Sunday 17 October 2010

Semi-Adequate LA Gym Allows Back Workout

Date: Saturday 16th October, 7.30 am
Location: Sheraton Universal Hotel, LA.

Workout - 45 seconds rest between sets

Back warm up - 20 reps on some kind of machine, nearly to failure
One-Arm Bent Over Row (5 x 10 @50lbs)
Dumbbell Deadlifts (Romanian) (1 x 50 @50lbs)

2 minutes of mobility work to finish, mainly to stretch my hams and back.

Time: 20 minutes

Nutrition (according to my Leangains experiment)
15g BCAA 10 minutes before session
15g BCAA 1 hour after

Buffet at 3pm: @3pm - meat bonanza.


I was flying LA to Vegas late morning, so this interrupted my normal Leangains protein schedule. Instead, I nailed two lots of 15 grams, one before and one and hour later before heading to the airport. I didn't think it would be appropriate to start messing with white powder on the flight.

The gym was okay-ish. With only 50lb dumbbells to play with, I used a first set with a machine to pre-exhaust my lats, but it still took 5 sets of 10 with minimal rest to do the required damage.

I wanted to keep my deadlifting muscles in business, so I did 50 with the 50lb dumbbells, which turned out to be a good plan because it was also a good conditioning exercise. By this I mean that it hurt, I was breathing heavily by the end, and I wanted to stop. With my recent focus on weights for the Leangains experiment, I have lost my familiarity with pain somewhat.

The Vegas buffet at Luxor was average quality but as you'd expect, plenty of meat on offer. The first plate took about 20 minutes to eat. There was a lot of meat on there. Pork, chicken, prime rib. Nice.

6 comments:

Chris said...

Methuselah on tour! Looks like a good trip.

Methuselah said...

The Mandalay Bay gym (where I am for the rest of the week) is more than adequate, but at $25 a pop you can bet I will be spending more than 20 minutes in that one! I'll do a week's worth of working out in one session. I think I will spend half the day in the gym, then the other half in the all-you-can eat buffet. What more could a man want?

Aaron Blaisdell said...

Methuselah,

If you're heading back through LA and have more than a couple of hours layover give me a call. I'm only 15 mins from LAX. Email me (blaisdell@psych.ucla.edu) and I'll shoot you my cell phone #

Methuselah said...

Hey Aaron - we're going via New York on the way back, but good to know where you are for next time. My employer has an office in LA, so there's every chance I'll be back at some point...

Aaron Blaisdell said...

Cool. Hope you'll be able to attend the Ancestral Health Symposium in August 5-6, 2011. We should be opening the conference up for registration by the end of October. I hope other Great Brittan folk will be able to attend, too (Chris? you coming?)

Methuselah said...

I've made a note in the calendar - will depend on a few things, but would be good to make it.