transport (whether nerve signals or blood flow) in the body is a very good thing. I’ll also use this chain of logic as to why this applies to tnation and could be an interesting piece.

Assuming more pelvic floor relaxation equals more blood flow in the pelvic floor. This would include the testicles. Better blood flow in the testicles means better functioning of the testicles. Better functioning of the testicles means all kinds of positive things: better response to weight training, more testosterone production, better transport of the testosterone to the rest of the body which all ultimately means more muscle. At least that’s the theory. If I can maintain this awareness, it’s going to be interesting to see if there is a physique shift over the next few weeks or months.

28

BW: 176 Follow the bouncing bodyweight. 178 /- 2.

Today I just worked on determining my working weight in a few lifts.

My left hand is messed up a bit from dead lifting (flap of skin from a popped blood blister I didn’t want to tear off) on Monday, so I’ll stick with the weight there.
I can’t front squat from the left wrist thing. I have got to clear that up and am now leaning towards tensions in the ligaments of the carpal tunnel. I do know this, when I do find the primary lesion it’ll be like magic as this issue almost immediately disappears.

Back Squat: 45, 135, 185, 205, 215, 225. 225 seemed to be the winner. I’ll know better next Wednesday.

Single Leg Stiff Leg Dead Lift: 45, 95, 115, 125. 125 seemed to be the sweet spot. I’ll start there.
I did some wide grip pull-ups to superset the SLSLDLs (lol): 7, 7, 7.

Inclined Bench Press 135 seemed to be good for 3, 3, 3, 3.
Dumbbell Military Press: 45#/ seemed about right. This is down 10# from my previous working weight, but it was all my right shoulder and left wrist could take at the moment.

I have not been this dinged up in quite a while. Oh well, I’m on the mend.

29

Saturday:
Nothing workout-wise.
House stuff: cut concrete and dug a spread footer.
About three hours of dancing.

Sunday:
Complex: DBS 50#, STw2PU, AWR / WG Pull-Up:
15/7, 14/7, 13/7, 12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7/7, 6/7, 5/7, 4/7, 3/5, 2/4, 1/4.
House stuff: Mixed up 8 80# bags of 5000 PSI concrete. Sort of a workout, let me tell you.
And Clay Matthews sacks Cam Newton. My work is done here.

30

BW: 177.
DL: 135X5, 225X5; 275X3; 320X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
IBP: 135X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3. Super set with:
WGPU: BWX 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4.

I’m acclimating to the new pelvic floor configuration. I’m feeling very strong with the dead lift and looking forward to continuing to play with triples. I really have to get better about getting to bed at my target time instead of an hour or two later.

31

Yesterday:
I woke up too late and too tired to do any complexes. After the three or four week rush of doing about a complex a day, lack of sleep for other reasons has caught up with me. However, the fat loss continues although at a slower pace. I should get a complex in tomorrow and Friday but will be off this weekend because I’ll be visiting relatives.

Today:
Back Squat: 45 X 5; 135 X 5; 185 X 4; 225 X3; 210 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Dumb bell Military Press: 45#/X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
BOR: 60X X 25/25.
Single Leg Stiff Legged Dead Lift: 125 X 5, 3, 3, 3.

Okay, breaking into the back squat. I’m going nearly butt to heels and focusing on staying vertical in the torso; thus the tiny amount of weight. I’ll bump it five pounds a week as long as I’m maintaining good form. It feels like the right shoulder thing is about cleared up. This is a good thing.

32

Complex: The Usual Suspect
15/7, 14/7, 13/7, 12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8 DBS and TSw2PU. Not terribly motivated today. 32 Min.

33

I’m did a complex today as I won’t be getting to the gym. I’m off to visit family this weekend.
The usual suspect. I should change this soon, but it is working. Oh, yeah, I should also note that I’m using a fleece abdominal wrap of my own construction to keep the area warm while doing the complex. If the goal is to burn fat and it helps to keep the target fat warm, this makes a lot of sense to me.

DBSw50#, STw2PU, ABR / WGPU:
15/7, 14/7, 13/7, 12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7/7, 6/7, 5/5, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1.

The interesting thing is the refractory period of the pull-ups. I really don’t think it’s the reps that limit me but the time in between the sets of pull-ups. It really becomes a grind at about 7/7. There’s probably also a factor in working the antagonists to the pull-up muscles with the other movements. Oh well, for another day or person. Just an interesting, at least to me, observation.

