HIAH, Get Ready, workout 2A

I feel like I just got beat up.

My legs and shoulders were really sore from the last two days of lifting and swimming before I even walked into the gym yesterday. I’m even worse for wear today. There is no question that I need to take the weekend off.

Even with the soreness, I still feel like I gave my all on this one.

Here are the numbers.

Cable Standing Mid-Pulley Row (130×7, 175×6, 205×7, 220×5)

I found a pulley with a bigger weight stack. The first two were still pretty easy. The last two sets gave me some balance issues. I can move the weight but I can’t stand perfectly still. I have to rock back to keep from going forward. I wonder if I’m doing these right. Maybe I should go back down to 200 lbs or so.

Dips (2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1)

This might have been the toughest lift ever. I still can’t believe I managed to do 25 dips. I remember back in high school I couldn’t even do one. That was back when I weighed 235. I guess I’m a lot fitter now then I ever was.

I had to do a little grunting and even some screaming to get some of those two reps sets. That second one was ALWAYS tough.

The toughest part was doing these with 45 second rest periods. Even with that it still took me damn near 30 minutes. Nevertheless, I did it and I’m pretty damn proud of that.

Dumbbell split squat (50×6, 50×4, 50×6, 50×4, 50×3, 50×2)

I actually did these right this time. They were tough. I think the hardest part is figuring out when to stop. At some points I almost fall over. When I’m doing my second leg I know I have to match the previous leg and that can be quite an adventure.

HIAH, Get Ready, workout 1C

The weather was bad so we went to the gym that’s closer to our house. It’s certainly not as nice as our gym in the suburbs but it’s still a nice change of pace.

When I first looked at this workout I thought it would be the quickest. In theory I could finish all three  lifts in two and a half sets. My wife is doing NROL for women so she had five lifts. I thought I’d be waiting for her to finish. It didn’t turn out that way. She ended up having to wait a good ten minutes for me. This was the longest lift of the week. I spent at least an hour in the gym.

Here are the numbers.

Cable standing low pulley row with rope attachment (100 x 23, 110 x 12, 110 x 12, 110 x 3)

I suck at finding things in the gym. I tore the gym apart looking for that rope attachment. Went through every box and stalked around every machine. I ended up using some straps that serve basically the same function. As you might expect, as soon as I finished I found the rope hanging at eye level from a pulley machine.

Pushup (20, 4, 6, 8, 6, 6)

Twenty pushups is still no joke to me. Once I got that first set I felt like my arms were done. The rest period seemed like it flew by. I pretty much had to just tough it out from there. It took me five sets to get the last 30 but I’m pretty happy that I got it done.

Squats (135 x6, 135 x 10, 135 x 10, 135 x8, 135 x 8, 135 x4, 135 x 4)

I didn’t do this right the first time and I ended up paying the price. You’re supposed to do 20 in your first set. I don’t know why I stopped at 6. I guess I had visions of past back pain in my head. I got two sets of 10 immediately afterwards so I know I could at least do that much. It’s just mental. I’m gonna have to get past this.

Since I didn’t do 20 I ended up having to figure out a way to get 44 more reps in. I soldiered on even when my legs felt like jelly. To add insult to injury, the locker room in my gym is upstairs so I had to do the old man walk up there to get changed.

HIAH, Get Ready, workout 1B

Today I got lucky with picking weights. Had to pick a weight that I could lift 10 to 12 times. Every single one of them was right on the money.

There’s really not much to say about anything else…

Here are the numbers.

Underhand grip lat pulldown (135 x 10, 135 x 8, 135 x 6, 135 x 6, 135 x 5)

Dumbbell standing shoulder press (35 x 12, 35 x 8, 35 x 6, 35 x 5, 35 x 4)

Deadlift (185 x10, 185 x 8, 185 x 6, 185 x 6, 185 x 5)

HIAH, Get Ready, workout 1A

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.

My future workout plans

It’s time to start a new fitness plan.

On the weight lifting front I’m going with Chad Waterbury’s “Huge in a Hurry” I’ll admit that the title might sound counter productive to what I’m trying to accomplish. In his book even he doubts that anyone trying to lose weight would pick up a book with that title. What can I say? I’ve always been a maverick.

I don’t care. I’m at the point now where I realize that any weight lifting plan will work for fat loss. The biggest factor is diet. If you don’t eat enough then you won’t get huge. If you eat too much, though, you definitely will.

I chose this book mainly because I wanted to buy a weight lifting book. There’s just something about having one of those sitting on my table beside my couch. It’s a constant reminder that I need to stay in the gym. I looked around at all the ones that are currently out there, saw his name, recognized it and bought it.

The book is pretty much a mirror of the NROL plan in that it starts with a break in phase and you follow it with either a strength, hypertrophy or weight loss phase.

There is a difference in the rep scheme, though. Instead of a set number for each set this book calls for something called “loads.” In my other plans I might have three sets of 10 for example. Here I’ll have a day where the load is 10-12. I have to pick a weight that I can only lift that much. The entire lift will have a designated rep number. Say, 25 for example. In this case I might do 10, 10, 5 or I could even end up doing 10, 7, 5, 3. The sets after the first one aren’t really important. What’s important is that I do the total number of reps.

I really like this idea. Basically, you stop when you do your first bad rep. In the past, if I couldn’t get all the reps in a set I would just stop and call it a day. In this plan I’ll stop, rest a little and go back to work.

On the cardio front, I’m going to stick with swimming. I’m not ready to begin yet but I’m going to try “Zero to 1650.” The plan is to swim a “swimmer’s” mile.

It’s a six week plan but there’s no way I can do this in six weeks. The first week calls for four 100 yd swims. I just celebrated my first 50 yd swims the other day so I’m not even ready to start yet. I’m going to keep at it, though, until I’m able to do those 100 yarders.  I hope I’m ready to go in a few weeks but I’m in no hurry to rush. I’ll get there and I’ll get this one done just like I got all the other ones done.