WOW 12/26/2010 #35

Shoulder Press 16 168sec
Lat Pull Down 14 180sec
Leg Press 20 162sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds held.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight. "TUL" = Time Under Load.  I hold until failure or 3 minutes.  If I reach 3 minutes I stop and increase the weight next cycle.

Shoulder Press: second attempt at this weight and failed 12 sec short of 3 minutes, TUL up 29 seconds.  Lat Pull Down: first attempt at this weight and reached 3 minutes.  Note that due to injury I could not do chest press last week so perhaps I benefited from a little extra recovery here.  Leg Press: fourth attempt at this weight.  TUL up 12 seconds to 162 so starting to close in on 3 minutes but man this one is really tough.

Once again weight or TUL up for all three exercises.

I started this static hold routine at the end of March and started using the 3 minute target from mid-August.  I have made continuous progress though the rate of progress has slowed.  The leg press is instructive.  To reach 3 minutes it took me two attempts at 17, two attempts at 18, 5 attempts at 19 and today was my fourth attempt at 20.  During this period my TUL at a given weight only went down once (on my third attempt at 19) so I would call that steady progress.  I should note that I do leg presses every week while I alternate the upper body exercises from week to week.

Happy New Year to all.  Looking forward to what 2011 will bring....

WOW 12/19/2010 #34

Chest NA
Row 14 180sec
Leg 20 150sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.  I target a three minute hold or failure, whichever comes first.  If I reach 3 minutes I stop the exercise and raise the weight next cycle.

Up on weight or TUL for the two exercises attempted.  Chest press: injured my shoulder/upper chest in Aikido on Friday and could not perform a chest press.  Hope it is just a strain and not a tear.  Row: 3rd attempt at this weight and reached the 3 minute mark.  Leg Press:  3rd attempt at this weight (maximum for the machine).  TUL improved by 55 seconds but still 30 seconds to go to hit 3 minutes.

WOW 12/12/2010 #33

Shoulder Press 16 139sec
Lat Pull Down 13 180sec
Leg Press 20 95sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds held.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight. "TUL" = Time Under Load.  I hold until failure or 3 minutes.  If I reach 3 minutes I increase the weight next cycle.

Shoulder Press: first attempt at this weight and failed well short of 3 minutes.  Lat Pull Down: fourth attempt at this weight and reached 3 minutes but just barely.  Leg Press: second attempt at this weight.  TUL up but just by 5 seconds so still a long way to go.

Once again weight or TUL up for all three exercises.  Subjectively I did not feel as fully recovered as I would have liked going into this workout but can't really complain about the results.

WOW 12/5/2010 #32

Chest 16 165sec
Row 14 158sec
Leg 20 90sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.  I target a three minute hold or failure, whichever comes first.  If I reach 3 minutes I stop the exercise and raise the weight next cycle.

Up on weight or TUL for all exercises.  Chest press: 1st attempt at this weight, almost made 3 minutes.  Row: 2nd attempt at this weight.  Improved TUL by 8 seconds.  Leg Press:  1st attempt at this weight (maximum for the machine).  TUL only 90 seconds.  Maybe it will take a while to get 3 minutes at this weight.

WOW 11/28/2010 #31

Shoulder Press 15 180sec
Lat Pull Down 13 150sec
Leg Press 19 180sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds held.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight. "TUL" = Time Under Load.  I hold until failure or 3 minutes.  If I reach 3 minutes I increase the weight next cycle.

Shoulder Press: first attempt at this weight and made it to 3 minutes continuing a good run with the upper body pushing exercises.  Will increase weight next time.  Lat Pull Down: third attempt at this weight and TUL was up from the last attempt but still failed well short of 3 minutes.  Leg Press: fifth attempt at this weight and made 3 minutes.  Next attempt will be at 20 which is max for the machine.  Once I hit 3 minutes at 20 will have to think of something else.

