Onwards and upwards - target 2012...
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SO THE NEW LEG WORKOUT. Leg Press SS with swiss ball squats. So again a 'wussy' exercise has killed me! Never done these before, they are intense. Quads just screaming at the end of the set, must be working into the tear drops just above the knees. All good. The press a variation. Basically racking the weight in the down position each time on the pins in a pause, so each up drive is from a standing start. So 1 is safer, and 2 harder than your normal press (IMHO).<br />
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then hammy curls x shit loads and calf raises.<br />
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All good at the office today! -
that's what I said!<br />
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not on top of the ball, but ball between your back and the wall. Squat down until your thigh are parallel with the floor. Dumbells in your hands. closer the feet together harder it is.<br />
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this is where you can do holds too - 15 seconds etc. all very painful, although we have not had those yet. I am sure we will at some stage!! -
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spin class today, legs TIRED. Was rooted after 27 minutes today, but managed to fight through, entertaining myself by watching in one of the mirrors the gril who looked like she was a frog that had been hooked up to the mains power supply. Knees and arms and legs all over the shop. Think she might need to increase her resistance a little!!
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Where are we up to? Hard to tell at the moment which way is up, let alone what workouts are due! So yesterday was shoulders, cable hell, preceeded by clean and press and about a trillion lat raises. Top workout, shoulders nailed.<br />
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This morning was back and biceps, and another hammering - back already shagged from yesterdays effort! But stoked, managed some weighted chins ups. saw them on the programme and thought Dazza must be dreeeaaaaaming. So avoided the first set of 8 with weights, but creamed them surprisingly enough, and then two sets of 6, with a MASSIVE 5 kilo weight dangling between my legs. And I was going to use a 20 - not a chance, the 5 felt like 50!! But first set got to four before Ness latched onto the ankles to give me a little help, and 5 on the last set of the day. Makes the expereince of chins waaay different, but cool. <br />
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Biceps on the cables, preachers and hammer curls, good pump, but need to add a bit of weight across the board for next week. Great workout though, loved it. -
chest today - 26th. Gym closed until the afternoon so had the place to ourselves. Good workout, got the weights sorted now on week 2 of this prog. DB Bench press up to 40kg. Have never really gone heavy on DB bench before so is an interesting experience. The flat cable flies that are supersetted with the presses make for a painful experience! Still doing low reps on the first half of the SS, and high on the second, just to ramp up the pain levels...!!
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Lucky legs got hammered today, got the weights right second time out on this programme, and expect to suffer tomorrow!<br />
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Leg press with a pauses at the bottom rocks. The pause on the pins, or in this case, on the board at the lowest stop as there are no removable pins. Anyway. The pause. It KILLS you. If you come down and then go straight up, easy. When I stopped on the board and took all tension off muscles, and then pressed up, KaPow, killer. Every rep is your first rep, every rep a killer. Worth an experiement with if anyone feeling a little stale on the LP...!!<br />
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Hanging leg raise things again for abs, they hurt like buggery too!<br />
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and that was the day that was, December 27, 2011! -
jumped our shoulder day forward a couple of days, so we could get a break between shoulder and back workouts. Another major demo day, shoulders whacked again, death by cable the last super set and thankfully the last, as it really roots you!!<br />
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spin class tomorrow, that'll sweat the last of the Xmas CAke out!! -
spin was good, sweated up a storm. Cramp in the middle of the night over the last two nights too, inner right quad, not good. Must need more water and salt. Think a nice <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> drink of baking soda before bed tonight to safeguard!
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jaysus, the baking soda worked, but jeez, tasted like shit (I forgot I used to mix it with Thrifty). Woke up in the night with no cramp, but my mouth dryer than a Nun's.. Well, you know the saying.<br />
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Today though, back and biceps. good day at the office, although the current bicep ramp not blasting the bis like ones in the past, still getting a pump, but not the mind numbing arm exploding one. Weighed chins ups part 2 all good, takes longer to weight up than to do the chins!! -
New Years eve been and gone, and managed to see it in, watching 'Sleepers', good movie.<br />
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Today back to the grindstone though, chest and triceps. talk about pumped up like a puffer fish in the tricep department at the end of the workout! Felt like Arnold, looked like peewee!<br />
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Good walk yesterday around farm where Ness has her horse and foal, 50 minutes of hill climbing and falling! -
Makes sense that those leg presses from the pause at the bottom are so killer. By pausing you must be removing all (or most) of the elastic type of energy, ie the eccentric contraction before you stop the movement and reverse it. It's not unlike how a spring stores energy when this happens, and our bodies are actually designed to use that effect. Much like when ya start a deadlift from the bottom, there is no elastic energy stored before hand. It's all brute force and has a massive toll on both muscles and the nerves. Can probably apply this principle to a number of other push movements to increase their impact.
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yeah JK, we have pause on chest bench press at times too.<br />
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That sounds like a pretty good theory to me at any rate until something better comes along!<br />
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Whatever the theory behind it, it bloody works, that is for sure!<br />
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Today was back day, and biceps. Highlight again the weighted chins. Still just a measly 5kg, but changes the whole dynamics of the movement I reckon. Feels tough at any rate!<br />
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New workout arrived for next next week. It's gonna hurt. Legs getting caned again, lunges for Africa! -
whoops, 6 days since last update, almost another full week gone - just back left tomorrow.<br />
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Good weeks training, upped my clean and press on shoulders day yesterday, and today my back muscles are paying the cheques that my body wrote out yesterday! Legs also just empty vessesls. Those pause leg presses followed by the swiss ball wall squats murderous!<br />
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Visit trainer on Monday, will be interesting to see what gains on the fat % and muscle mass there are. Fingers crossed more of that latter and less of the former!! Have not weighed in for a long while, was 91 last time out onto the scales! -
Sooo, visit to food guru was bloody good. weight to 90kg, bodyfat down to 10% flat (was 10.8), muscle mass up another half a kilo.<br />
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First two days into new programme. Chest workout good, we were in Manukau so trained with our trainer, think he enjoys seeing us train as he can see the pain that he puts us through first hand! Was chest and triceps, and blasted, very excellent. <br />
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Today was legs, and lets just say smashed to pieces. I have not done so many lunges in the last 12 months that it is not funny. Making up for the first 22 years of lifting weights when 'lunging was for girls'... Hamstrings are already smashed, not looking forward to how I feel in a couple of days! -
Good stuff. I'm still scared of those lunges! Will do them one day though and most likely when I roll back in to a split programme once this 5x5 has finished in 12 or so weeks time. Either that or I may do a few weeks of 3 x 5 and really try crank up the weights. Have to see how I go.