It's interesting, the trusting relationship Arnold and I have with our trainer Mary. We both basically let her take charge, and Mary pushes us to new limits.
I was astonished at what Mary did with me today. I thought I had made all the PRs I was going to make in legs last Thursday. Well, incorrect, and by a long shot. I did four more today, three major and one kind of minor. Here's the workout. We did 4 sets of 12 (except where noted) with 2 minutes rest between sets.
- FM stiff-legged quad extension: 2 sets of 20 at 20 and 17.5 lbs.
- Barbell deadlift: 95, 115, 135 (new PR), 145 (new PR). The issue here is keeping the table back and keeping control of the reps. On the last set, I really slowed it down to make sure I had control. These stress the glutes and the quads, but the glute is the limiting factor as it is the most mechanically disadvantaged when it is used.
- Paramount plie press: 180, 270, 360, 405. I've done 450, but the deadlift slowed me down here. My muscles felt at their limits.
- Free motion cable hip abduction with long range: 20, 20, 20, 20 (new PR, but minor). Basically, the idea here is to hit the muscle at the ends of its range. The weight seems light, but at the end of the range, it's hard.
- Smith machine lunge: 98, 118, 128, 138 (new PR). This is 30 lbs. more than I did in this same exercise last week. I think I could do even more.
- Smith machine plie squat: 118, 128, 138, 153 (new PR). These were hard, and I thought I was not going to make it, but Mary and I set the starting weight at a level that would get me to my old record of 148. The issue was not so much the strength as getting the right leg stance. My toes naturally point out, and sometimes we can go too plie. We spent the first couple of sets getting this straight. Somehow, on set three, it all came together, and we decided to do the record. I was negotiating with her about how many reps it would take to be legal, but I did all 12, actually getting better at the end.
As I mentioned in my comment on Arnold's post, I just engaged in stream of consciousness with Mary today, warming her up for Arnold. But really, I was getting myself in a mental state to do these PRs, seeing the power and the glory, going to places of struggle in my past from which I could draw strength.
Comments