Chest press
Row
Leg Press
I do static holds. This week I raised my target TUL for upper body to 2 minutes. For the leg press I went back to a conventional machine and aimed for 4 minutes with my legs well bent (in weak position).
After reading a recent post by John Little at the Body by Science site I came away with the idea of judging the intensity of my effort in terms of lactic acid burn. On the conventional leg press I had previously reached a point where I could hold all of the weight for 3 minutes in weak position. This week I decided to back off on the weight and try for 4 minutes. I only made it to 3.5 minutes and the acid burn was more intense than anything I have felt before. It seemed that the pain continued to intensify for 30 seconds to a minute after I put the weight down. For my next workout I will use lighter weight in weak position for my upper body exercises as well (but with 2 min TUL target) and see if I can further intensify the burn for upper body exercises.
This workout was performed with 11 days rest. I will continue to target between 7 and 10 days recovery between workouts.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
WOW 47 09/14/2011
Shoulder Press
Lat pull down
EF leg press
Upper body exercises are static holds, now with a 90 second target. Leg press is on the Explosive Fitness machine which measures the instantaneous force I am generating and keeps a record of the maximum. On this machine I make one all out effort which takes ~ 5 seconds.
I performed this workout with 1 week of recovery and felt pretty good. I had taken a couple of days off from Aikido to rest a sore lower back which probably helped the recovery somewhat. Fortunately my back did not bother me during the workout. Weights were up on the shoulder press and lat pull. I managed to improve my EF leg press to 2,246. This was the 5th EF leg press since I started doing them in early August and I have increased my number each time. However, the amount of improvement is also falling each time so perhaps about to hit a plateau.
Overall I am happy with the 90 second target. I wish I had access to a heavy enough leg press machine so that I could use a 90 second target for that as well.
Lat pull down
EF leg press
Upper body exercises are static holds, now with a 90 second target. Leg press is on the Explosive Fitness machine which measures the instantaneous force I am generating and keeps a record of the maximum. On this machine I make one all out effort which takes ~ 5 seconds.
I performed this workout with 1 week of recovery and felt pretty good. I had taken a couple of days off from Aikido to rest a sore lower back which probably helped the recovery somewhat. Fortunately my back did not bother me during the workout. Weights were up on the shoulder press and lat pull. I managed to improve my EF leg press to 2,246. This was the 5th EF leg press since I started doing them in early August and I have increased my number each time. However, the amount of improvement is also falling each time so perhaps about to hit a plateau.
Overall I am happy with the 90 second target. I wish I had access to a heavy enough leg press machine so that I could use a 90 second target for that as well.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
WOW 46 09/07/2011
Chest Press
Row
EF leg press
Upper body exercises are static holds, now with a 90 second target. Leg press is on the Explosive Fitness machine which measures the instantaneous force I am generating and keeps a record of the maximum. On this machine I make one all out effort which takes ~ 5 seconds.
I made a quick trip to Texas over the holiday weekend. As a result diet and sleep were not great this week. Still, today's workout after 7 days of recovery was OK. TUL was up on the chest press, down a bit on the row, and I hit 2,209 on the leg press which was up from last week.
Row
EF leg press
Upper body exercises are static holds, now with a 90 second target. Leg press is on the Explosive Fitness machine which measures the instantaneous force I am generating and keeps a record of the maximum. On this machine I make one all out effort which takes ~ 5 seconds.
I made a quick trip to Texas over the holiday weekend. As a result diet and sleep were not great this week. Still, today's workout after 7 days of recovery was OK. TUL was up on the chest press, down a bit on the row, and I hit 2,209 on the leg press which was up from last week.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
WOW 45 08/31/2011
Shoulder Press
Lat Pull Down
EF leg press
Had to take some extra time to recover from our trip to Mexico. Hit 90 seconds on both the shoulder and lat movements so will increase the weight next cycle. Hit a peak of 2142 on the EF leg press so progress continues. Plan to work out again in a week and continue with 10 Aikido sessions per week.
