Mon 15 Feb 2010
Valentine’s W.O.W. “Bringin’ the Love”
Posted by Doug McGuff under Uncategorized
For Valentine’s Day I did the classic Big 5. I have had 5 days in a row of a normal sleep cycle and it really showed in my performance. I went up in weight and TUL in all but the overhead press where I went up in weight at a stable TUL.
MedX Leg Press
MedX compound row
MedX chest press
Nautilus Pullover- I love this machine. The SuperSlow retrofits make this classic even better.
MedX Overhead Press
I cannot come up with any deep or scientific topics for this week’ WOW. Instead, in honor of Valentine’s Day I would like to solicit your comments on “bringin’ the love” to your workout. Despite all of the “Exercise vs. Recreation” rhetoric in high intensity circles, and how your workout should not be fun, I personally love my workouts. On a previous post Doug Holland posted on the importance of attitude in the outcome of a workout. I really do believe there is joy to be had in doing hard things, and that this is one of the major intangible benefits of high intensity exercise. People that have learned to really push themselves physically seem to condition themselves mentally to be able to take on almost anything. This is a kind of personal efficacy that cannot be obtained any other way. This is why, despite major differences in philosophy on exercise technique, I feel a kinship with Crossfitters.
The best HIT facilities seem to communicate this to their members. The clients will complain how the “hate their workout…but it’s over quick and only once a week” but when they say it, the pride that they are able to do hard things shines through. That has been the best part of my HIT facility/book tour this past year. All of the facilities were very unique, some were very clean, sleek and modern, and others were primitive and dungeon-like. But what they all had in common was a clientele that had great pride in “doing hard things”.
Good points. There is nothing fun about the workouts. Right around the 45-50 second time on each exercise I totally want to stop. The 40-50 seconds after that are awful and the last 5-10 seconds are excruciating. Only fun part is when it is over.
Worked out at 9am at our local YMCA fasted for 14 hours or so.
Big 5(10 minutes):
-Chest Press: Same weight, up 13 seconds.
-Seated Row: Same weight, up 14 seconds.
-Leg Press: Same weight, up 10 seconds.
-Overhead Press: Up 5#, down 25 seconds(under 90 seconds again). Full range of movement again. The shoulder has improved quite a bit recently.
-Pull Down: Up half a plate, same time.
Surprisingly good results. I didn’t sleep well all week mostly due to my 3 year old keeping me up 3-4 times per night. I also had a 2 minute shorter workout. I lucked out and the machines were all free right when I needed them. The delay between exercises was less than 20 seconds and many times it was less than 10 seconds. With all that I had one of the better improvement weeks. Nice metabolic work as well with the short delays.
My wife had an excellent workout. I think she is getting better at pushing through the discomfort to full concentric failure.
Big 5(11 mins):
-Seated Row: Up 18 seconds.
-Overhead Press: Up 33 seconds
-Pull Down: Up half a plate(almost 10% increase), down 13 seconds.
-Chest Press: Since did this later, dropped 5# at same TUL as last time.
-Leg Press: Up 8 seconds.
She was breathing really heavy for a while afterward.
Dr.McGuff,
You touched on something I’ve thought quite deeply about and explored for sometime now.
I’m not going to go to deep into it, but activities such as high intensity strength training make you focus so intensely that there is not time to think about good or bad. Good and bad are ideas. Hard work is action that transcends both of these. I believe that only when deeply engrossed in action are humans ever truly happy; but it is a different type of happy than what we usually think of.
My 2 cents.
Al
Tough one Saturday:
1.weighted chin up to bodyweight chin up
2.Nautilus incline press
3.Hammer leg press
4.Nautilus pullover
5.MedX Avenger overhead press*
*RT Edwards provided the world’s best forced rep on the overhead press,offering only a few ounces of help.Today I’m sore in neck,traps,delts,pecs,triceps,biceps,glutes,quads.After the workout I went home and JB Welded three more skulls to my flat black SUV.Total # of skulls on the vehicle now stands at 38.I also welded a dinosaur to the roof.
Amy’s workout:
1.Nautilus incline press straight to seated dip
2.deadlift
3.hip abduction
4.Nautilus overhead press staight to seated dip
5. chin up
W.O.W. 13th February:
Leg press
chin
chest press
pullover.
