Archives for March 2008

Are you trying to transform your physique?  If so, are you going massive?  If you aren't going massive don't expect things to change with your body.  Come on!  Push yourself to new heights, plunge to new depths and just generally give it everything you've got!

Today I had my first “wave loading” workout.  As I studied the workout this past weekend I wondered why they only choose to do the “wave loading” on a part of the workout and not on all of it and today I found out why.  I put my money where my mouth is today and went massive.  I shattered some personal bests and pushed myself so hard that as I sit here, my quads are quivering and I might not be sleeping upstairs tonight because I'm not sure I'm going to make it up the stairs!

The neurological effect was really pronounced during the workout.  I will discuss it more under the workout log portion below.  Suffice to say that the bait and switch was in full effect throughout the wave loading portion of the workout.

I keep preaching the same message and I'm hoping it gets through.  Why waste your time lifting if you aren't going to push yourself to the limit?  Take it from me–you can do more than you think you can.  You can lift more weight, push out more reps and complete more sets than your brain tells you.  If you don't believe me, go to the gym tomorrow and see where your brain says you are done and then, just for me, push yourself just a little farther.  I guarantee you will be surprised at how much more you can do when you push yourself like this.  If you try this, come back to my blog and post a comment letting me know how you did.

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

I approached this workout by clearing my mind of all doubts.  My weights are starting to get to the point that they blow my mind just thinking about how heavy they are.  That sometimes brings doubts.  I dispensed with those doubts and did some warm up sets of the empty bar, 95 pounds, 135 pounds and 225 pounds, all times 5 reps.  I then loaded up 275 pounds on the bar and went for it.  As I unracked the weight, I felt like it was a decent, but controllable weight.  I told myself to focus on proper form and to get the proper depth and see what would happen.  I got to 4 reps fairly easily and then had to dig in for the final 2.  As I hit the stop watch for my timed rest period, I realized that I had managed 6 reps at a pretty high weight.  I also could already feel it in my glutes and my hamstrings.  I had really focused on my hip drive during this set and it worked. 

I then looked at the weight on the bar and considered going up to 300 pounds, but since I'd done 290 x 4 in a recent workout (annd with 1-1/4 squats no less) I decided to slap a 25 pound plate on each side and just see what would happen.  325 pounds on your back when you weigh under 220 is just plain heavy feeling.  I unracked that weight and took exactly one step backward, got set and then went down.  I focused on a spot 6 feet in front of me, kept my chest up and went for the full depth.  I managed to get my legs to just below parallell and then drove my hips to get the weight back up.  Wow!  A major personal best.  That 1 rep squat goal of 350 pounds is looking realistic now! 

I went on to do 285 x 6 on the next set and then considered what to do about the final 1 rep max set.  I slapped the 25 pound plates on each side again, but that would bring the weight on the bar up to 335 pounds.  I had just completed a personal best and here I was thinking I could beat that already.   Well, as I like to say, push yourself until you think you are at your limit and then push yourself even harder.  Practicing what I preach, I took the 335 pounds off the rack and honestly, it felt lighter than the 325 pounds from the previous 1 rep max set.  Again, I focused on form and knocked out that rep.  What a killer feeling to push such a heavy weight.

I can't imagine what I will be lifting when this workout cycle ends, but I'm telling you, going massive was a rush.  The DOMs is already setting in big time and a little while ago I had to kneel down and my quads were shaking.  They are quivering as I sit here writing this entry.  What a rush though! 

Am I crazy?  I just wrote (above) that it is a rush to push my muscles to the point where they can't function.  That's what shredding hard will do to you.  You begin to really enjoy the pain you cause yourself in your workouts.

Thought for the Day:

For massive results you need massive workout habits.  This is not for the weak of heart, mind, body or soul.  The human body is capable of incredible things if you just believe in its capabilities.  Go for it!

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Today was a full rest day and I used it to plan ahead for the coming week.  I looked over my planned workouts (there are 4 distinct workouts in this particular series) and decided what my starting weights should be.  I'm being very agressive this time with my starting weights.  I am running with this workout plan until April 11, 2008, 10 days after The Big Reveal.  It is primarily aimed at increasing strength.

Wave Loading:  What the heck is it?

When you do a strength training program you are trying to teach your muscles to generate more force at their current size.  As your muscles grow that growth will help you generate more force, but for now we have to fool the muscles into generating more force.  There are two techniques taught that will help you get past your current limitations:

Your body learns to “skip” motor units.  Normally, your body will call on motor units in order of the size of their fibers as you attempt a heavy lift.  The small, slow-twitch fibers go first, then the medium-sized fibers on up to the fibers reserved fro max-effort lifts.  The muscles of the most experienced lifters can bypass the slow-twitch motor units and go straight to the motor units that contain the biggest, strongest musce fibers.

