Body by Science Session 17: Longer Rest Spoiled by Other Exercise?

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 16th October

17th BBS Big 5 session:

Session 18

*Session 17*

Session 16

Session 15

Session 14

Session 13

Session 12

Session 11

Session 10

Session 9

Session 8

Session 7

Session 6

Session 5

Session 4

Session 3

Session 2

Session 1

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Pull Down

155

155

1:43

155

1:45

155

1:48

155

-

155

1:55

155

1:51

155

1:49

150

2:13

150

1:51

Seated Row

120

1:44

120

1:42

115

2:02

115

1:56

115

1:31

110

2:02

100

2:15

80

3:08

Overhead Press

60

60

1:32

60

1:43

60

1:50

60

-

60

1:36

60

1:44

60

1:48

60

1:38

60

1:36

Chest Press

95

1:37

95

1:52

95

1:39

90

2:01

90

1:39

100

1:11

100

1:17

90

1:28

Seated Row

105

105

1:26

105

1:42

105

1:48

105

-

105

1:48

105

1:39

105

1:38

110

1:29

120

1:04

Pull Down

145

1:56

145

1:46

140

2:09

135

2:11

130

2:15

130

1:56

125

2:15

110

2:26

Chest Press

85

85

1:24

85

1:19

85

1:20

85

-

85

1:32 *

85

1:14

85

(1:10)

90

1:13

95

1:03

Overhead Press

60

1:33

60

1:28

60

1:37

60

1:49

60

1:37

60

1:38

60

1:44

80, 70

0:35, 0:25

Leg Press

340

340

1:33

-

-

330

2:19

330

1:42

330

-

330

-

330

1:33

320

2:14

320

-

Leg Press

310

2:30

300

2:01

290

3:24

280

2:12

260

-

250

3:02

230, 270

4.31

200

2:57

Total Time

11 mins

9 mins

11 mins

3 mins

8 mins

8 mins

11 mins

14 mins

10 mins

25 mins

14 mins

25 mins

25 mins

22 mins

28 mins

27 mins

Rest period

9 days

13 days

14 days (8 for legs)

20 days (for legs)

7 days

7 days

7 days

7 days

8 days

9 days

11 days

6 days

8 days

7 days

7 days

8 days

Notes

Running at the weekend, swimming on Tuesday and bad sleep may have eroded benefits of longer, 9-day rest. Could have done more on legs but demoralisation set in.

No leg due to recent fell face and another on saturday. snagnation across the board. Fatigue from race? Rest period too long? Calorie deficit?

In spite of alcoholic weekend, some good progress. Could legs have benefited from the weekend laziness? Chest is blue because it's the best time on the correct machine.

Leg press only this week due to recently skipping it - but no upper body because seeking longer rest period overall. Full session next week.

No leg press because recovering from race. *Chest press not on ususal machine so may have affected time. Still feel like stagnation rules.

No leg press because race on Sat. Stagnation on all exercises suggests 7 days rest no enough. Or not enough calories?

Finally got that 4th rep with OH press. Because the chest press was in use, did leg press before chest and chest press on a different machine.

Lack of progress in pressing is mitigated by pulldown and leg success. Overhead felt better even tho TUL static

Less rest and a change in exercise order threw timings into disarray. Surprised by Overhead Press not being better

Baffling underperformance on chest and surprising improvement on legs, which may partly reflect increased intensity.

Finally finding the sweet spot for leg press. Much less rest, so not surprised by overhead press suffering.

Previous week's overhead press gains may have been due to slower reps.

First real signs of progress now that I have stability on the weights.

No leg press, hence shorter workout time. Was saving myself for fell race at the weekend.

Still finding it hard to judge the right weight for leg press.

Struggled to find right weight for leg press. Still finding the correct weight for all exercises.

Had to change weight with overhead because misjudged it.

"TUL" = Time Under Load
Red = got worse
Blue = improved
Black = weight changed or improvement did not exceed a previous best

Post Workout Nutrition: 6 scrambled organic, fre-range eggs + chopped pear & cinnamon, 40 minutes later.

So 9 days of rest (instead of 7) did not appear to make a difference. I did not feel well rested during this sesson and although I more or less maintained strength on Chest Press and Pull Down, Overhead Press and Seated Row regressed a little.

Leg Press was okay - I managed over 90 seconds, having upped the weight by 10lbs. I reckon I could have squeezed out another 15 seconds had I not failed on the final rep. I attribute this failure to demoralisation, since there was definately a tiny bit more under the bonnet at that point.

However, during that increased rest time I spent 2.5 hours running in the mountains (5 days before) and went for an intense swimming interval session (3 days before.) And I have been sleeping badly.

Aside from these factors, there is the underlying possibility that my currently being in calorific deficit is making it harder to make gains. If this is the case, then I must be satisfied with maintaining strength until I have reached my body fat goal, which I expect to be November.

In the meantime, I will do no exercise except walking until Friday, when I will do another full BBS workout. It will have been only 7 days rest, but holiday plans give me no option. This will still be a good test, to see whether staying away from other exercise (and hopefully getting more sleep!) makes a difference.