August - September 2006

[John]

Hey welcome to my 2006 Workouts thread. I'll be posting details of my workouts in here which hopefully will serve two purposes:

1. To keep me motivated whenever I'm tempted to slacking off and
2. To help motivate others to workout and reap the benefits (inner and outer) of keeping themselves fit, healthy, looking and feeling great. Well, in my case it might be a bit late to look great. Let's say looking your best.

[John]

Been putting in some training on my Concept 2 rower leading up to the Lower North Island Indoor Rowing Championships in Wellington this weekend. I enjoy 500m sprints but wanna try and improve on my 1000m and 2000m times later. Got a 500m PB of 1:28.2 last month so was pretty pleased with myself. Still 4 seconds outside the NZ record for my age group (55 - 59) though.

Disappointingly the Champs had to be cancelled because of insufficient entries, so I've turned to the weights for solace.

Stuffed my shoulder pretty badly last Wednesday night doing BP. 110kg felt fine! Nasty tearing sound at 115kg when the weight was lowered so I guess I'll be flying on one wing again for a while. (Previously tore the supraspinatus in my R shoulder and laid off the bench presses for a few months.) Oh well, I guess that's my body telling me something loud and clear!

Upper Body Workout today - BFL formula - 1 min rests between sets, superset to finish, 2 min rest between muscle groups:

Chest

• Pec deck: 12 x 50kg, 10 x 60kg, 8 x 70kg, 6 x 90kg, 12 x 80kg
• Cable crossover: 12 x 36kg (superset). -> Failure at 5th rep!!

Back

• Seated Row: 12 x 60lb, 10 x 90lb, 8 x 135lb, 6 x 165lb, 12 x 135lb
• W/g Pullup: 12 x BW (superset). -> Failure at 6th rep!!

Traps

• Shrug machine: 12 x 0k, 10 x 40kg, 8 x 80kg, 6 x 120kg, 12 x 80kg

Biceps

• Seated Preacher EZ-Curl: 12 x 16kg, 10 x 26kg, 8 x 31kg, 6 x 31kg, 12 x 26kg -> Failure at 5/8 and 5/6 reps!!
• Hammer Curl: 12 x 9kg (superset). -> Sloppy form R shoulder.

Triceps

• Triceps Rope Pressdowns: 12 x 40kg, 10 x 50kg, 8 x 60kg, 6 x 70kg, 12 x 60kg
• Kickbacks: 12 x 12kg5 (superset).

Not too bad I suppose. Shoulder injury has tired me out and I have to avoid raising it or doing presses. Had no idea what weights to use on some of the exercises. Pretty pissed at the curls though - guess the ruptured biceps tendon explains that dismal performance.

[John]

I'm testing the waters on the Crossfit.com WODs (workout of the day). Today's WOD ...

Complete as many rounds as you can in 20 min of:

• 75 lb Sumo deadlift high-pull x 21 reps
• L-pull-ups x 12 reps

Never done SDHPs before so went to the gym after work to see how the shoulder stood up to them. Well, the shoulder wasn't the problem. Managed one round of the SDHPs and LPUs and that had me panting and ready for a break!

Will try rounds for time tomorrow.

[John]

Managed 5 sets of the SDHP/LPU workout in about 17 minutes. Too stuffed to try for another set.

Couple of 500m rows just before bed. Both around 1:40 pace.

Shoulder showing some signs of improving. Tried some light DB shoulder presses tonight and no dramas and I can lift my porridge into the microwave now almost without flinching!

[John]

A 'testing things out' gym session. Tested newly repaired weights belt:

• Pullups (wide o/h grip): 12 x 5kg, 10 x 10kg, 8 x 20kg, 3 x 30kg
• Pullups (narrow u/h grip): 3 x 30kg

Further tested shoulder injury:

• DB shoulder press (seated): 12 x 8kg, 10kg, 12kg5, 17kg5, 22kg5, 27kg5

No worries.

Had thoughts of attempting CrossFit WoD: 50-40-30-20-10 rep sets of back extensions and situps. Lost interest after one set of 20 back extensions.

[John]

Once a week I subject my chicken legs to the torture of squats in the belated hope that one day I'll have the thighs of a 120kg All Black prop. (Only got about another 34kg to go - LOL.) Besides, everyone knows ... squats are "what you do"!

