Weight lifting never ceases to amaze me.
I spent a grand total of 30 minutes in the gym. That includes a half mile warm up jog and a half mile cool down jog. Even so, I’m about as sore as I can be right now. I walked out of that gym completely spent.
Today was the first lift of Huge in a Hurry. For the next three weeks I’m going to do the introductory phase called “Get Ready.”
The whole point of this program is to lift fast and stick to specified rest breaks. Doing that shaves a lot of time. We’ll see how it works.
Here are the numbers.
Cable Standing Mid-Pulley Row (35×7, 42.5×7, 95×7, 95×4)
The machine I used doesn’t have enough weight. 95 pounds is the max and it’s simply not enough. I exceeded the load number every time. I probably could have done sets of 20 if I wanted. You’re supposed to stop immediately after you exceed the load, though, because that’s a sign that it’s time to add weight.
I looked around and saw another one that goes up to 140 (I think). I’m gonna try it next time. My new gym hides the pulley stuff over with the rest of “the machines.” I have no idea what’s going on in that area. From day one I’ve done all I could to avoid it. I might have to spend some more time over there.
Dumbbell decline bench with neutral grip (50×7, 60×7, 65×7, 65×4)
You have two choices with this lift. Either do dips or the decline bench. I figured that there’s no way I could do a dip so I opted for the bench. After going through this ordeal it’s clear to me that I’d better figure out a way to do dips.
I ended up maxing out with 65 pound dumbbells but I don’t think that’s my max. That’s the amount that I was able to get in position. The whole thing is very awkward and I still don’t know how to pick up the weights and get in position. Those last two sets probably took me 5 minutes each. Maybe I’m dumb but I figured the only way was to put my legs in the things, pick up the weights and then lay down. This was VERY difficult for me to do. Once I got them up there, though, I had no trouble getting the reps.
After my workout I found the dip station and tried to do one. I was actually able to do a half decent rep even with tired arms. I’m gonna give real dips a try next week. If that doesn’t work I”ll use the dip assist machine. If I stay with this decline bench thing I’m bound to take a dumbbell to the head sometime soon.
Dumbbell split squat (50×4, 50×4, 50×4, 50×4, 50×3, 50×4, 50×2)
I just figured out that I did these wrong. I did lunges. I stuck my leg out, went down and then came back. In this exercise you’re supposed to keep your feet on the ground and then go down and up. Since these sets are basically of no use for determining my future progress I’ll just say that they were very hard and forced me to grunt like a weirdo at times.