Thursday 18 June 2009

'Real' BBS Week 2 - Iterating Towards the Right Weights

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 18th June

Second proper week on the BBS Big 5:


Week 2Week 1
ExerciseLbsTULLbsTUL
Seated Row1002:15803:08
Chest Press1001:17901:28
Pulldown1252:151102:26
Overhead Press601:4480, 700:35, 0:25
Leg Press230, 2704.312002:57

TUL = Time Under Load

Post Workout Nutrition
: chicken, nuts and raw broccoli + cauliflower, 5 hours later.

Total Time: 27 minutes

As you can see, I am 'settling down' with the correct weights - but I still have problems with the leg press. I had to shift the weight upwards after about 3 minutes because it seemed like I would never reach failure. My training partner pointed out I was driving past the sticking point too quickly, rather than maintaining a consistent, slow speed, so this may also have contributed. It is also difficult to know how far to push out before starting to 'lower' the weight. With these standard machines the quads seem to get a rest even when not fully locked out so I am inclined to reduce my range of movement. I will take another look at the book, which does cover this.

One other minor mishap this time was that I forgot to start my timer before the pulldowns. So that time is a guess.

I have started recording the total session time. This last time it was 15 minutes. This time it was 27 minutes, because I had my training partner with me and he doesn't have his own timer at the moment.

Clearly the speed with which you transition between exercises affects the intensity of the session and the likely strength on all but the first exercise. We plan to be more efficient once we are 'in the groove' so that I can move onto the next exercise while he is performing the previous one.

2 comments:

Jeff said...

I had same problem with my leg press. I think that mechanically we are stronger nearing full extension, kind of how a trash compactor works. The machines we are using aren't increasing the load to make it tough at that point. Good workout.

BTW, I have been doing BBS type exercises for about 8 weeks or so and it took me at least 3 workouts before I got my TUL under a reasonable amount. Once I did and really hit the FT fibers I found I needed more recovery. Enjoy!

Methuselah said...

Thanks Jeff - and thanks for your comment on the my earlier BBS post. Everything you say rings true - I definately have a sense that on this recent workout I did some serious damage. My legs, in particular, in spite of not having got that part right yet, still feel like they need several days off.

I plan to go swimming on Monday - I want to give the BBS protocol a fair run and swimming is the one activity I can do without feeling I am compromising recovery. In particular, underwater swimming, where it's possible to get intensity without muscular effort.

I'd be interested to hear how your progress goes now that you are adjusting from 5 to 3 exercises (as you mention in your comment on the other post.) Good luck!