Tuesday 7 September 2010

Progess on Chest in Spite of Murderous Weekend Race

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Day: 6.55am - Tuesday - 7th September

5 x 5 Dumbbell Chest Press @30kg
3 x 10 Upright Rows with barbell (EZ bar) 2@35kg, 1@30kg)
3 x 20 Ab Crunches (with a 2-second squeeze)
5 x 5 Overhead Press (normal reps, not super-slow like the video) - 75 lbs
10 Push Ups

Performed in the traditional way - my partner, then me. Not much rest other than waiting our turn.

Total Time: 30 minutes

Nutrition (higher carb, lower fat on workout day, based on my Leangains experiment):

20 minutes before: 10g BCAA
1 hour after: 10g BCAA
3 hours after: 10g BCAA

Lunch (12:00pm) - 2 tins of sardines, a sweet potato, beetroot, lemon juice (+ a banana to finish)

Dinner (6:30) - hare leg and torso, fried butternut squash, fried cauli, cabbage & onion

Considering the beating I gave my body on Saturday, I was suprised not to be weak today. In fact I felt strong, and completed the 5 sets of chest press at 30kg for the first time since I started doing them again.

I will stay with that weight for at least another week, though, and concentrate on form. I would prefer to make those dumbbells my 'bitches' than be made into a bitch by the 32's because I am not ready.

Previously I had found that long races sabotaged progress on weights. Two things were different this time. First, the leangains eating and BCAA. Second, my deliberately easy session last week, before the race. Perhaps alternating between easy and hard sessions is the way my body likes to recover, and the running is largely irrelevant to upper body work, provided I consume adequate nutrition.

At the race on Saturday my lower back was a little painful for a time, so this Thursday, ahead of Saturday's Peris Horseshoe race I will not go anywhere near deadlift, instead concentrating on chin ups and dumbbell rows. I will treat this week as a hard week for weights, and make next week and easy one. See if this alternation business works.

This Saturday's race is 18 miles and over 8000 feet. Makes Ben Nevis look like a school outing.

7 comments:

Lightning said...

Now you're just showing off. I thought you would be recovering this week with the Peris beast this weekend.

Methuselah said...

I did avoid any leg effort at all - even asked Jimmy to carry the dumbbells over to the bench. And I am driving to work this week!

sbrt said...

Hey up Methuselah
I found your blog via Lightnings.

I was wondering, have you noticed a difference in your well-being since following your paleo diet?

All the best
Steve

sbrt said...

Hey up Methuselah
I found your blog via Lightnings.

I was wondering, have you noticed a difference in your well-being since following your paleo diet?

All the best
Steve

Methuselah said...

Hi Stephen - I've just started following your blog actually. The tricky thing for me was that I went from a very healthy non-paleo diet to a paleo diet, so there was never a road-to-Damascus like transformation. My carbs had always been mainly oats and no processed crap.The main difference was high to low carb, and one thing I noticed in a big way was blood sugar control. I could go for hours without getting hungry and snappy. Eventually I could fast for a whole day without a problem. The implications for life management were significant. Another thing I noticed - but this was from Paleo exercising - was I did not feel tired all the time. Basically, by letting go of the 'I must exercise every day for an hour' obsession I was able to get some well-needed rest! Hope this helps. Are you thinking of switching to Paleo - or have you already made a change?

sbrt said...

Paleo is a little too avant guard for me but I am finding your posts very interesting.

Methuselah said...

Cool. Most people don't go the whole hog anyway. My Mum gave up bread and it worked miracles on her digestion. Feels better than she has in years, she reckons.