Ok, today was another workout without a workout partner and I can honestly say I think you NEED a workout partner for this. I feel like I had a little more juice left when I would stop. It's really hard to keep pushing through the lactic acid buildup without someone there to encourage you and keep you honest about going to failure. That said, I still got in a pretty good workout, just wish I had pushed a little harder. Also, I think I'm hitting a point where my weight increases should be in smaller increments, so I'll start using the 5 lbs weights on top of the stack now to increase my lifts.
Weigh-in: 146.6
Body Fat: 9.4%
Chest Press: 130 lbs
Shoulder Press: 65 lbs
Lat pulldown: 130 lbs
Rows: 130 lbs
Leg Press: 290 lbs
Hopefully I'll have a partner for my next workout. Time to pig out for the rest of the day. I have a 1 lb chuck eye steak, and some bison steaks for protein, and then a big batch of korean sweet potato noodles and veggies to scarf down. I'll probably go out for a beer or two later as well.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
Comparison Track SS vs BBS (tfarny)
This is from fellow MDA reader Tfarny on his workout and the results of his Army Style PT test for comparison to BBS. This is not a full scientific study however, because of the varying factors here, namely age, exact nutrition, daily activities, etc. For a full study comparison we'd have to be locked up in a lab like rats... Anyone have any rats or rat weight lifting equipment??
"OK - I've been swamped with work, I even missed a workout, but I'm still up for it. Here's what I wrote:
Here’s a description of what I’ll be doing for 12 weeks. SS has a few alternative versions so I want to be clear about what I’m doing. The difference between this and the Advanced Novice version is more OHP and more chins, with bench once a week instead of once every other workout. I need the extra volume on OHP and chins.
Day 1: Squat, OHP, Power Cleans
Day 2: Bench, Deadlift, Chin-ups, short conditioning work.
Day 3: Squat, OHP, Chinups
On days I have an overload of work, or travel, I will skip day 3 and have a two-day week. Increases are +5 lb on weights (OHP +2.5) any time I get desired sets / reps
Warmups: Depending on the day, either a couple minutes on the erg or just 50 jumping jacks. Always do several air squats and PVC pipe shoulder dislocations (dynamic stretch). Each lift starts out with a few warmup sets.
Back squat –low bar full squat, 3 sets of 5. Current: 205 3x5
Deadlift –1 set of 5. Current: 300 1x5
OHP – stiff leg barbell press, three sets of 5. Current: 112.5 3x5
Bench – standard situation, bar touches chest each rep but does not bounce off. Spotter does not "help" - three sets of 5. Current: 185 3x5
Chinups – full extension at bottom, pause, chin fully over top bar. Two or three sets, occasionally weighted. Current: 12 consecutive, or 4 with +25 lb and belt.
Power Cleans – Standard form. Current: 175x1
Other exercises, done occasionally after the main ones and always optionally: clean and jerk, push press, close grip bench press, glute ham raise.
Once per week, I’ll do a short hard run or some hill sprints or a short indoor conditioning workout such as erg sprint rows or burpees. I also play singles racquetball every week or so for about 1.5 hours.
Age: 40 yo, Height: 6’1” / 185 cm, weight: 205lb / 93k. Athletic history: Minimal. Job: Desk, civilian."
INITIAL PT TEST RESULTS:
I did your pt test on a workout day because I just couldn't bring myself to miss a workout for situps. So after benching and deadlifting heavy (personal bests for me): Pushups 37, Situps 40, run, an embarrassing 19:24. Total army score = 176 (40 years old). When I re-test at the end I'll be sure and do the PT test after benching and dling too!
It should also be noted that the Army Physical Fitness Test is by no means the end-all-be-all for measuring ones physical fitness. In fact, the army is currently in the process of heavily modifying their gauges for fitness to something more reasonable.
Week 2 a little late
Ok, so it's been a little while since I've updated this. Mainly due to a lot of stuff happening at work to get in the way, and my weekends have been taken up with a motorcycle class. Anyway, I snuck my workout in today without my workout partner (so no times). I should be able to get a workout in next week with my workout partner.
So with no times, here's the weights I went to failure with in order:
Shoulder press 70
Chest press 130
Rows 130
Leg press 270
Lat pulldowns 130
One thing you'll notice is that I changed the order of the exercises because shoulder press after chest press was killing my progress. So I put shoulders first and was fine... except that doing chest press after killed my chest press and I had to drop the weight back down.