Decided to start off trying something I'd never done before: one-arm DB snatches. Having watched a video of this guy hoisting 68kg overhead, I figured I should be OK for half that weight. Literally one arm one-arm snatches for me, because my R shoulder puts to rest the notion of lifting anything much heavier than my morning bowl of porridge at the moment.

• One-arm DB snatches: 9kg to 35kg (L arm), 9kg only (R arm)

All power snatches. Locked out the 35kg ones but it wavered around a bit up there! Need to work on technique a bit. I've since read that keeping your eye on the weight helps with holding it stable overhead. And no, I don't have 9kg of porridge in the morning.

• Back squats (ATA*): 12 x 80kg, 10 x 100kg, 7 x 110kg, 2 x 120kg, 8 x 100kg
• 45° leg press: 10 x 240kg
• Standing calf raise: 12 x 210lb, 10 x 270lb, 8 x 300lb, 2 x 344lb

* Arse to ankles.

Had a wee accident with the calf raises ... the cable snapped after only two reps with the 20kg plate added to the 300lb weight stack. At this point I decided I'd exit the gym quietly rather than complete my legs workout. Back tomorrow night to finish the legs stuff.

[John]

Declared yesterday a rest day - finishing with a long soak in a hot bath to soothe the aches and pains ... sore hip adductor, sore shoulder, sore abs ...

Went back to finish lower body workout that ended abruptly with the cable snapping on Thursday. Amazingly they had it repaired when I went back today. Sometimes it takes them a couple of weeks to get around to fixing even simple stuff.

• Standing calf raise: 12 x 210lb, 10 x 270lb, 8 + 10 + 10 x 300lb
• Seated calf raise: 12 x 150lb
• Lying leg curl: 12 x 25lb, 10 x 35lb, 8 x 45lb, 6 x 55lb, 12 x 40lb
• DB lunge: 12 x 25kg
• Reverse decline crunches - legs kept straight: 12
• Crunches on Swiss ball: 12
• Roman chair leg raises: 12
• Reverse decline crunches - legs straight: 12

Did some pullups and L-pullups then tried some shoulder presses from the squat rack. Shoulder was painful with just the weight of the Olympic bar, so stopped that pretty quickly. Ten days since I injured it, so will give it at least another week before I try any more presses of any sort.

Will do the CrossFit WoD tomorrow: squat cleans and back extensions.

[John]

With all my aches and pains (aka "DOMS" in the game = Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) I declared yesterday another rest day rather than attempt 45 squat cleans and 90 back extensions!

I wanna get back into indoor rowing sprints and better my 500m time. PB is 1:28.2 and I want to get under 1:28. Cunning plan is to do two or three "power trials" during training in successive weeks at >85%, >90% and >95% of the average power required to row a 1:28. If I can do this, I will aim to better 1:28 (i.e. >100%) at least once in the fourth week.

So this morning I aimed for > 85%, which is 437 Watts, or a time better than 1:32.9.

Did 457W = 1:31.5. Did today's CrossFit WoD tonight. Three rounds for time:

• 1000m row
• 20 pullups
• 30 box jumps (50cm box)

Time was 24:29, with lots of breaks in the pullups and a couple during the box jumps. Man the guy who creates these WoDs certainly knows how to push you to the limit. Your body feels twice the weight when you do pullups immediately after a row!

Finished off with some more one-arm dumbbell power snatches, aiming to push the recovering R shoulder just a little more than last time.

• 5-rep sets 9kg to 15kg R arm
• 5-rep sets 15kg to 25kg L arm

L arm was really only warm-up weight, but I was more interested in building up the weight on the R gradually. Felt OK, but used two hands to lower the weight on the R arm snatches to avoid further injury to the unstable shoulder.

[John]

CrossFit WoD: Deadlifts 3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1 rep sets, for maximum exertion.

• 100kg x 3, 130kg 140kg 150kg x 2, 160kg 165kg 160kg 160kg 160kg x 1

Pretty disappointed not to get to 170kg but grip is very weak. More one-arm DB snatches: up to 35kg each arm. R shoulder was OK but used both hands to lower weight to protect shoulder.

