Fitness Update

[sathor]

So I tried the 3 day plan for about a week, and it wasn't going to happen. It's not that my muscles were exhausted, but rather, my nervous system energy was. I just couldn't muster the overall mental/physical energy to do all compounds and a few isolations on a single day.

At the beginning of last week I switched over to a two-day split routine. Basically, I just took some compounds: bent over row, bench press and squats, and moved them onto Monday/Thursday. I put deadlifts, overhead presses and dips on Tuesday/Friday. I put some isolations on each day as well: lateral raises, curls and leg isolations (hamstring curl, leg extension) on Monday/Thursday, and shrugs and calf raises on tuesday/friday. I'm finding even this to be totally exhausting. My workout tonight, the first where I actually managed to do all exercises I intended to do on a thursday, took about 45 minutes. Squats and leg isolations were my last exercises, and I only managed about half of what I wanted - not because my muscles were exhausted, but because I was totally deficient in energy (squats are also incredibly hard on my cardio, so it takes quite a bit for me to get my breath back and for my heart rate to drop afterwards.)

I'm not sure if I need to modify my diet, or just wait for my endurance to build up. I tried loading a lot more carbohydrates today and that didn't work (I was also super sleepy today and napped TWICE.) It could just be the weather, I guess - the temperature finally dropped below 70 degrees after about three weeks of high 80s and 90s...

At any rate, I'm really hoping I get past these little hurdles. I don't much enjoy working my body to that collapse point - I love weight lifting and pushing my muscles to exhaustion, but this type of feeling is totally different than what I'm used to. If I don't exhaust the muscles, they don't really grow, and if my overall energy is preventing that, I need to figure out what is creating that wall.

Maybe I need to be more serious about cardio on the off days...that would at least help condition me for the energy/oxygen required for squats and deadlifts.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I presume what you're doing is High Intensity Training? If so, it sounds like you're doing it right, because it's supposed to exhaust you to virtual collapse.

You say "squats are also incredibly hard on my cardio, so it takes quite a bit for me to get my breath back and for my heart rate to drop afterwards", but then say "Maybe I need to be more serious about cardio on the off days" - that latter does NOT sound right to me. If you're getting your heart rate up that much twice a week, that is probably sufficient; over-training will not get you results faster.

How's your breathing? You smoked for a number of years, and the damage from that doesn't just go away in a month - breathing exercises will help, though. The one my Kung Fu master gave me, that I still use when training, is this:

Breathe in through the nose for eight counts -
Breathe out through the mouth for four counts.

... the count can be faster or slower as needed; the point is to keep it steady. Then do the 'Chi breathing' during rest periods:

Breathe in through the nose 'as if smelling a flower' for six counts. Pause.
Breathe out through the nose for six counts. Pause. Repeat.

... gently stroke the soft spots behind/under your ears while you rest and breathe. That's your carotid sinus; doing so will stimulate the vagus nerve and help your heart slow down.

Do you have a blood-pressure monitor? If not, I suggest you get one, and start paying attention to what your blood pressure is doing before and after workouts.

*hugs* Hope that helps!

[sathor.livejournal.com]

I read the article you linked - the exercise layout is fairly similar, with the differences being I'm doing each of those days twice a week, and I'm doing more sets for each exercise (I'm not sure how that few of sets could actually result in a 45 minute workout, unless people are really lollygagging - I super set my exercises.) That and I only do exercises with free weights, so the cable pulls and the like aren't a part of my routine. I like compound lifts with just a handful of isolation for aesthetic purposes (I have long legs so my calves are small, so I like to do calf raises - I want my lats to be more pronounced, and I throw in leg isolation just to exhaust my legs more all-around.)

I do have a blood pressure monitor. Weight lifting is well known to increase blood pressure during the workout (part of the reason it works the cardiovascular system, or so they say - it is also claimed that weight lifters have better resting blood pressures than those who don't.) I wouldn't be against seeing what's going on before and after, though.

The reason i suggested being more serious about cardio would be so I can actually condition my body to deal with the squats better - I don't actually think I'm supposed to get that out of breath from them, especially with the low weight I'm using. However, I am definitely seeing improvement already in my total endurance during the routines as well as during squats, so it may be that you are correct, and this is enough - for now. I still need to be doing cardio because it is something I severely lack as a general rule - twelve years of smoking, and I'm still not quit of the damn habit.