I couldn’t agree more with the comments regarding the thorough enjoyment of a hard workout and the feeling of satisfaction that permeates life for the following days.
This Saturday, I had completed my leg press and chinup and was rushing to get the weight belt off and get over to the chest press, aiming to get started on that within 30 secs. of finishing the chins. A young bodybuilder said to me as i staggered past him;
“what are you training for, mate?”
“fun” I answered.
I found out later, that he watched me on every exercise. In fact, I completed my whole workout during the rest period he took in between sets of bench press!
Whatever else life throws at me, I have always found my training to be a constant source of energy, positivity and wellbeing. Something that makes me feel good and a true cornerstone of happiness.
Best to all.
Steve.
Dr. McGuff-I too love to work out. In fact, I have been unwilling to drop my workout frequency despite frequenting your site and agreeing with much of what you say. Going to the gym and kicking butt is, to me, a pleasure. I currently work out HIT style 2-3 times per week for a total of 1-1.5 hours per week. An interesting situation has come up that I hope you will comment on. I recently had blood tests done and there were some surprises. My blood glucose was 102 and my BUN was 27, both high. Interestingly, my insulin was <2. All of these were done fasting (my lipid profile is quite good). So, I decided to get my HgA1c done and it was 5.4, which although within normal limits, was surprisingly high. Since October I have lost 6 pounds but am lean, about 7.1% body fat currently (I have reduced my calories so this wasn’t unexpected). My diet is generally paleo, not including my morning oatmeal ritual and a few higher carb meals during the week (usually when we go out). My initial thoughts about this, especially my blood test results, is that I am overtrained (too much physical stress/too little fuel. I have the biochem worked out in my head, but I find it hard to interpret the results when it’s my tests), but I don’t want to make the mistake of having tunnel vision when interpreting my own signs and symptoms (I have had some mild fatigue and very lately my libido has decreased as well, although I am able to perform my workouts without much problem). Have you seen these types of blood test results as a result of stress, in this case overtraining, or am I barking up the wrong tree? Any comments would be appreciated (from others as well if you have them). Sorry if this is not the forum for this but I thought it might be a good educational example if indeed I am correct.
Vday Workout 2/14/10
It’s funny you mention attitude in the workout, as I was super enthusiastic about the workout before, and during thanks to an e-mail I got from a Joeseph A. In fact I was probably more excited about this particular workout than I have about any work out in some time.
The reason I was excited was due to a few observations and recommendations Joe gave me based on my WOW videos. Long story short, I took them, and not only did they worked, but I feel very humbled =). More in a sec, heres the workout.
Smith squat- 285/53 16 reps
smith press- 240/36 6 reps
Nautilus Lat pd- 215/55 7.5 reps
tricep pressdown- 80/38 8 reps
The numbers are pretty “skewed” compared to previous workouts, with the exception of the lat pull down, in which I had a 9 second increase in TUL, completed the 7th rep I couldn’t last time, and nearly got an 8th.
*I did however stop about one inch earlier on the bottom end of the movement.
The three other exercises changed significantly in either form or range of motion, and as a result weight selected, and reps/tul performed in each.
With the squat, Joe pointed out that there was unnecessary pressure on my spine, something I could certainly feel and had been trying to alleviate for some time.
What I ended up doing was
A. Standing parallel to a full body mirror with a free barbell, and squatting down without thinking about it. Of course, I watched the movement in the mirror as I did it, and it was nothing like the form used under the smith machine (range of motion aside). This made me feel quite “dumb”, and it was a no brainer at that point why I had been experiencing pain.
B. Setting myself up to mimic the natural movement I did un-consciously with a free barbell, under the smith machine. I also began the exercise at a significantly lower point, and lowered the stopping pads on the machine substantially.
The result was noticeably more work for the back of my legs (including my butt), and absolutely no discomfort or pain other than what should be normal for taxing muscles to failure under a heavy load.
My back for sure, felt about 500x better than usual from the squat. This was such a relief it’s hard to put into words.
Of course, this is also what Drew Baye tried to tell me just a short while ago, but it took a personal version of what Joe recommended (just watching how I squat freely in a mirror) to connect the rather simple dots.
I lowered the weight by 90 pounds as well to ensure I got the movement down good. 53 seconds is a bit longer than I would have liked, but nothing to complain about.