[John]

Well the CrossFit WoD involves rounds of burpees, handstand push-ups and 400m runs. A few burpees may be OK but shoulder still too sore to risk HSPUs, and runs are, like, not where I go right now. So all-in-all an excuse for a sort of a 'nothing' workout.

• Sets of butterflies on the pec deck BFL style to 100lb + superset cable crossovers 36lb.
• One-arm power snatches and push snatches to 35kg each arm.
• Sets of seated DB shoulder presses BFL style to 27kg5 + superset cable kickbacks 18lb.
• Dead hanging from pullup bar to try and strengthen grip.

[John]

Worked until around 7:45 so didn't go to the gym.

500m sprint on the Concept 2: Week 1, so aiming to better 85% of power for 1:28.0 pace, i.e. more than 437 Watts , or a time better than 1:32.9. Somehow thought it was meant to be > 467 W so ended up doing 474W = 1:30.4. Only just managed to keep average above 467 till the finish because I didn't do a warm up and died on the second-to-last stroke.

[John]

... well, I thought it was. Worked late again and made it to the gym half an hour before closing time. Started with squats - but just couldn't get in the groove, so abandoned the heavy stuff.

Did some preachers before going home:

• EZ-bar preacher curl: 10 x 28kg, 8 x 38kg, 3 x 43kg, 10 x 33kg

Home, and then a 500m sprint on the Concept 2 @ (only just) 85% goal power:

• Row: 500m @ 441 Watts (1:32.6)

Should've been pretty easy but it wasn't. Stayed above 500W for 350m then faded. Blew up in last 100m. Arms a bit sore from the curls. Went to bed and slept almost 9 hours. I must'a needed the rest!

[John]

Had another crack at legs in the afternoon. Still found it tough and cut my squats back by 10kg.

• Squats (ATA): 12x60kg, 10x80kg, 8x100kg, 6x110kg
• Leg extensions (s/s): 12x200lb
• Calf raise: 12x120kg, 10x160kg, 8x200kg, 6x220kg, 12x200kg
• Seated calf machine(s/s): 12x150lb + 20kg plate on thighs
• Lying leg curl machine: 12x25kg, 10x35kg, 8x5kg, 6x55kg - short ROM
• DB lunge (s/s): 1x25kg. Stopped because of pain in R hammie.
• EZ curl preacher: 12x23kg, 10x28kg, 8x33kg, 6x38kg, 10x33kg
• Cable curl (s/s): 12x50kg
• Rope triceps pressdown: 12x25kg, 10x35kg, 8x50kg, 6x60kg, 12x50kg
• Cable kickback: 8x15kg

The gym finally has a Smith machine! Tried it out for the calf raises. Hmmm, didn't notice the label "Do not exceed maximum load 400lb" until after I finished. Might try one-legged calf raises on it next time.

[John]

Tried some front squats for the first time today. Found the forearms and the injured shoulder were a wee bit sore getting the bar into position.

• Front squats: 20kg to 80kg for sets of three

Need to concentrate on getting the weight back on the heels and didn't feel I should risk going any heavier, especially after squats day yesterday.

Last day of the "85%+" week for rowing. Did a couple of 2k rows in the evening and it was hard work. Didn't even manage to get under 8:00.0 for either of them. Rowed a 467W 500m (1:30.8) just before going to bed. This is around 91% of power for a 1:28.0 pace. Felt rooted for 5-10 minutes after it. Must have a virus or something I think.

[John]

Weights only tonight. Start my 90% power rowing week tomorrow. Energy level today again pretty crap.

• Incline DB press: 15x15kg, 12x20kg, 12x25kg, 12x30kg, 12x35kg, 15x25kg
• Push jerk: 3x40kg, 2x50kg, 2x60kg, 2x70kg, F 80kg, 1x75kg
• Pullup wide o/h grip: 25x0kg, 10x10kg, 7x20kg, 2x30kg, 5x25kg, 20x0kg

Required spotter to get the DBs up to lockout to start each set of presses because of shoulder injury. Those and the push jerks were tackled tentatively. Need lots of practice at push jerks. 80kg failed because I didn't squat and get under the bar. Pullups all cool 25-rep set equals PB. Must try for 30 reps next time.