So with no times, here's the weights I went to failure with in order:
Shoulder press 70
Chest press 130
Rows 130
Leg press 270
Lat pulldowns 130
One thing you'll notice is that I changed the order of the exercises because shoulder press after chest press was killing my progress. So I put shoulders first and was fine... except that doing chest press after killed my chest press and I had to drop the weight back down.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Physical Fitness Test
Ok, I did a US Army style PT test today consisting of 2 mile run, and 2 minutes of timed pushups and situps. Here are my stats from today:
Weight: 148.4 lbs
Height: 5'9"
Bodyfat: 9.8%
Pushups (2min): 80
Situps (2min): 61
2 Mile Run: 14:58
It should be noted that the order above is the order I did the events in. I don't normally do Army-style situps and it really hurt me on the test because my hip flexors were much more involved than my abs were while doing the situps. This goes to demonstrate yet another reason why the Army is ditching the situp as a measure of abdominal strength (it only took them 30 years to realize it). Well, not being prepared to overly work my hip flexors, I hit muscle failure at 61 (with a good bit of time left) and simply could not do anymore situps. Doing a 2 mile run following hip flexor muscle failure is INCREDIBLY difficult, and I think my run time would have been significantly better had the exercise been crunches instead of full situps, but what's done is done. For anyone in the Army, my total PT score was a 259 out of a possible 300.
As a side note, despite the US Army's ban on VFF's (Vibram Five Fingers), they do allow "barefoot" shoes with a closed toebox. I was doing sprints prior to starting my BBS workout in VFFs, but for the PT test I wore Merrell Trail Glove. My feet are incredibly sore. My hip flexors are SUPER incredibly sore. My back is a little sore, and my chest is a little sore. My calves are two rocks of soreness attached onto my legs with what feels like clamps. So yeah... REALLY SUPER INCREDIBLY sore.
Sore is a good thing though, it's a definitive signal from your body that you put forth a lot of effort. Of course, reading on about DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) you will find that it frequently occurs as a result of greatly stimulating infrequently trained muscles (i.e. doing exercises you don't normally do). Whatever the true cause for DOMS, it's still good to know my body is converting this pain into more muscle fibers for increased strength. Thanks pain.
In closing... I hated that stupid PT test, and I'd much rather have done my BBS workout. I can't stand running, and want it to be over with the second I start. I can't wait for next week's workout, I feel like this weeks speedbump is only going to make me work that much harder next week.
Weight: 148.4 lbs
Height: 5'9"
Bodyfat: 9.8%
Pushups (2min): 80
Situps (2min): 61
2 Mile Run: 14:58
It should be noted that the order above is the order I did the events in. I don't normally do Army-style situps and it really hurt me on the test because my hip flexors were much more involved than my abs were while doing the situps. This goes to demonstrate yet another reason why the Army is ditching the situp as a measure of abdominal strength (it only took them 30 years to realize it). Well, not being prepared to overly work my hip flexors, I hit muscle failure at 61 (with a good bit of time left) and simply could not do anymore situps. Doing a 2 mile run following hip flexor muscle failure is INCREDIBLY difficult, and I think my run time would have been significantly better had the exercise been crunches instead of full situps, but what's done is done. For anyone in the Army, my total PT score was a 259 out of a possible 300.
As a side note, despite the US Army's ban on VFF's (Vibram Five Fingers), they do allow "barefoot" shoes with a closed toebox. I was doing sprints prior to starting my BBS workout in VFFs, but for the PT test I wore Merrell Trail Glove. My feet are incredibly sore. My hip flexors are SUPER incredibly sore. My back is a little sore, and my chest is a little sore. My calves are two rocks of soreness attached onto my legs with what feels like clamps. So yeah... REALLY SUPER INCREDIBLY sore.
Sore is a good thing though, it's a definitive signal from your body that you put forth a lot of effort. Of course, reading on about DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) you will find that it frequently occurs as a result of greatly stimulating infrequently trained muscles (i.e. doing exercises you don't normally do). Whatever the true cause for DOMS, it's still good to know my body is converting this pain into more muscle fibers for increased strength. Thanks pain.
In closing... I hated that stupid PT test, and I'd much rather have done my BBS workout. I can't stand running, and want it to be over with the second I start. I can't wait for next week's workout, I feel like this weeks speedbump is only going to make me work that much harder next week.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Workout Week 1
Ok, so today was the first progress week, and therefor titled Week 1, so I could see potential strength gains in my lifts. In fact, all my lifts went up (though some more than others). Also, I've been recording my workout partners lifts as well. We've both decided to do a full fitness test next week along with Tim a fellow fitness enthusiast and MDA reader before we embark on a full 12 week program. That said, even though I've gotten a 2 week head start, the experiment will reset and officially begin AFTER the fitness test next week.