Your body learns to “switch off” the mecahnisms within the mucles and connective tissues that inhibit force production.  If your body thinks you are trying to do something that will cause damage, it has a braking system in place to stop it.  The longer you lift the further in the background these mechanisms go. 

These two techniques happen on their own, subconsciously.  In my new workout plan I will be employing another technique called “wave loading.”  It will be combined with “precontraction.” 

Precontraction is where you activiate the muscles opposite the ones you plan to use in the lift.  For example, if you were bench pressing, you would flex your lats and pull your shoulder blades together in back before you lower the weight to your chest.  At this point you pull the weight to your chest like a row and you should be able to generate more force on the upward push this way.

Wave loading involves a warm up and then six reps of an exercise followed by a set of just one rep.  The next set will be another set with six reps, but it will be with a heavier weight than the previous set of six.  Because the body remembers how heavy the single rep was, the eight you use for the set of six is going to feel relatively light, even though it is more than you used for the previous set of six.  When you do your fourth set, you again use a heavy weight for one rep.  This one rep set should feel lighter because you don't have to lift it for six reps.

Thus, wave loading is a technique for tricking your neurosystem into lifting heavier and heavier weights. 

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Today was a rest day.

Thought for the Day:

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.  That includes a physique transformation.  Learn what you need to know in order to be successful at your transformation.  Leave no stones unturned.  It will benefit you in the end.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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(Special thanks to Mike Groom for the countdown clock idea!)

The stats are in for the week and as I suspected, I've made some progress.

I knew I'd lose some LBM as I did not have a full week of lifting this past week (with all weight training ending on Tuesday).  I'm extremely satisfied with these results.  It is the first time since February 24, 2008 that I've seen the scale move and 3 pounds down is awesome! 

This week I am sticking to my cycle of 3 days low carb and 1 day of high carb as it seems to be working.  I will continue the cardio plan I've been on and I will continue with my Flatten Your Abs training.  In addition, I will be doing wave loading to increase strength (more on that later today).

Until later…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Today was my final training day of the week, with tomorrow being a day of rest.  I hit the gym early at 5:30 a.m. and ran for 30 minutes.  I managed to run 3.5 miles in that time and it was intense.  What I did today was I started out jogging at a pace of 6.5 MPH.  I did this for 2 minutes.  I then upped the speed to 7.0 MPH and ran at this pace for 8 minutes.  At that point I upped the pace to 7.5 MPH and ran at that pace for 5 minutes.  I then upped the pace to 8.0 MPH and ran for another 5 minutes.  It then got very, very intense indeed.  I upped the pace to 8.5 MPH and ran it for 2 minutes.  I then upped the pace to 9.0 MPH and ran it for 2 minutes.  I then upped it to 9.5 MPH and ran it for 2 minutes.  I spent the final 4 minutes of my run at 10 MPH!  When I hit the “finish line” I was gassed!

As soon as that was done and I was ready to leave the gym, I decided to work on my squatting technique.  I've been re-reading Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and it describes, in detail, what the perfect squat would be.  I went to the squat rack (that is mostly unused at this gym) and proceeded to practice with the empty bar.  I worked on keeping my chest up during the entire movement.  I worked on getting better depth on the squat at all times. I worked on watching a point on the floor six feet in front of me.  I paid careful atttention to where my knees were travelling during the movement.  Most importantly, I worked on the hip drive.  A squat is really a hip movement overall and most people miss this when doing the exercise.  In fact, when you watch most people squat, it is really a standing leg press, not a squat.  While I don't really have that problem, I wanted to be sure to practice every aspect of the squat because I'm going into wave loading next week (more on this tomorrow) and it will require me to lift some pretty heavy weight.  I wanted to perfect my form before hitting the heavy loads I'm facing this coming week.

I'm excited to see my workout results this coming week.  I felt really strong today, even getting my “test squats” up over 250 pounds with great form.  I'm ready for this week's lifting and warn you to watch for some huge numbers!

My reveal is in 17 days and I'm working hard.  Today I was tempted by pizza but the reveal was on my mind and I turned it down.  I probably would have anyway, but the reveal made it much easier to do.  I'm really working hard on my Flatten Your Abs workout these days.  I attacked this in a progressive manner from the start.  I did just 1 set the first 2 weeks of working the program and am now up to 3 sets (where I shall stay until I go up a level).  It is a great program and one I highly recommend.  Give it a try!

Just a note that my online friend, Mike Groom, will be doing his reveal in about 50 days from now. Go on over to his blog and give him some support!

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Thought for the Day:

Men and women were not only created equal, they are supposed to workout in the same manner as well.  What's good for a man is good for a woman.  Don't believe all the stuff about women needing to lift differently than a man because it is nothing but rubbish.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Today's podcast explodes the myth that cardio is the only useful and effective way to burn fat.  I discuss the role of weight training in a fat loss program and specifically, I discuss why women will want to lift heavy to burn fat. 

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