34

BW: 178. I’ve been a little remiss in my use of salt lately. I expect as I increase my salt intake my weight will go down.

Workout:
DL: 45X5; 135X5; 225X5; 285X3; 330X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3. This seemed a lot more difficult than 320 last week. Maybe it was the ten days between dead lifting. Maybe it was figuring out what to use for my grip on the knurling (long story). Maybe I’m recovering from a minor cold. Whatever the reason, today was more challenging than anticipated in the dead lift.

Superset:
WGIPB: 140X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
WGPU: BW X 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4.

And that’s all she wrote.

35

This isn’t really a training entry. It’s more of a somatic, isn’t this interesting entry.

So, if you’ve been following along, I tend to talk about some things from an interesting somatic perspective. The last relatively obscure topic I noted was the pelvic floor. This posting is along those lines. So while I haven’t worked out today and may not, I think this has impact in those realms.

Basically, I was at low energy about an hour and fifteen minutes after waking up. This is not an unusual occurrence for me. I struggle with my sleep and having decent energy throughout the day. I had had it with the variations and low energy and finally committed to maintaining a detailed daily log of nutrition, exercise, sleep, meditation and just about everything else.

After I finished my first entry, I started doing some PC exercises: contract three second, relax three seconds. After around five minutes of this, my energy returned and my thinking cleared. “Ah”, I said to myself. “This is important.” I thought it was either the commitment to the log or the exercises that was doing it. I decided to continue with the PC exercise, and so far the results have been encouraging.

My energy and thinking are both solid. I’m curious about the internal massage action given by the PC muscles to the prostate. Could that be responsible for some of what I’m experiencing? While I am a random sample of one with less than a day into this particular experiment, this might be a very important piece for me.

Enough.

36

BW: 179. Interesting.

Back Squat: 45 X 5; 135 X 5; 185 X 4; 215 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Superset with
DBMP: 50#/X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.

BOR: 55# X 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, 3/3, 2/2, 10/10, 5/5, 3/3, 2/2.

37

Complex: DBS50#, STw2PU, AWR / WGPU: 15/7, 14/7, 13/7, 12/7, 11/7, 10/7, 9/7, 8/7, 7/7, 6/7, 5/7, 4/7, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1.

38

Yesterday: House stuff. Ten hours worth of house stuff.

Today:
BW: 180. I wasn’t very good about my salt this weekend or, perhaps, I just gained some weight.
DL: 45X5; 135X5; 225X5; 295X4; 335X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3. My gym doesn’t allow chalk. I’m amazed at the difference knurling and glove or paper (I use this for the bars with very little knurling) makes in this lift.

WGIBP: 145 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, ,2.
Super set with:
WG Pull-up: BW X 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 4.

Overall, I’m happy with this workout given the stuff I did yesterday. It wasn’t a lot of heavy lifting, but it was pretty constant activity for quite a while. I’m also very glad the end of the structural tunnel is in site. I’m ready for other house activities.

39

Ladies and gentlemen, we may have an answer to the question “How do I train my delts?”. I just found sets of three to be pretty effective. See below.

BW: 181. Still climbing despite being good with my salt. Perhaps the dead lifts from Monday.
Back Squat: 45X5, 135X5, 185X4, 220 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
Super set with:
Dumb Bell Military Press: 55#/ X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
BOR: 65# X 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, 3/3, 2/2, 10/10, 5/5, 3/3, 2/2.

I’m encouraged by the DBMP and looking forward to seeing what happens with 60s. The last time I tried 60#, I got stapled. The first set was good for three. The second was good for one. And that was a struggle. It’s always interesting getting to the edge of the envelope.

40

BW: 181
Complex → DBSw55#, STw2PU and a Jump / WGPU:
15/9, 14/8, 13/7, 12/6, 11/5, 10/4, 9/3, 8/2, 7/1, 6/6, 5/5, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1.

I don’t know what it is about complexes, but when I’m in the mood for them, they are awesome. I went to the gym today excited about doing a complex. I’ve haven’t done one since Saturday and was feeling very good. The complex did not disappoint. Plus after reading the Rachel Cosgrove article on the merits of interval training, I had some extra motivation.