I did a 6.6 mile run before my workout today. Its sounds a lot to do before a workout but its using the barefoot running method with walking intervals. I did the longest intervals at 7 minutes with 30 second walk.
Today was back, shoulders and triceps.
A week ago when I did this routine my triceps lost power first before my shoulders. Today my shoulders were the ones that went to failure.
I started with pulley rows. I probably did around 40 reps. The next two sets were tough at a slightly higher weight and failed at around 20 reps.
The shoulders are seated dumbbell presses. The week before I used 12.5 kg. Today I could feel they were too light so on my next set I switched to 15kg to failure. I managed to get 25 out without a problem. Now 22.5 has been my maximum this year for 8. So I was pretty pleased with the high reps with 15 kg. I ended my last set doing 17.5kg for 12 reps.
I finished off with parallel bar dips. I grinded out about 40 reps. My next set was reasonable and so was my third.
Overall I can say that the rapid increase in strength in just a few weeks is very exciting.
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Workout #6 using higher reps
I'm on my 6th workout using the higher reps to failure system.
The way I'm doing this is taking a weight I would normally warm up by doing 10 reps, and instead going to failure. So before I'd do 10 reps with 20kg for dumbbell presses. Now I do over 30 reps with 20kg.
The number of reps depends on the exercise and body part.
On my 6th workout I noticed a significant increase in strength and recovery. On my second set I was finding it a struggle to even get 12 done. On Monday I was able to grind out 20+ reps using 25kg dumbbells. So it was pretty obvious I'd increased in strength. I felt I could have gone up to the 27.5kg easily. As 30kg recently has been my plateau for 8 reps, I'm pretty excited to see that in a short while I'll be high repping with heavier weights.
The other exciting thing is I'm finding that by going with higher reps I'm recovering quicker and not losing energy in the week. This finding has caused me to re-think the way I do weights.
If higher reps give me strength, stamina, less tax on my immune system, why would I want to grind out week after week using heavy weights. By heavy I mean 10 reps to failure. So failing on the 8-12th rep.
This ties in with the other training I'm doing as well. Especially the running. I'm running at a much slower pace than I used to although my steps are shorter and quicker as are my shoulders and arm movements.
I'll be posting my increase in strength using this new method and what happens when I'm doing high reps with weights that were previously my heavy weights.
I'd imagine doing 20+ reps with 30kg more satisfying than pressing 45 kg for 10 reps. Although truthfully my ego would want to let the guys at the gym know I could use the 45's if I wanted too:)
The way I'm doing this is taking a weight I would normally warm up by doing 10 reps, and instead going to failure. So before I'd do 10 reps with 20kg for dumbbell presses. Now I do over 30 reps with 20kg.
The number of reps depends on the exercise and body part.
On my 6th workout I noticed a significant increase in strength and recovery. On my second set I was finding it a struggle to even get 12 done. On Monday I was able to grind out 20+ reps using 25kg dumbbells. So it was pretty obvious I'd increased in strength. I felt I could have gone up to the 27.5kg easily. As 30kg recently has been my plateau for 8 reps, I'm pretty excited to see that in a short while I'll be high repping with heavier weights.
The other exciting thing is I'm finding that by going with higher reps I'm recovering quicker and not losing energy in the week. This finding has caused me to re-think the way I do weights.
If higher reps give me strength, stamina, less tax on my immune system, why would I want to grind out week after week using heavy weights. By heavy I mean 10 reps to failure. So failing on the 8-12th rep.
This ties in with the other training I'm doing as well. Especially the running. I'm running at a much slower pace than I used to although my steps are shorter and quicker as are my shoulders and arm movements.
I'll be posting my increase in strength using this new method and what happens when I'm doing high reps with weights that were previously my heavy weights.
I'd imagine doing 20+ reps with 30kg more satisfying than pressing 45 kg for 10 reps. Although truthfully my ego would want to let the guys at the gym know I could use the 45's if I wanted too:)
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