On the smith bench press, I simply lowered the resting points a tad (and may lower them even further next time). This resulted in less reps and TUL, but perhaps a bit more intensity (was hard to tell). I may or may not lower the resting points further. I get the feeling if I continue to do so too much I’ll be back at square one with the nautilus chest press, which I never felt really taxed my chest completely (always got done feeling I could do more somehow). This was not so with the MedX chest press by the way.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the way my limbs/upper body are formed, length and such?
I’ve heard that the length of your legs has a lot to do with how you will perform a squat, and whether or not it’s optimal over a leg press (other factors aside). Possible for chest movements as well I assume?
On the tricep pressdown I switched to a double rope. Joe sent me a pdf file which was older than Bills work, but seemed very in tune with MAE concepts, and made a strong case for using a rope over fixed bars. Will go back and see if Bill has comments on this… the only thing that comes to mind however is that the way the hands are placed doesn’t matter much, but that’s not the purpose of using a rope (the thinking behind a rope over narrow/fixed bars is that at the bottom of the movement ropes allow your hands to separate as they naturally are inclined too anyway).
…
In related news, I have some measurements to report.
195 pounds
5 feet 9 inches tall
Legs each ~26 around (slack)
Waist 35 inches (both at navel and my “real” waist)
I have no idea what my body fat % is, nor do I care to have it measured again via skin fold measurements. I’m going to ask Drew Baye if he knows of a facility to get it measured at though with more advanced equipment of some kind, as again, I don’t trust skin fold, and probably shouldn’t have to begin with, especially from a facility as incompetent and as the UCF Rec and Wellness Center (I enjoyed working there long ago, but the people who run it are not the brightest bunch).
Last January however I was 171 pounds, same height (I assume), and had a ~33 inch waist.
I have gained 24/25 pounds in that one year.
Someone commented in the previous thread that it could be 75% fat gain… but I am skeptical. Unfortunately I have no other measurements to go on other than waist and weight, but never the less I think 18.75 pounds of fat (75% of my weight gain) would result in a lot more than a 2 inch gain around my waist. Both my parents, and all of my immediate family, seem to collect weight around the mid section the most, and I somehow doubt I am exempt from this trait.
I could be wrong of course, but looking in the mirror, and at my legs/chest/back, I’m doubting it’s even a 50% gain in fat.
Even then, where is 12 and a half pounds of fat hiding? That’s a lot of fat! lol. I know, because I’m looking to render just a few pounds of beef fat today, and it is no small chunk!
25 pounds was certainly not all muscle though. Who knows. Should I even care to begin with? Where does being “lean” end? Why?…
Oh well. I didn’t eat much yesterday anyway simply because I woke up late, was busy typing up a new post on my blog, valetines day… etc.
Went into the workout fasted however, and ate about an hour later. Total calorie intake was maybe… 2200 calories? 1600 were fat, mostly heavy cream, some coconut oil. The rest was protein, and a tiny amount of carbs.
May have even been closer to 2000, which is far less than my usual in take of 2500-3000, or even more.
Ok this comment is far too long at this point.
-Anthony
Oh and btw, skipped my sprints to workout at 11 days of recovery and test out the things Joe A mentioned to me. Will do them in another 4-5 days though.
To Doug’s point, and this is not meant to pump sunshine up Dougs butt (since he is my boss and good friend), but I started with Doug, albeit a bit skeptical, 3 1/2 years ago. I had just turned 61, worked out religiously on a Parabody system three times a week and figured I was about as strong as I could ever be at that point. Doug asked me to be patient, support the protocol, and begin working it myself…and listen to the clients, some of which had been there over 9 years.
First thing I noticed was the clients sounded like they were drinking the Kool Aid…it was definitely love/hate but they kept coming back. The didn’t like the process, but they loved the way they felt.
In addition, long story real short, from my “baseline” numbers (the point where the brain stops shutting you down) I have increased my strength on average 80 to 90% on all core machines, and have never felt better in my life (or that much of my life I can remember at 64). I have more energy and strength than I can ever remember. Just for grins and giggles I’ll go back nwo and then and play on my Parabody and I can now push weight that I never thought possible. In addition, about 2 years ago I got my 68 year old sister working out with Al Coleman and she’s become a walkin’ talkin’ testimonial to the protocol.
