Michigan Muscle Boy

Nice Workout at the Sweat Shop

I missed yesterday's max strength (MxS) workout because I shot over to the Platte River for a little tubing and beach fun.  However, today I went over to the Sweat Shop where Jason Paris workouts and trains clients.  It's a nice homey atmosphere, a little like the Outback that I visited several months ago with Nancy. 

There are a lot of average gyms out there.  What really differentiates them is the quality of the people.  I liked the people there.

Since I'm on vacation, I've realized that MxS is likely not to be possible, particularly under the regimen we're following.  It seems silly not to do anything though, so I decided to do a bit of hypertrophy from the program.  Here's the workout:

• Triceps extensions (70% 1RM): 75/8X4
• Behind neck pulldown (70% 1RM): 110/8X4
• Bent Arm Dumbbell Laterals (60% 1RM): 15/8X4
• Dumbbell Shrugs (70% 1RM): 55/8X4
• Lumbar Extensions: 12X4

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.

Benching and upping the 1RM target

So, things are really heating up in our periodization program.  In our next two workouts, we're supposed to hit 80% of 1RM.  Next week, we'll hit 85% for five sets of five reps.  To give some perspective, people can typically do 75% of 1 RM for 10 reps.  In pursuing his extended Russian routine, Kris has mentioned how hard it is to do reps at 85% of 1RM.  This should be a killer.

At any rate, Nancy and I were doing a mere 75% 1RM for 10 reps yesterday with 60 seconds rest between sets.  That seemed hard.  Here's the workout in weight/repsXsets format with 1 RM target in parentheses.

• Bench press (75%): 135/10X4
• Incline dumbbell flye (75%): 35/10X4
• Nautilus shoulder press (75%): 120/10X4
• Incline side laterals (70%): 15/10X4
• Dumbbell shrugs (75%): 55/10X4
• Free Motion Reverse Curls (75%): 60/10X4
• Seated calf raises (75%): 130/10X4

My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Foresaken Me

July 4th in Gold's with Arnold.

A vision of hell.  $10 to gain entry.  Half the old guard at Liberty has deserted ship and gone there.  Even Dante would recoil.

Squats at 75% 1RM. Lunges at 75% 1RM.

Hey, I thought it was the medium week.

The floors are rubberized.  The equipment oh-so top-end. 

My god, My god ...

And Arnold stands a vision of calm, finally burying her squats on the 4th set of ten.  I can't let that go unanswered.

My butt's going to fall off and my quads explode.  I bury my squats.

Here's the workout in weight/repsXsets format with target 1RM performance in parentheses.  Rest between sets was 60 seconds.

• Barbell squats (75%):  165/10X4
• Cable leg curls (65%):  25/7X4
• Smith Lunges (75%): 128/10X2; 118/10X2
• Hammerstrength Rows (75%): 102/10X1; 152/10X1; 172/10X2
• Back Extensions: 15X4
• Roman chair leg raises: 15X4
• Hammerstrength triceps dip machine (75%):  125/10X4

Last Day of Light Chest

As I've been saying, the second round of light in this program is not light.  It's kind of nice to see progress though.  Seventy percent of 1RM used to be really hard to maintain.  Now, I can pretty much maintain it for four sets of ten with 60 seconds rest.

Here's yesterday's workout in weight/repsXsets format with target percent of 1RM in parentheses:

• Incline flye (70%): 30/10X4
• Bench (70%): 135/10X4
• Nautilus shoulder press (70%): 110/10X3; 95/10X1
• Dumbbell side lateral (60%): 12/10X4
• Dumbbell shrugs (70%): 50/10X4
• Seated calf (70%): 110/10X4
• Reverse Free Motion Curl (70%): 50/10X2; 60/10X2

Light Squat Day 3

Nancy and I were remarking today about the fact that we were squatting two to three days per week.  More exercises went up to 70% today.  Next week's medium effort will be like the hard week we had last week.  We seem to be holding up.

Here's the workout.  We did 60 seconds rest (the hypertrophy reset period).  Stats are in weight/repsXsets notation.  Target percent of 1RM is in parentheses.

• squat (70%):  165/10X4
• Free Motion Leg Curl (65%):  25/7X4
• Smith lunge (70%): 123/10X4
• T-bar narrow grip (70%): 105/10X4
• lumbar extensions: 12X4
• BOSU crunch: 12X4
• Decline skull crushers (70%): 70/10X4

Light Squats 2

So, in this workout cycle, the second time you go through a light phase, it's not all that light.  We had two days at 60% 1RM.  Now, we've shot up to 70% on most exercises.  That was reserved for the medium level the first time.

Here's the workout.  We did 60 seconds rest (the hypertrophy reset period).  Stats are in weight/repsXsets notation.  Target percent of 1RM is in parentheses.

• squat (70%):  165/10X4
• Free Motion Leg Curl (60%):  25/10X3
• Barbell lunge (70%): 120/10X4
• Bent underhand barbell rows (60%): 90/12X4
• lumbar extensions: 15X3
• BOSU crunch: 15X3
• Overhead pulley triceps extensions with rope grip (60%): 120/12X4

Light Bench

Just a quick note on today's workout.  It was a light chest day.  Here's the stats in weight/repsXsets form.  Rest was at 60 seconds between sets.

• Bench (60%): 110/12X4
• Incline flye (60%): 30/12X4
• Dumbbell front press (60%): 35/12X4
• Reclining dumbbell side laterals (60%): 15/10X4
• Dumbbell shrugs (60%): 45/12X4
• Biceps preacher curls (60%): 50/12X4
• Seated calf (60%): 90/12X4

Tomorrow, we return to 70%.  Our last high phase, in two weeks, will hit 85%.  That should be tough.

Light Week Squats 1

We're back in the light phase after last week's first dose of heavy.  Got good depth on the squats.  We're thinking about how to video some of this.  Here's the workout.  We dropped effort to 60% and increased reps slightly.  We stayed on 60 seconds rest.  The format as always is weight/repsXsets.

• squats (60%): 110/10X1; 130/10X3
• FreeMotion standing curls (60%): 25/10X3
• lunges (60%): 90/10X4
• seated cable rows (60%): 112/10X4
• back extensions: 15X3
• dumbbell jackknifes: 40/15X3
• skull crushers (60%): 60/10X4

I underestimated the lunges and should have done 15 lbs. heavier.