Body by Science Session 21 + Knee Rehab Work

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 20th November

21st BBS Big 5 session:

Session 22

*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

Lbs

TUL

Pull Down

155

155

1:40

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

1:32

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

1:33

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

1:20

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

9 mins

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

8 days

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

Times amazingly similar to last session. Truly, this is maintenance. Leg still in brace so no leg press.

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 = no TUL change /weight changed / improvement not exceeded a previous best

Additional Exercises

• Romanian Deadlift (with dumbbells) : 2 x 10 @ 22kg per dumbbell, slow & strict
• Hanging Leg Raise: 2 x 10
• Standing under the smith machine loaded with 60kg and legs lightly bent for 2 minutes

Total Workout Time: 25 minutes

Post Workout Nutrition: 6 x scrambled organic + chopped apple & cocoa powder, 45 mins later.

The TULs for this session are so close to the previous session, it's spooky. Bear in mind I cannot see the timer during the exercise, so this is not a case of me giving up because I know I've done enough. This is clearly maintenance in action. I have never recorded my progress (or lack of it) so meticulously, and would previously have dealt with stagnation by changing exercise, thus dodging the truth.

My weight and fat percentage have made good progress in the last 2 weeks and I am on target to shift out of caloric deficit into caloric parity or surplus after another couple of weeks, which I hope will break the stagnation. I will follow my hunger instead of fighting it.

Having taken advice from my physiotherapist on Thursday, I chose this time to throw in a few exercises to maintain quad strength while the knee recovers from the operation.

He told me I could do deadlifts with nearly straight legs and that raising my leg in a straightened form was also good. So I did some Romanian deadlifts with dumbells (didn't fancy dragging the bar past my keyhole scars!) and some hanging leg raises.

In addition, loading the quads with some weight by standing with them slightly bent is an acceptable way to stimulate them whilst still protecting the knee - so I got under the smith machine and loaded it up.

It was refreshing to go back to some of these exercises after a period of monastic adherence to Body by Science.

The knee coped pretty well and some mild swelling was easily quenched with the ice pack.