Lat Pull Down
EF leg press
Had to take some extra time to recover from our trip to Mexico. Hit 90 seconds on both the shoulder and lat movements so will increase the weight next cycle. Hit a peak of 2142 on the EF leg press so progress continues. Plan to work out again in a week and continue with 10 Aikido sessions per week.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
WOW 44 08/13/2011
Chest Press
Upright row
Leg Press
I did this workout after 6 days of recovery since we will be leaving on vacation early tomorrow. I felt reasonably well recovered so hopefully lowering TUL from 3 minutes to between 60 and 90 seconds will in fact allow me to work out more frequently. I used my EF machine for the leg press for the second time in a row and this time was able to get the number over 2,000 (last week was around 1600).
Upright row
Leg Press
I did this workout after 6 days of recovery since we will be leaving on vacation early tomorrow. I felt reasonably well recovered so hopefully lowering TUL from 3 minutes to between 60 and 90 seconds will in fact allow me to work out more frequently. I used my EF machine for the leg press for the second time in a row and this time was able to get the number over 2,000 (last week was around 1600).
Sunday, August 7, 2011
WOW 42 and 43 7/1 and 8/7
WOW 42
Chest 90 sec
Row 60 sec
Leg 90 sec
Static holds for 90 seconds or until failure.. We got a membership at a 24 hr Fitness so I will be setting a new baseline using different machines. I am also taking the opportunity to cut my TUL target in half (from three minutes to 90 seconds). Way back when I was hoping to arrange my workouts so I could workout once a week. Three minute TUL does not seem to be consistent with a one week recovery so I am going to experiment with shorter TULs and see how that goes.
WOW 43
Shoulder 90 sec
Lat 60 sec
Leg 1642
None of the 24 Hour Fitness leg press machines have enough weight to get my anywhere close to failure in 90 seconds so I have dusted off my old Explosive Fitness machine and will use that for leg presses. Today I did a 3 minute hold at 500 lbs at 24 HF before doing the EF leg press. We will see if I can do better next week.
I have been hitting the Aikido pretty hard, going twice per day many days. Feeling pretty good....
Chest 90 sec
Row 60 sec
Leg 90 sec
Static holds for 90 seconds or until failure.. We got a membership at a 24 hr Fitness so I will be setting a new baseline using different machines. I am also taking the opportunity to cut my TUL target in half (from three minutes to 90 seconds). Way back when I was hoping to arrange my workouts so I could workout once a week. Three minute TUL does not seem to be consistent with a one week recovery so I am going to experiment with shorter TULs and see how that goes.
WOW 43
Shoulder 90 sec
Lat 60 sec
Leg 1642
None of the 24 Hour Fitness leg press machines have enough weight to get my anywhere close to failure in 90 seconds so I have dusted off my old Explosive Fitness machine and will use that for leg presses. Today I did a 3 minute hold at 500 lbs at 24 HF before doing the EF leg press. We will see if I can do better next week.
I have been hitting the Aikido pretty hard, going twice per day many days. Feeling pretty good....
Sunday, May 22, 2011
WOW 05/22/2011 #41
Shoulder Press 16 175sec
Lat Pull Down 16 90sec
Leg Press 20 185sec
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 or Time Under Load (TUL). For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight. I hold for 3 minutes or until failure. If I reach 3 minutes I stop and increase the weight next cycle.
Shoulder Press: fifth attempt at this weight with TUL up 5 seconds. Lat Pull: first attempt at this weight and lots of room for improvement. Leg Press: second successful hold for 3 min + at the maximum weight on the machine I am using.
Most recent workout was 3/19 and the last time I did this split was 2/20. I have been putting more emphasis on diet in recent months. Over the past month I have lost ~ 8 lbs of fat while keeping my total weight about flat. I have been doing a fair amount of Aikido though last week I was traveling in China and did no formal exercise during the week.
Needles to say, given the time between workouts and the focus on diet I was pleased with the results of this workout.
Lat Pull Down 16 90sec
Leg Press 20 185sec
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 or Time Under Load (TUL). For leg press the pulley arrangement effectively doubles the weight. I hold for 3 minutes or until failure. If I reach 3 minutes I stop and increase the weight next cycle.