I took last week off so had not worked out for two weeks.  Shoulder press was good with a three minute hold on the first attempt at a new weight.  Time was improved for the lat pull and I finally hit 3 minutes for this weight for the leg press.  For the lat pull the sun was shining through a window directly into my eyes which did not help my concentration any.  Also, my sense is that working harder on the pushing exercises is having a negative impact on the pulling exercises which I always do second.  All in all a good workout with weight and/or TUL up for all three exercises.  I think it is good to take an extra week off every now and then.... 

WOW 11/14/2010 #30

Chest 15 180sec
Row 14 150sec
Leg 19 170sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.  I target a three minute hold or failure, whichever comes first.  If I reach 3 minutes I stop the exercise and raise the weight next cycle.

Chest press: 1st attempt at this weight and I reached 3 minutes relatively easily.  I have been making good progress on the upper body pushing exercises recently.  Will move on to 15 plates next cycle.

Row: 1st attempt at this weight and failed well short of 3 minutes.

Leg Press:  fourth attempt at this weight.  TUL up 30 sec over the disappointing effort last week.  This was the best TUL so far at this weight but I couldn't quite hold on for the last 10 secounds.  Maybe get there next week.

Last week I felt pretty good going in to the workout and kind of hit the wall.  This week if anything I felt a little lower energy than last week but had a good workout overall.  Up on weight or TUL for all exercises.  Just goes to show that pre-workout intuition is not so reliable.  Guess the message is: do your best and let the numbers speak for themselves.

WOW 11/7/2010 #29

Shoulder Press 14 180sec
Lat Pull Down 13 124sec
Leg Press 19 140sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds held.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight. "TUL" = Time Under Load

Shoulder Press: first attempt at this weight and made it to 3 minutes with some gas still in the tank.  Will increase weight next time.  Lat Pull Down: second attempt at this weight and TUL was down from the last attempt.  Leg Press: third attempt at this weight and TUL down from last attempt.

Kind of hit the wall this week.  Shoulder press was good with a three minute hold on the first attempt at a new weight but time was well down for both the lat pull and leg press compared with the last attempts at the same weights.  This is the first time I have lost ground on two exercises at the same time.  For the lat pull in particular it felt obvious from the start of the exercise that this was not going to be one of my better efforts.  Maybe time to take an extra week off.  Will see how I feel next Sunday.

WOW 10/31/2010 #28

Chest 14 180sec
Row 13 180sec
Leg 19 164sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.

Chest press: 3rd week at this weight and I reached 3 minutes with still something left in the tank.  I made sure the seat was correctly positioned this time and perhaps that helped.  Will add a plate the next cycle.

Row: first attempt at this weight and made three minutes but just barely.  Still, I will increase the weight again next cycle.

Leg Press:  second attempt at this weight.  TUL up 44 sec over last week.  I thought I might make 3 minutes but couldn't quite hold on.  Try again next week.

I didn't sleep all that well this week though I slept in this morning.  I was a bit concerned that this might be the week I hit the wall but as it turned out it was a good workout.  Up in TUL or weight in all three exercises.

WOW 10/24/2010 #27

Shoulder Press 13 180sec
Lat Pull Down 13 143sec
Leg Press 19 120sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds held.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.

Shoulder Press: third attempt at this weight and made it to 3 minutes with some gas still in the tank.  Will increase weight next time.  Lat Pull Down: first attempt at this weight and failed well short of three minutes.  Will be interesting to see how long it takes to get to 3 minutes at this weight.  Leg Press: first attempt at this weight and failed well short of 3 minutes, will give the same weight another go next week.

Flew to Japan last Sunday and got back Wednesday so my sleep pattern was a mess this week.  Hard to say whether this had much effect on my workout today.  I felt OK but perhaps did not have as much mental reserve as in recent weeks.  Still a satisfactory workout.  Up in weight or time on all three exercises.

