Michigan Muscle Boy

Hypertrophy at the Underpowered Powerhouse in Traverse City

I worked out on vacation at the Powerhouse in Traverse City, MI.  Nancy had worked out here when she was up here a week ago. 

The equipment was adequate, but the room was hot.  Men and women had to share a locker room while the women's locker was being renovated.  Almost needless to say, I saw no women the whole time I was there, a real rarity even at muscle gyms.  Nancy's tougher and more singleminded than most, super serious about training.  That must be how she made it through.

At any rate, I did manage a solid H workout.  Here it is:

• Triceps extensions (70%):  75/8X4
• Behind neck pull down (70%):  105/8X4
• Standing dumbbell lateral (70%): 17.5/8X4
• Smith Machine Lunge (70%): 125/8X4
• Swiss ball crunches: 4X12
• Incline biceps dumbbell curl (70%): 30/8X2; 35/8X2

Jason Paris, who lives up here, recommended The Sweat Shop, but said it was small.  I'm going to give it a try for Max Strength Day tomorrow.  One nice thing is that it is closer to where we are than Powerhouse.

A little hypertrophy

So yesterday, we did a little hypertrophy work.  Here's the workout:

• Decline triceps extension (70%): 75/8X4
• Pull down behind neck (70%): 110/8X4
• Bent arm lateral raises (60%): 15/10X4
• Dumbbell shrugs (70%): 55/8X4
• Back extensions: 4x12
• Abs medley: 3 supersets

It's clear that this workout regimen marshalls your juices for the max strength days.

A Max Strength Day

So, max strength (MxS) training is different.  You rest 3 or more minutes between sets.  Remarkable.  We are in the start week of a three week sequence that mixes hypertrophy (H) and max strength.  We're doing under a minute's rest on H days.  Here's the MxS workout Nancy and I did Wednesday:

• Squat (80%): 184\5X7
• Standing Leg Curl (60%): 30\4X10
• Bench (80%): 155\5X7
• Bent Barbell Row (80%): 135\5X7
• Front Dumbbell Press (80%): 45\5X7
• Seated calf (60%): 130\5X8

My legs hurt after the squats.

Kicking Ass and Taking Names

In spite of yesterday's inauspicious start, Nancy and I both agree that we are interested in the max strength elements of this new phase.  Today was a hypertrophy day.  it turns out, these days are not as hard as the max strength days.  The workout zipped by.  Here's what I did:

• Decline triceps extension (70%): 75/8X4
• Pull-down behind neck (70%): 110/8X4
• Standing dumbbell bent lateral (60%): 15/10X4
• Dumbbell shrug (70%): 55/8X4
• Back extension: 4X12

The dumbbell bent laterals might have been kind of light.  I'm trying to keep a little better track of the workouts than I did at the end of the last phase.  I discovered some light weights in yesterday's workout.  I'm pressing Nancy to do the same as she may compete again.

Mixed training

As I mentioned earlier, we started mixed training today.  It was a max strength day.  A key difference between this and our prior training programs is the level of mental effort required and the amount of rest.  We did okay, not getting the full set of exercises in.  Here's what we did in weight/repsXsets format:

• Squat (70–80% 1RM): 160/8X4, 185/7X1;
• FM Leg curl (60% 1RM): 30/8X5;
• Bench Press (70–80% 1RM): 135/8X4, 155/7X1;
• Bent underhand barbell row (70–80% 1RM): 105/8X4, 115/7X1

We needed to do 2 more things.  You can watch a recap of the workout on Muscle Ventures.

On to Mixed Training

We're heading into a combination of max strength and hypertrophy training.  The goals of this cycle are to increase strength, not necessarily size.  We're going to do that by starting to mix in some max strength work.  The first week is really done at hypertrophy levels.

Profile in Squat

So, I thought it might be instructive to compare the 1RM squat from our attempt at the end of May (bottom) and just this past week (top).  Bottom line, the one just this past week was a lot lower, like by maybe six inches.  That's just plainly apparent no matter how you look at the pictures.

I think I'm still not quite at parallel though.  That one is harder to judge because in both pictures, the camera is skewed.  However, if you compare the upper leg with the cross bar on the rack, you get an idea.  Definitely not at parallel in the bottom picture and much closer in the top.  Looking at the middle of the leg (vs. top of the quad), I'm all but there.

My goal is to get low enough that it is unequivocal.  Chris D. is suggesting dynamic stretching, and we did some of that this week.  Jason has some ideas for how to better measure 1RMs.  I'm all for it.

I am happy though to have made the progress I've made so far.  I feel like I am adding a new capability.

New 1RMs

Nancy and I generated some new 1RMs today, during this remarkable midwestern heat wave.  We made gains, but I think we also see how much farther we have to go.  One thing is clear.  We have not been training for max strength, so our gains in mass strength have not been as good as our gains in volume.  That should correct itself as we go into a mixed hypertrophy/ max strength phase.

I'll post some video of all of this in the next couple of days on Muscle Ventures.

Here's my latest stats:

• Bench: 190 (beats 180).  I thought I could get more, but I think I tried to go up too fast.
• Deadlift: 270 (beat 220).  I have found my limit.  Form started to deteriorate.
• Squat: 230 (beat 220).  This came at the end, and we had to stop early.  Positives are that a quick review of the tape revealed much better depth than 6 weeks ago.  But, it still needs to go down more.  We'll keep on working on that.  My goal is to really get these down.

In the style of Eric Cressey

Back When Chris Dorr was giving us advice on how to squat better, I remember picking up a post by Eric Cressey where he talked about diagnosing squat problems based on muscles that were weak or over tight.  I remember having thought that was all rather remarkable.  How could he tell?

In that regard, I'll also say that I don't think there is always some supplemental exercise you can do to fix your squat problems.  The squat is so complicated that it is frequently a series of things, and you have to look at a system level.

Well, Nancy has produced an exercise analysis in the style of Eric Cressey where she goes through and analyzes our remarkably different squat techniques.  She actually produces tables of weak and overly tight muscles for each of us.  It seems believable because they agree with my own assessment.  But, I'm left wondering what we should do.  It seems like I have had some of these issues my whole life.  I'm just that way.

Why don't you wander over and share your thoughts.

End of heavy squat week

I've been a bit overwhelmed by work and our ambitious lifting schedule.  We've made some great gains and have some great exercise analyses scheduled for Muscle Ventures.  I'm really excited about our squat series. 

The video is helping us uncover some real issues.  Nancy is going to write up one we did yesterday.  At left is a teaser pic.  Just so you know what to expect, hip shimmy is not a good thing.