Shoulder Press: fifth attempt at this weight with TUL up 5 seconds. Lat Pull: first attempt at this weight and lots of room for improvement. Leg Press: second successful hold for 3 min + at the maximum weight on the machine I am using.
Most recent workout was 3/19 and the last time I did this split was 2/20. I have been putting more emphasis on diet in recent months. Over the past month I have lost ~ 8 lbs of fat while keeping my total weight about flat. I have been doing a fair amount of Aikido though last week I was traveling in China and did no formal exercise during the week.
Needles to say, given the time between workouts and the focus on diet I was pleased with the results of this workout.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
WOW 03/19/2011 #40
Chest 18 153sec
Row 16 91sec
Leg 20 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 try for a three minute hold. If I reach 3 minutes I stop the exercise and raise the weight next cycle.
I have reduced the frequency of workouts recently. My previous two workouts were on 1/23 and 2/20 respectively. On 1/20 I did the same routine as I did today. Chest press: first attempt at this weight and reached 153 seconds. Row: first attempt at this weight and could only hold for 91 seconds. Leg Press: 9th attempt at this weight and finally reached the three minute mark! I could not stand up for a minute or so. This is maximum weight for this machine and I am already holding in "weak" position so not sure what the next target will be. I suppose I could always shoot for 210 seconds....
Increasing my recovery time does not seem to have hurt my upper body results and for the leg press I finally got to 3 minutes with the whole stack. For the time being I may stick with lifting once every few weeks. In recent weeks I have increased the frequency of my Aikido workouts and have continued to work on my diet. Sad to say my weight has plateaued so I am further reducing carbs and will start using some additional supplements.
Row 16 91sec
Leg 20 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 try for a three minute hold. If I reach 3 minutes I stop the exercise and raise the weight next cycle.
I have reduced the frequency of workouts recently. My previous two workouts were on 1/23 and 2/20 respectively. On 1/20 I did the same routine as I did today. Chest press: first attempt at this weight and reached 153 seconds. Row: first attempt at this weight and could only hold for 91 seconds. Leg Press: 9th attempt at this weight and finally reached the three minute mark! I could not stand up for a minute or so. This is maximum weight for this machine and I am already holding in "weak" position so not sure what the next target will be. I suppose I could always shoot for 210 seconds....
Increasing my recovery time does not seem to have hurt my upper body results and for the leg press I finally got to 3 minutes with the whole stack. For the time being I may stick with lifting once every few weeks. In recent weeks I have increased the frequency of my Aikido workouts and have continued to work on my diet. Sad to say my weight has plateaued so I am further reducing carbs and will start using some additional supplements.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
WOW 02/20/2011 #39
Shoulder Press 16 170sec
Lat Pull Down 15 180sec
Leg Press 20 168sec
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 for 3 minutes or until failure. If I reach 3 minutes I stop and increase the weight next cycle.
Lat Pull Down 15 180sec
Leg Press 20 168sec
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 for 3 minutes or until failure. If I reach 3 minutes I stop and increase the weight next cycle.
Shoulder Press: fourth attempt at this weight with TUL up 18 seconds from last attempt . Lat Pull: second attempt at this weight and held on for the full 3 minutes. Leg Press: eighth attempt at this weight with TUL up 42 seconds over last workout and my best TUL at this weight so far.
Last workout was January 23rd and last tme I did this set was January 9. So I am pleased that I was up on TUL for each exercise. During the break from lifting weights I have been working on my diet, mostly following the recommendations in the Perfect Health Diet. Also I have continued my Aikido workouts several times a week. I have been losing weight slowly but steadily but in recent weeks I have been losing more lean mass than I would like, at least according to my Tanita scale. So I am doubly pleased to see that my strength has not taken a hit judging from the workout today.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
WOW 1/23/2011 #38
Chest 17 170sec
Row 15 132sec
Leg 20 126sec
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 to failure, whichever comes first. If I reach 3 minutes I stop the exercise and raise the weight next cycle.
Chest press: second attempt at this weight and reached 170 seconds, not bad. Row: 2nd attempt at this weight and lost substantial ground. Leg Press: 7th attempt at this weight and added a few more seconds over the last attempt two weeks ago.