Tim will be doing an entirely different protocol called Starting Strength, as outlined (I'm assuming) in the book with the same title written by Mark Rippetoe. It focuses as well on the "Big Five" but it's main divergences are A. Free weights B. It's 3 days a week vice 1 C. Sets are not to failure. Tim will also be recording his progress and at the end of the 12 weeks we will both retest to see where our fitness levels are compared to our previous test.
Todays Stats!
Weight: 149 lbs
Body Fat: 9.9%
Lift stats (in order)
Lat Pulldown: 115 lbs TUL: 1:42
Chest Press: 130 lbs TUL: 1:13
Shoulder Press: 50 lbs TUL: 49
Leg Press: 250 lbs TUL: 1:10
Rows: 115 lbs TUL: 1:07
So I went up in every lift while my times stayed fairly consistent. I only had a minor increase in shoulder press however I think that's mainly because of the order of the lifts. Also, I didn't want to do leg press second to last this time, but AGAIN some guy was on the row machine so I had to do leg press second to last again. Maybe I can somehow mark the equipment beforehand? I realize that's kind of a jerk move, but my workout only lasts 10 minutes, I'm sure they can wait. Besides, there's two of every machine.
After workout food and thoughts!
I intentionally did my workout fasted today, and man was I starving afterwards. Directly after (within an hour) I consumed 1 1/2 scoops of Syntha 6, 16 pieces of sashimi (Tuna, Salmon, Flatfish), 8 pieces of beef and rice "sushi" (the beef was grilled and in tiny strips on top of rice), and then a protein shake with 32g more of protein. For dinner I had a boneless skinless chicken breast with cheese garlic and black pepper on top, and then a 1/3 lb bison cubed steak with worcestershire sauce on it. I'm still hungry so I'm thawing out a small Ahi Tuna steak as I write this.
The workout wasn't harder or easier today. It was exactly as draining as last week, though I expected it this time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time to lay on the carpet contemplating "why do I do this to myself" followed by the post exercise endorphine rush and the locker realization that muscles were extremely inflated beyond their normal size. It's a good post workout feeling once you recover yourself.
Tim will be doing an entirely different protocol called Starting Strength, as outlined (I'm assuming) in the book with the same title written by Mark Rippetoe. It focuses as well on the "Big Five" but it's main divergences are A. Free weights B. It's 3 days a week vice 1 C. Sets are not to failure. Tim will also be recording his progress and at the end of the 12 weeks we will both retest to see where our fitness levels are compared to our previous test.
Todays Stats!
Weight: 149 lbs
Body Fat: 9.9%
Lift stats (in order)
Lat Pulldown: 115 lbs TUL: 1:42
Chest Press: 130 lbs TUL: 1:13
Shoulder Press: 50 lbs TUL: 49
Leg Press: 250 lbs TUL: 1:10
Rows: 115 lbs TUL: 1:07
So I went up in every lift while my times stayed fairly consistent. I only had a minor increase in shoulder press however I think that's mainly because of the order of the lifts. Also, I didn't want to do leg press second to last this time, but AGAIN some guy was on the row machine so I had to do leg press second to last again. Maybe I can somehow mark the equipment beforehand? I realize that's kind of a jerk move, but my workout only lasts 10 minutes, I'm sure they can wait. Besides, there's two of every machine.
After workout food and thoughts!
I intentionally did my workout fasted today, and man was I starving afterwards. Directly after (within an hour) I consumed 1 1/2 scoops of Syntha 6, 16 pieces of sashimi (Tuna, Salmon, Flatfish), 8 pieces of beef and rice "sushi" (the beef was grilled and in tiny strips on top of rice), and then a protein shake with 32g more of protein. For dinner I had a boneless skinless chicken breast with cheese garlic and black pepper on top, and then a 1/3 lb bison cubed steak with worcestershire sauce on it. I'm still hungry so I'm thawing out a small Ahi Tuna steak as I write this.
The workout wasn't harder or easier today. It was exactly as draining as last week, though I expected it this time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time to lay on the carpet contemplating "why do I do this to myself" followed by the post exercise endorphine rush and the locker realization that muscles were extremely inflated beyond their normal size. It's a good post workout feeling once you recover yourself.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
My prior training and first week thoughts
While waiting (anxiously) to do my next workout in two days I'm fielding a suggestion to post a little more background about my training history. Also, I thought I would express my impressions about the recovery period from week 0, as my muscles are no longer incredibly sore as of yesterday (recovery day 4).
