Body by Science Session 20 and Knee Surgery Photo

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 12th November

20th BBS Big 5 session:

Session 21

*Session 20*

Session 19

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

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Lbs

TUL

Pull Down

155

155

1:41

155

1:42

155

1:50

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

1:35

60

1:39

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

1:40

105

1:46

105

1:30

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

1:19

85

1:21

85

1:15

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

2:15

340

0:55

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

8 mins

12 mins

10 mins

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

11 days

7 days

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

Almost no change at all.Had knee surgery 6 days previously but having to keep one leg straight not really a problem for upper body exercises.

Rope climbing may have affected pull downs, leg press improvement may be limked to back rest position. Still in calorie deficit.

Low sleep & low calorie week & only seven days rest. Yet no other exercise between. Leg press first rep burned me out: maybe seat position wrong.

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 = worse than last week
Blue = best time ever on that weight
Black = weight changed or improvement did not exceed a previous best

Post Workout Nutrition: Primal/Paleo Breakfast of Champion with chopped apple & cocoa powder (recipe here), 45 minutes later.

Lots of red, but we are talking a few seconds lower TUL on all exercises. A clear case of no progress forwards or backwards.

I am still alternate-day fasting and slowly stripping fat. I estimate I will be ready to move into calorie surplus around Christmas time. Which is probably fortunate.

I had knee surgery on Friday, so no legs press for 6 weeks; but I was happy performing the other exercises even with one leg straightened by a brace. I will do a post about the surgery experience. In the meantime, here's one photo of the aftermath...