Body by Science Workout Week 3 - Important Rules and Lessons Learned

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 25th June

Third proper week on the BBS Big 5:

	Week 4		* Week 3 *		Week 2		Week 1
Exercise	Lbs	TUL	Lbs	TUL	Lbs	TUL	Lbs	TUL
Seated Row	115		110	2:02	100	2:15	80	3:08
Chest Press	90		100	1:11	100	1:17	90	1:28
Pulldown	130		130	1:56	125	2:15	110	2:26
Overhead Press	60		60	1:38	60	1:44	80, 70	0:35, 0:25
Leg Press	270		250	3:02	230, 270	4.31	200	2:57

TUL = Time Under Load

Post Workout Nutrition: this, 100 minutes later.

Total Time: 28 minutes

I am still getting used to this routine. I wanted to start seeing progress by week 3, but there are too many variables to stabilise for it to be possible to gauge it properly just yet. Some good lessons and rules established or learned this week:

1. Decide next week's weights this week: I will decide what weight to do the following week at the end of each session rather than the start of the next one, so the experience is still fresh in my mind and I can make a more recently informed decision.
2. Train in the sweet spot: I am not training in the 90 - 120 seconds sweet-spot range for chest press. I should have dropped the weight from last week but chose not to, assuming that an immediate strength gain would take me into the sweet-spot. In fact I was a few seconds less on the TUL. Next week I will drop the weight, as you can see in the week 4, planned column.
3. Have a rule for when to increase the weight: I will increase the weight only when TUL gets higher than 2 minutes for an exercise.
   
4. Get a feel for the exercises: this week is the first I have really got a feel for how I want to perform these exercises - the speed and effort at different points of the movement, and how to ensure it is slow and controlled. So next week I will feel able to replicate that.
5. Record the equipment settings: I recorded the positions of the seats and other mechanisms for each machine, so I can ensure that is also consistent from week to week.
6. Record total workout time: this variable will obviously dramatically affect performance. Currently my training partner and I are watching each other do each exercise. In a couple of weeks, when we both feel comfortable with timing ourselves and how to perform the exercise, we will just follow each other from machine to machine, effectively reducing the rest time to nothing. Naturally there will be a downward jump in performance, more pronounced later in the workout.

The pulldowns time was a guess last week anyway because I forgot to start the timer, so I am not too concerned about the apparently worse performance.

Last thought: I felt more comfortable with legs this week. It was still very painful, but I think I am mastering it. I will keep adding weight until I get below 2 minutes, but am hoping the extra 20 pounds will do it next week.