Background:
I've had an overall very active childhood/young adulthood. I began training in male gymnastics at the age of 10 and began competing at a regional/tri-state level at the age of 12. I noticed sometime around the age of 12 that my triceps were no longer normal compared to my peers (particularly in the lateral head), and along with my lats were the only muscles that were extremely well defined for my age. Unfortunately, my family and I moved later that summer to a new state with no gym to train at, so that's where my gymnastics career ended.
I did however put my newfound atheleticism to use. In school I played various sports but mainly stuck with soccer (football) as mid-fielder (middie) from middle school through my senior year of high school. Also, in my sophomore year of high school I was on the wrestling team. My only real weight training during all of this time was during my one season on the wrestling team (where I gained quite a bit of definition, particularly in my deltoids). Also, it should be noted that I spent my last two years of high school at an Army-style military academy. This is important because we had mandatory "PT" three days a week which mainly included sit-ups, push-ups, and runs. While I was on the soccer team there however, we did not participate in school PT, but instead did lots of wind-sprints for conditioning.
At the age of 18, I promptly joined the Air Force (where I have been for nearly 10 years). When I entered the AF I was at my wrestler weight of 130 lbs, and when I left basic training 6 weeks later I weighed in at 147 lbs (a weight I've more or less maintained for the past 10 years). In the Air Force, we are supposed to do three days of PT a week, with again the basic three: sit-ups, pushups, and running. Work and other things frequently get in the way of scheduled PT though, and it's usually less than 3 days a week on average.
Strength Training Experience:
I was deployed to Iraq for about 6 months during OIF and spent 6/7 days at the gym and eating everything in sight. I was also chugging protein shakes and taking NO-xplode like it was my job. I gained roughly 4 lbs over 6 months, with little to no added mass to speak of. Ultimately my training partner and I had very little idea of what we were doing and had very bad misconceptions about how to train. The biggest mistake that we made was not doing squats, and overtraining.
Last year I tried the leangains protocol for about 3 months, and while I did see significant progress in my lifts, I gained no weight, and no mass. I eventually hit a point this winter where my workouts trickled off to eventually abandoning the protocol all together for a sprint and pushup protocol. My largest strength gain was getting up to doing 7 reps of weighted dips (BW + 90 lbs).
Prior to starting this BBS protocol I began a workout which consisted of 4-6 sprints, and then doing as many pushups as possible in a 2 minute period. I've been doing this since late February because the weather started warming up. I'm able to do 90 pushups in two minutes now. For sprints I'm up to 6 intervals at around 250m each. I didn't time my sprints, however I don't know how to do anything less than 100% effort because that's just how I am.
Week 0 recovery:
Ok, so I did my first workout on a Wednesday and about an hour after I was already starting to feel sore, particularly in my right bicep (I'm right handed if that makes a difference). The next day I was barely able to shower and get dressed. My soreness continued well into Saturday though it cycled through the various muscle groups ending with my quads mainly on Saturday. I went to an amusement park on Saturday (and I saw a LIGER... not big deal), so all the walking made the soreness even more noticable, though I think it helped to relieve it as well.
It's now monday... and I want to do my workout again. I'm very curious to see if there's much noticable improvement or not. I plan on increasing all of my lifts with the exception of the shoulder press. Also, I'm going to try to do the leg press last this time, so I don't risk smashing my face into a piece of gym equipment.
Interesting Video Link:
The Truth About Exercise
Background:
I've had an overall very active childhood/young adulthood. I began training in male gymnastics at the age of 10 and began competing at a regional/tri-state level at the age of 12. I noticed sometime around the age of 12 that my triceps were no longer normal compared to my peers (particularly in the lateral head), and along with my lats were the only muscles that were extremely well defined for my age. Unfortunately, my family and I moved later that summer to a new state with no gym to train at, so that's where my gymnastics career ended.
I did however put my newfound atheleticism to use. In school I played various sports but mainly stuck with soccer (football) as mid-fielder (middie) from middle school through my senior year of high school. Also, in my sophomore year of high school I was on the wrestling team. My only real weight training during all of this time was during my one season on the wrestling team (where I gained quite a bit of definition, particularly in my deltoids). Also, it should be noted that I spent my last two years of high school at an Army-style military academy. This is important because we had mandatory "PT" three days a week which mainly included sit-ups, push-ups, and runs. While I was on the soccer team there however, we did not participate in school PT, but instead did lots of wind-sprints for conditioning.