WOW 10/17/2010 #26

Chest 14 155sec
Row 12 180sec
Leg 18 180sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.

I have to fly to Tokyo this morning so I got up early and did workout #26 before breakfast.  I am not a morning person so this was something of an unnatural act for me.  Couldn't tell that it made any difference to my workout though.

Chest press: same weight as last time but down 4 seconds.  After I finished I noticed the seat height was up two notches from where I usually position it.  Don't know if this made any real difference.  I failed on the right side for some reason.

Row: same weight but made it to 3 minutes (up 28 seconds) so I will increase the weight again when I do this set the next time.

Leg Press:  Weight the same as last week and was able to hold for the full 3 minutes (up 21 seconds).  Will add a plate next week.

Overall a good workout but I have to say I am increasingly skeptical whether very many people could be persuaded to put up with the discomfort of holding to real failure on a regular basis, especially on a leg press.  Once I was within 20 seconds of the three minute target for the leg press there was no way I was going to quit but it required an intense emotional as well as physical effort to finish those last few seconds.

Effort is what matters

In my last WOW post I referenced a study summarized on Clarence Bass' site that found that training with ligher weights to failure might be more effective to build muscle than training with heavier weights to failure.  I think there is more evidence that training to failure is the critical factor whether with relatively lighter or heavier weights.  Here is a link to another post from C. Bass on this point:

http://cbass.com/Effortbasedtraining.htm

In my own training I have recently moved from a 2 minute target to a 3 minute target which means that I work with relatively lighter weights than before.  My intuition about this is that I fatigue and therefore stimulate my muscles more profoundly if I fail at a ligher rather than a heavier weight.  I personally feel much more fatigues after a workout using the 3 minute targets.

You can take this too far of course.  I think moving the target out to say 5 minutes would risk getting into the range where the first fibers to fire and exhaust would recover and reengage in sufficient numbers so that the harder to trigger fibers would never kick in.

WOW 10/10/2010 #25

Shoulder Press 13 173sec
Lat Pull Down 12 180sec
Leg Press 18 159sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds held.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.

Shoulder Press same weight up 8 seconds.  7 seconds short of 3 minute target so will keep weight the same next time and see if I can get to 3 minutes.  Lat Pull Down up 1 plate and still made it to 3 minutes.  This is the second week in a row that I have added a plate and still made it to 3 minutes.  Will increase weight next time and would expect to fail before I get to 3 minutes.  Leg Press up 1 plate and failed 21 seconds short of 3 minutes.  This one is really draining.  Can't imagine doing another exercise right after leg press.  Will keep the weight the same next week and try to get closer to 3 minutes.

All in all a satisfactory workout.  Up in weight or time or both on all three exercises.

This month Clarence Bass reports on an interesting study that compares results of lifting relatively heavier or lighter weights to failure.  You can see it here:  http://cbass.com/LightWeights.htm

Always interesting stuff on Mr. Bass' site and of course I always recommend the Body by Science site.  The discussion there is more or less continuous and always informative.

WOW 10/3/2010 #24

Chest 14 159sec
Row 12 152sec
Leg 17 180sec

First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.

I took a week off.  Last Sunday I was feeling low energy and still a little tight and achy so I decided to give it another week.

Chest press: added 2 plates this week and hit failure at 159 seconds.  Will keep weight the same next week and go for longer time.  .

Row: added a plate this week and hit failure at 152 seconds.  Will keep weight the same next week and go for a longer time.

Leg:  Weight the same as last workout and was able to hold for the full 3 minutes (up 30 seconds).  Will add a plate next week.

Overall a good workout.  The extra week of rest helped.  On the 10th day of rest I woke up feeling really great.  I am thinking I will insert an extra week of rest after every 3 or 4 workouts.

Observed changes:  Clothes fitting still looser though my weight has plateaued the last few weeks.  Seems %BF has moved down a bit.  Can see more definition in the veins in my arms....