I took a week off so this is the first workout in 14 days and since I do split routines it has been three weeks since I did this set. Not a bad workout, not a great workout. I expect to return to my weekly routine for the next several weeks.
I have been tracking my lean and fat weight more regularly since the beginning of the year (daily using a Tanita scale). I am also using some curve fitting software to try to ascertain the underlying trend in what is pretty noisy data. On this basis it appears my lean weight has been trending up for the past 23 days for a gain of 5.7 pounds while my fat weight has been essentially flat for the past 4 days.
Row 15 132sec
Leg 20 126sec
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 to failure, whichever comes first. If I reach 3 minutes I stop the exercise and raise the weight next cycle.
Chest press: second attempt at this weight and reached 170 seconds, not bad. Row: 2nd attempt at this weight and lost substantial ground. Leg Press: 7th attempt at this weight and added a few more seconds over the last attempt two weeks ago.
I took a week off so this is the first workout in 14 days and since I do split routines it has been three weeks since I did this set. Not a bad workout, not a great workout. I expect to return to my weekly routine for the next several weeks.
I have been tracking my lean and fat weight more regularly since the beginning of the year (daily using a Tanita scale). I am also using some curve fitting software to try to ascertain the underlying trend in what is pretty noisy data. On this basis it appears my lean weight has been trending up for the past 23 days for a gain of 5.7 pounds while my fat weight has been essentially flat for the past 4 days.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
WOW 1/9/2011 #37
Shoulder Press 16 152sec
Lat Pull Down 15 133sec
Leg Press 20 123sec
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: third attempt at this weight with TUL down 16 seconds from last attempt . Lat Pull Down: first attempt at this weight. Out of curiosity I checked my records to see what my TUL was the last time I did LPD at this weight. I did 96 sec on August 1, 2010 back when I was using a much shorter TUL target so it seems I have made reasonable progress in the intervening months if not in the last couple of weeks. Leg Press: sixth attempt at this weight with TUL up only 3 seconds over last week's disappointing performance.
Overall not a great workout. Excuses: came down with a mild cold on Monday which is just about gone now; cut my carbs to under 100 g/day and lost ~ 2 lbs in the past week; did Aikido yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks; etc. etc. Anyway, will consider taking a week off now that I have had two less than stellar workouts in a row.
Lat Pull Down 15 133sec
Leg Press 20 123sec
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: third attempt at this weight with TUL down 16 seconds from last attempt . Lat Pull Down: first attempt at this weight. Out of curiosity I checked my records to see what my TUL was the last time I did LPD at this weight. I did 96 sec on August 1, 2010 back when I was using a much shorter TUL target so it seems I have made reasonable progress in the intervening months if not in the last couple of weeks. Leg Press: sixth attempt at this weight with TUL up only 3 seconds over last week's disappointing performance.
Overall not a great workout. Excuses: came down with a mild cold on Monday which is just about gone now; cut my carbs to under 100 g/day and lost ~ 2 lbs in the past week; did Aikido yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks; etc. etc. Anyway, will consider taking a week off now that I have had two less than stellar workouts in a row.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
WOW 1/2/2011 #36
Chest 16 180sec
Row 15 170sec
Leg 20 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. 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: was able to perform the chest press with only mild discomfort at the spot I was injured. This was the second attempt at this weight and I made 180 seconds with room to spare. Row: 1st attempt at this weight and got pretty close to 3 minutes. Leg Press: 5th attempt at this weight and lost significant ground with TUL down 42 seconds from last week. Not sure what happened but for some reason after good performances on the first two exercises I couldn't force myself through the leg press. Maybe I will have to rethink doing leg press every week.
Row 15 170sec
Leg 20 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. 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: was able to perform the chest press with only mild discomfort at the spot I was injured. This was the second attempt at this weight and I made 180 seconds with room to spare. Row: 1st attempt at this weight and got pretty close to 3 minutes. Leg Press: 5th attempt at this weight and lost significant ground with TUL down 42 seconds from last week. Not sure what happened but for some reason after good performances on the first two exercises I couldn't force myself through the leg press. Maybe I will have to rethink doing leg press every week.
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