At the age of 18, I promptly joined the Air Force (where I have been for nearly 10 years). When I entered the AF I was at my wrestler weight of 130 lbs, and when I left basic training 6 weeks later I weighed in at 147 lbs (a weight I've more or less maintained for the past 10 years). In the Air Force, we are supposed to do three days of PT a week, with again the basic three: sit-ups, pushups, and running. Work and other things frequently get in the way of scheduled PT though, and it's usually less than 3 days a week on average.
Strength Training Experience:
I was deployed to Iraq for about 6 months during OIF and spent 6/7 days at the gym and eating everything in sight. I was also chugging protein shakes and taking NO-xplode like it was my job. I gained roughly 4 lbs over 6 months, with little to no added mass to speak of. Ultimately my training partner and I had very little idea of what we were doing and had very bad misconceptions about how to train. The biggest mistake that we made was not doing squats, and overtraining.
Last year I tried the leangains protocol for about 3 months, and while I did see significant progress in my lifts, I gained no weight, and no mass. I eventually hit a point this winter where my workouts trickled off to eventually abandoning the protocol all together for a sprint and pushup protocol. My largest strength gain was getting up to doing 7 reps of weighted dips (BW + 90 lbs).
Prior to starting this BBS protocol I began a workout which consisted of 4-6 sprints, and then doing as many pushups as possible in a 2 minute period. I've been doing this since late February because the weather started warming up. I'm able to do 90 pushups in two minutes now. For sprints I'm up to 6 intervals at around 250m each. I didn't time my sprints, however I don't know how to do anything less than 100% effort because that's just how I am.
Week 0 recovery:
Ok, so I did my first workout on a Wednesday and about an hour after I was already starting to feel sore, particularly in my right bicep (I'm right handed if that makes a difference). The next day I was barely able to shower and get dressed. My soreness continued well into Saturday though it cycled through the various muscle groups ending with my quads mainly on Saturday. I went to an amusement park on Saturday (and I saw a LIGER... not big deal), so all the walking made the soreness even more noticable, though I think it helped to relieve it as well.
It's now monday... and I want to do my workout again. I'm very curious to see if there's much noticable improvement or not. I plan on increasing all of my lifts with the exception of the shoulder press. Also, I'm going to try to do the leg press last this time, so I don't risk smashing my face into a piece of gym equipment.
Interesting Video Link:
The Truth About Exercise
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Recovery Days Week 0
I figured I would just post my thoughts and diet for all my recovery days in just one post per week and update a single post everyday for the sake of keeping everything in one place.
Recovery Day 1
Stats:
Weight 149.4 lbs
Body fat: 9.9 %
Diet:
Stats:
Weight 149.4 lbs
Body fat: 9.9 %
Diet:
Had 1 scoop of whey with 1/2 cup of whole milk, multi-vitamins, and fish oil.
1 Cup green tea
3 egg steak and cheese omelet
1 cup coffee
Large handful of roasted almonds
2 Top Loin beef steaks (1 lb total) and a side of kimchi
Thoughts:
I'm incredibly sore. Particularly in my pectorals, biceps, and upper back. Forearms a little bit too. Legs aren't too bad, but I've been sprinting a lot recently, so that probably helps. Getting dressed this morning was quite a chore. Usually soreness like this is two days after my workouts if there's been a lull in training or something, but I've never had soreness like this the next day. I guess that's a testament to the level of in-roading I achieved?
Recovery Days 2-5
I thought I would condense this a little bit just for space-sake. I kept my diet fairly consistent all week so I figured I'd just post it all in one big spot.
*Morning: Some sort of omelette, with 4-6 eggs and cheese (various veggies)
Lunch: Large Chicken breast with bacon and veggies
Dinner: 1 lb beef (in various forms/cuts) and spinach + protein shake
*Some days I skip breakfast and just add an 8 oz steak to my lunch.
Recovery Days 2-5
I thought I would condense this a little bit just for space-sake. I kept my diet fairly consistent all week so I figured I'd just post it all in one big spot.
*Morning: Some sort of omelette, with 4-6 eggs and cheese (various veggies)
Lunch: Large Chicken breast with bacon and veggies
Dinner: 1 lb beef (in various forms/cuts) and spinach + protein shake
*Some days I skip breakfast and just add an 8 oz steak to my lunch.
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