WOW 2010 09 19 #23

Shoulder Press 13 165sec
Lat Pull Down 11 180sec
Leg Press 17 150sec

Static holds.  First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds held.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.

Shoulder press up 2 plates and didn't quite make it to 3 minutes.  Will keep weight the sames next time and see if I can increase the time.
Lat Pull Down up 1 plate, made it to 3 minutes.  Will increase weight next time.
Leg Press up 1 plate and failed well short of 3 minutes.  This one gets really tough.  Will keep the weight the same and try to get closer to 3 minutes next time.

I guess I have now reached a point where I am well calibrated on weights for the 3 minute target holds.  I expect I will fail before 3 minutes on most if not all of the exercises in the next set as well.  From here it will be a matter of fighting to improve TULs by a few seconds each workout with increases in weight coming less frequently.

WOW 2010 09 12 #22

Chest 12 230sec
Row 11 180sec
Leg 16 180sec

First number is the number of plates lifted (out of 20 on a 200lb stack) and second number is number of seconds.  For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight.

Today I still felt some tightness in my shoulders and back which I attributed to the workout last week.  I considered resting a few more days but in the end decided to go ahead with my once a week workout pace.

Chest press: added a plate this week but still had gas in the tank when I reached the 3 minute target so I extended the hold.  Will add another plate next time.

Row: added a plate this week and was still able to make 3 minutes.  My sense was I was pretty close to failure so I did not extend the hold but the truth is you don't know how close you are to failure until you fail.  Anyway, I will add a plate the next time.

Leg:  added a plate this week and managed to hang on for 3 minutes.  Having the countdown timer in easy view helped me to hang in for the last 20 seconds or so when my body was telling me it really really wanted me to stop.  As was the case last week (and I assume will be the case going forward) could not stand up for a while after finishing this one.  Will add a plate for legs next time as well.

Overall a good workout.  Increased weight for all exercises and made or beat the 3 minute target for each.  Really "nice" burn for all exercises, particularly the legs.

Observed changes:  Apart from getting stronger (or at least being able to work harder each week) my pants and belt are looser still and my weight continues to trend slowly down.

WOW 2010 09 05 #21

Shoulder Press 11 240sec
Lat Pull Down 10 180sec
Leg Press 15 180sec

Still new to the 3 minute target so still callibrating weights.  Shoulder press was way to light so I went ahead and held for 4 minutes.  Will take the weight up perhaps two plates when I next do this split in two weeks.  Lat Pull Down I was close to exhausted at 180 seconeds but will increase weight for this one next time as well.  Since I do leg press each week I increased weight this week over last and it was a real struggle to make the 180 seconds.  But I did make it so the weight will go up on this one next week.

Overall I felt this was the most intense workout so far.  Holding for 3 minutes is just much more taxing than holding for 2.

First Post

I have been experimenting with various exercise and dier programs for years.  Recently I am pursuing an exercise program imspired largely by Doug McGuff's and John Little's Body by Science.  Here is what I am doing for strength training:

• I work out once a week alternating between two routines:
• The first routine is Chest Press, Seated Row, Leg Press
• The second routine is Shoulder Press, Lat Pull Down, Leg Press
• For each exercise I am performing one static hold using a typical machine
• Chest Press - almost full arm extension (no lock out)
• Seated Row - moving the weight one or two inches off the stack
• Leg Press - moving the weight one or two inches off the stack
• Shoulder Press - almost full arm extension (no lock out)
• Lat Pull Down  - pull bar down to about eye level, overhand grip, leaning back
• I try to perform each hold for 3 minutes.  If I reach the 3 minute mark I stop and next time I increase the weight.

For diet I have recently begun limiting my consumption of flour, white rice, beans, sugar, sweetners, highly processed foolds.  Otherwise I am not counting calories and I am not avoiding fats.  I am not avoiding carbohydrates per se (eat fruits and vegetables), just the processed carbs.  I have been losing weight steadily since I made this change.