Posted: 6/2/2014 8:14:28 AM EDT
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Good God what have I done to myself. I've been lifting off and on since I was in my late teens. I just turned 45 last week. Been back in the gym religiously since last October and have been feeling a lot better about being in my own skin. Focus has been purely on form and inching up the weight totals. Nothing to write home about, but not bad for someone approaching "over the hill" status. Decided my training had plateaued and it was time to switch up my 4-day/week routine. I started with a 3-day/week "full body workout" then switched into a 4-day/week Legs/Chest/Back/Arms split after that got boring. Current program is Legs/Chest/Back/Arms. 4x8's with low->hi pyramiding of weight. Drop sets and rest-pause sets when I feel like I need to focus on one exercise a bit more due to form failure or "something not feeling right". Mostly flat barbbell bench and bicep/tricep work. This AM, that all changed. 4x25@50%1RM back squats compounded with plate select toe raisers also at 4x25@50%1RM. 4x25@50%1RM deadlift compounded with plate select leg curls same as above. 4x25@50%1RM hipsled compounded with plate select leg extensions and one more time... Finished with 4x25 body-weight lunges. Well... I tried. Completely gassed out half way through the 3rd set of lunges and was starting to wonder if I should wander over to the emergency defibrillator station. This was actually "less" over all total exercises than I normally do, at only a slightly higher rep volume, but holy crap what an ass kicking. I knew it'd be different, but man am I impressed with the change. Tomorrow is still Chest. Bench on tap. I've a torn right shoulder that I haven't done heavy bench with in over a decade and still haven't had fixed. Still, 4x25@50%1RM for dumbbell-flat, barbell flat, barbell declines with compounded mix of cable, machine, and dumbbell flies is on tap. Thursdays Back will be mostly rows and lat work on the same schema. Friday's bi/tri day the same. Upping my protein intake a bit by adding in a Pure Protein bar. I've been static in weight, although my dimensions continue to change for the better, since re-starting last October. May add in some more fat/carb if I start bouncing off the "over training" wall. At my age, it's a concern. Going to aim for a 6-week cycle of this 100-rep stuff before an 12-week strength phase then back to my original routine I have been doing. Anyone else had a similar "holy crap what have I done to myself" experience like this? If not, you've gotta try this at some point.  |
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Did a program for a while that at the end of each workout you had a lift that corresponded to what you were lifting that day that you did 300 reps of.
Say you are doing biceps that day, you would do 50 reps of say hammer curls, 40, 30, 20, 10, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. You generally did light weights on the 50 & 40 and increased the weight as the reps decreased. Holy God, it would destroy that muscle group! Great workout though. Might start that program up again. 
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Sounds like an interesting endurance cycle. Trying to come up with ways to rotate my routines through "stability/form" work, mass/hypertrophy work, and pure strength work. Nothing fancy. Just going with "what works" and a lot of listening to the creaks, pops, and groans from my aged bones... These 100-rep routine is my attempt at "chasing the pump". It fricken' worked today. I've worked my glutes and calf muscles to a good pump before... but this AM was the first time I'd really felt in in my quads and hamstrings. Already noticed, even from just the one workout, that I'm much more focused on perfect form since the weights start out feeling like a "warm-up" set. Short rest periods and compounding the assistance sets make that "warm-up set" feel a lie. 
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Quoted: http://www.rxmuscle.com/strength-articles/10969-beginner-deep-water-squat-workout.html Let's talk 100 reps. Yep. Read a couple articles off of T-Nation on hi-rep routines to put this one together. Heavily influenced by Arnold's "chase the pump" philosophy. Not that I've got the hubris to think I could get anywhere near that size. I lift for the same reason I do anything. I enjoy it... I'm not out to prove anything to anyone other than myself. |
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Did something like you are talking about a few weeks ago on leg day. Thought it would be fun. My legs have never felt so jacked. This W/O made me realize my legs like high volume. Heavyweight, low reps just doesn't do much to make my legs grow.
Pick a weight you can get just this amount. If you could have done more reps, then the weight wasn't heavy enough. Ham Curls: 4 sets, 15, 12, 10, 8 reps Stiff Leg D/L: 3 sets, 6-8 reps Leg Press: 4 sets, 25 reps Hack Squat: 3 sets, 15 reps Leg Extensions: 4 sets, 15, 12, 10, 8 reps Body Weight Squats: 4 sets, 25 reps |
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We adapt to whatever we do. Muscles under a certain type of load will adapt to that type of load. Endurance, maximal strength contraction, or constant contraction. This AM was Chest. 4x25@50%1RM dumbbell bench/4x25@50%1RM cable flies 4x25@50%1RM barbell bench/4x25@50%1RM dumbbell flies 4x25@50%1RM decline barbell bench/4x25@50%1RM plate select machine flies 4x25@50%1RM Hammer iso-lat close grip press/4x25@50%1RM plate select delt raises And yeah, it gassed me out, pumped me up, and completely trashed my upper torso. Made it hard to get my t-shirt off when you can't fully flex your arms. Same for putting deoderant on after showering up. This isn't a new phenomena to me, but it's the first time doing high-volume sets like this and the sensation from the pump feels "fuller" without that feeling of having been under a heavy mechanical load in the joints. I think I'm starting to like this... |