Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 4th June
1 set of Raise-assisted handstand push ups (2 plates) - 5 reps, 1 failure (more or less same as last week)
1 set of Weighted chin ups - 5 reps @23.75kg (same as last week but harder last rep)
1 set of pistols - 7 on each leg (didn't do last week)
1 set of Dumbbell Bench Press - 5 @32kg, a sixth with help (2 FEWER reps than last week)
1 set of Basketball rollouts - 10 (same as last week)
1 set of Romanian Deadlift - 3 reps @125kg (5kg more than last week but 2 fewer reps)
Finisher: Rowing intervals: 3 x 1 minute@100%, 1 minute rest between.
Total Time: 25 minutes
Post Workout Nutrition: None - still eating one meal a day in the evenings.
I was knackered when I walked into the gym today so was not surprised when I performed no better than last week. In fact I was weaker on bench press - but this may be because I skipped legs last week which comes directly before.
The problem might be 5 consecutive nights of poor sleep. I suspect this destroyed any gains that may otherwise have been realised by the plan I am following. See the week 1 post for details.
The rowing was an afterthought. I was so annoyed at feeling weak, I decided to take it out on the rowing machine. After the 5 minutes was up, the gym supervisor kindly popped my eyeballs back in their sockets. The bloody minded part of me had decided I would punish my body for not letting me sleep and perhaps tire it out so much that I would definately sleep tonight...
Tiredness aside, now that I am into chapter 4 of Body by Science, I am starting to realise that this workout only shares a few characteristics with BBS:
- I am training once per week.
- I am sticking to 5 compound exercises.
There is a whole area around set and rep execution I am about to read about. This may lead to a very different week 4 workout. In the meantime I must decide whether to do any non-strength workouts in the intervening time. If my sleep continue to be this poor I cannot see it would be a great idea.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
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5 comments:
Lack of sleep messed my most recent workout up too. I hate it when that happens.
I would put a lack of sleep high up on the list of causes of weakness.
It isn't just the fatigue arising from disturbed sleep, nor the cumulative effect of a lack of sleep over consecutive days, but rather the disruption at the hormonal level arising from poor quality sleep.
In addition, poor sleep, in and of itself, can be stressful and makes us more sensitive to other stress-triggers. Stressed people sleep less, so yo ucan end up in a negative feedback cycle.
Anyway, its 2135hrs and I promised myslef an early night despite a need to practice the guitar/Lau Gar, a pile of good books to read and some interesting stuff on TV.
I know that in the morning the returns from 9.5 hours of sleep will far exceed those of ANYTHING else I could find to do this evening.
Hope you get a decent night's sleep tonight.
Night night!
Bryce, Asclepius - the killer is that I have been in bed by 10 and not needing to get up until 6 every night for a week. So the potential for 8 hours. But it's been more like 6 - 6.5. I don't drink coffee or booze during the week, I relax for the hour before sleep, I black out the windows. I think it's an overactive mind. Sometimes I am fine. Right now, too much going on. Last night I had a handful of nuts and a melatonin at 2.30 am and it still took 90 minutes to get back to sleep....
Hmm - I drink gallons of coffee a day!
The only other thing I can think of is reading prior to bed. Reading sends me off!
One other thing that I was discussing with a paleo-mate of mine is, "is it 'natural' to be spark out all night?" I mean, when deep in sleep we are extremely vulnerable, so perhaps short fits of sleep are actually the way we should sleep (unless we are not waking up refreshed)?
Asclepius - I may try reading - it would certainly solve my other problem, which is a mounting pile of books!
I have often wondered about the evolutionary advantages of being a light sleeper - which is basically my problem. I guess I just don't get any benefits from it in the modern world - there's not much threat from the neighbours coming home drunk at 2am!
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