Those of you who know me and have been following my blog know that I use a stopwatch to time my rest periods. It is a habit I picked up from Jeff Anderson's Optimal Anabolics program and it has stuck with me. Today it helped me with an interesting observation while at the gym.
Today was my extra heavy day. I aim to hit a minimum of 4 reps on every set. I do 6 sets. All of my workout (see the log below) was done in supersets with full rest (meaning I got 1.5 minutes rest between every exercise). I started out my workout with very heavy bent over barbell rows supersetted with incline barbell bench press. I worked extremely hard, pressing out some personal bests in the process. When that was done, I strolled over to the squat rack to set up for my barbell push presses.
After getting the squat bar all set up, I headed off to the lat pull down machine for my first exercise of the superset. I was cruising along with 90 seconds rest between each exercise. I finished up 5 straight sets. After the 5th set of push presses, I headed off to get some water and do my 6th set of lat pull downs. As soon as my 5th set of push presses was done I hit the clock and set my towel on the bar. Exactly 90 seconds later I was doing my lat pull down set. It takes about 20 seconds to pull complete 5 reps.
As I get back to the squat rack this guy is sitting on a machine nearby. He comes up to me.
“Hey man, you are lucky. I almost unloaded everything off the bar.” he says to me with this sneer.
I look at him with a quizzical look.
“I waited for almost 10 minutes man…if you wanna hog the rack, come back when it isn't crowded” says the guy.
Mind you, this is at 4 a.m. I could count on one hand how many people were in the gym.
“You didin't come close to waiting 10 minutes for the rack.” I replied
“You may be a big guy, but that doesn't give you the right to hold the rack empty for 10 minutes!” he starts getting louder.
“You know how I am 100% sure you didn't wait more than 2 minutes?” I ask
He starts to calm down.
“How?” he asks
“See this stopwatch?” I ask
“Yeah, I've seen you with that…what a stupid thing to carry around at the gym. Are you some kind of nerd?” he asks.
“Well, this stopwatch always times my rest periods. Today it is 90 seconds. With the 30 seconds I spent at the lat pull down machine, my estimate of 2 minutes fits pretty well.” I respond
“Oh! And yes, I'm a muscle nerd!” I add
“Wait….is your name Jeff?” he asks
“No, my name is not Jeff.” I respond.
“Damn! I thought the muscle nerd was Jeff” he replied
“Well, he is, but so am I…but the point is that I didn't take 10 minutes to get back here.” I finished up.
As I finished my exercise I could hear him behind me…
“Maybe I need a stopwatch too!”
I laughed!
Accountability Log:
| Week Begins 3/2/2008 | |||||||
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | |
| Cycle spot | HC | LC | LC | LC | HC | LC | LC |
| M1 * | 5:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 5:30 a.m. |
| M2 * | 8:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 8:30 a.m. |
| M3 * | 11:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 11:30 a.m. |
| M4 * | 2:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 2:30 p.m. |
| M5 * | 5:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 5:30 p.m. |
| M6 * | 7:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 7:30 p.m. |
| Weights * | N/A | Lift | Lift | N/A | Lift | Lift | N/A |
| Cardio * | N/A | PM | PM | AM | PM | PM | AM |
| Abs * | N/A | FYA | FYA | N/A | FYA | FYA | N/A |
| Water * | 240 oz | 240 oz | |||||
| Post-workout nutrition * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-sleep nutrition * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Vitamins/Supplements * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Accountability * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cals within 5% (+/-) * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Target Cals | 2700 | 2250 | 2250 | 2250 | 2700 | 2250 | 2250 |
| Cals | 2719 | 2199 | |||||
| Ratios (C/P/F) | 41/38/21 | 39/41/20 | |||||
| Total Completed | 15 | 15 | |||||
| Total Possible | 15 | 15 | |||||
| Mission 2 Total Complete | 427 | 442 | |||||
| Mission 2 Total Possible | 435 | 450 | |||||
| * = Counts towards total | |||||||
| Success! | |||||||
| Failed | |||||||
| Not Counted! | |||||||
Nutrition Log:
| Mission 2: Day 30 of 100 | |||
| Meal/Training Plan: Real-time accountability | |||
| Day 30: March 3, 2008 | |||
| 3:30 a.m. | Meal 1: Protein shake with banana and Udos and oatmeal and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 3:30 a.m. | Supplements: Animal Pak, Glucosamine Chondroiten, calcium, chromium, glutamine, BCAAs | ||
| 4:00 a.m. | Workout: Lifting, FYA workout | ||
| 5:00 a.m. | Supplements: Protein shake, BCAAs, glutamine | ||
| 6:30 a.m. | Meal 2: Chicken breast, oatmeal, large salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 9:30 a.m. | Meal 3: Chicken breast, large salad, oatmeal and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 12:30 p.m. | Meal 4: Tuna (6 oz), oatmeal, brocolli and large salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 3:30 p.m. | Meal 5: Chicken breast,10 baby carrots and large salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 6:30 p.m. | Meal 6: Chicken sausage, brocolli, carrots, green beans and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 8:30 p.m. | Supplements: Casein protein shake, glutamine, calcium and 3 glasses of water |
Workout Log:
| Monday, 3/3/2008 | A10 | Start: 4:00 a.m. End: 5:01 a.m. | ||||
| Exercise | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Set 6 |
| BB Bent over row | 190 x 4 | 190 x 5 | 190 x 5 | 190 x 5 | 190 x 5 | 190 x 5 |
| BB Incline Bench Press | 165 x 4 | 165 x 4 | 165 x 5 | 165 x 6 | 165 x 5 | 165 x 5 |
| Lat pull down | 190 x 4 | 190 x 5 | 190 x 4 | 190 x 6 | 190 x 5 | 190 x 5 |
| Barbell Push Press | 150 x 4 | 150 x 4 | 150 x 4 | 150 x 4 | 150 x 4 | 150 x 6 |
| Swiss ball crunch | 30 | 30 | 30 | |||
Personal Bests:
BB Bent over row, BB incline bench press (165 x 6), Lat pull down (190 x 6), Barbell push press (150 x 6).
Tip of the Day:
Avoid crazy guys with no sense of time while a the gym!
Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!