Moving on, I stupidly injured my shoulder about 10 months ago and finally had surgery about 3 weeks ago and at this point am chomping at the bit to get back to full workout. I do feel that I’m missing out on my “fun” every time I see a client doing what has become to me my “fountain of youth.” Hopefully I’m back to full program the first of March.
As I often say to my clients…the first third of your life looking good becomes important, the second third it’s living good, and for me in the last third it’s dying good. I refuse to be the one in Walmart riding around with a twelve volt under my butt(or as Doug often says, we’ll keep you out of the Scooter Store)!
I read your stories in the blog every day…occasionally I see a skeptic or two…or someone who’s being challenged at the gym…but you gotta believe like I do and well over 100 clients at UE…we’re gonna be here longer and better than a lot of the folks around us…and that makes me smile.
@Al-you have hit upon my point more elegantly than I could ever hope to. “Good and Bad are ideas. Hard work is action that transcends both of these. I believe that only when deeply engrossed in action are humans ever truly happy; but it is a different type of happy than what we usually think of.”
This reminds me of the book “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In it he describes the 9 conditions of the truly happy state you describe.
1. There are clear goals every step of the way.
2. There is immediate feedback to one’s actions.
3. There is balance between challenges and skills.
4. Action and awareness are merged.
5. Distractions are excluded from consciousness.
6. There is no worry of failure.
7. Self-consciousness disappears.
8. The sense of time becomes distorted.
9. The activity becomes autotelic (it becomes an end in itself).
What better meets these requirements than our way of working out?
@Doug, Steve G, Thomas and Ed- the prior post also applies to your comments. Ed, you have inspired my next post.
@Thomas- your theory of overtraining is a good one. BUN is your blood urea nitrogen. Urea is a byproduct of protein breakdown in the liver. Normally, this is fairly constant so it is cleared at a constant rate by the kidney. If your kidney function falls, BUN stacks up. In your case BUN elevation (slight) may be due to a higher rate of protein turnover due to a larger muscle mass. This could be magnified by training too frequently because of protein turnover as a result of the workout itself. A high protein diet could also be a contributor. Your Hemoglobin A1c is higher than expected given your serum insulin level. Hemoglobin is the oxygen binding molecule in your red blood cells. A typical red blood cell lives about 3 weeks during which time circulating glucose can bind to it by a process called glycation. The more sugar you have circulating over a 3 week period, the higher your HgbA1c will be. This is why the HgbA1c test is thought of as an aerial view of your blood sugar over time. Excess adrenaline production that can occur with overtraining may be driving excess glycogen cleavage and your elevated glucose and HgbA1c. Another possibility is that your fat intake may be more optimal and your red blood cells may be living longer than the typical 21 days. This would give more time for glycation to occur, and even at optimal glucose levels could result in HgbA1c elevation. I would suggest exerting a little restraint and harnessing your enthusiasm into fewer workouts and then repeating your lab tests. Perhaps the numbers might be more to your liking. Having said that, I would put more stock in how you are feeling rather than “numbers”. Fatigue and loss of libido are sure signs of overtraining and failing to follow the tenet of “feeling above the baseline more days than you feel below the baseline”. You know what to do.
Doug McGuff
Dr. McGuff-thanks for the response. Your right, I need to reduce my training. It’s amazing the damage you can do with only 1-1.5 hours of training per week (HIT). You recommend about 10-20 minutes per week so this is not news to you or anyone on this site, I know. I appreciate your help.
@Ed- Thanks for the shout out! Sue is a great story considering the things she’s been through at her age. Most folks would have just folded. She is a tough cookie!
@Dr. McGuff- Thanks! Flow is an awesome book! I’ve read everything by Csikszentmihalyi and highly recommend that everyone here do the same. I often find it interesting when working with someone how the level of progress they make tends to correlate(for their given genetic expression) how far down the list of 9 conditions they get.
I don’t use that list per se, but it is these characteristics that I try to invoke in my clients. I figured a while back that training to just meet external goals wasn’t enough to sustain a life long practice of strength training.
This varies from person to person, but without a doubt the closer someone makes the training an end in itself, the better everything else plays out. I suppose this is easier for some than others, but it is that type of goal that never ceases to bring about the greatest amount of satisfaction.
Al
Dr. Doug
You must be psychic because your post mirrored thoughts I was having about why I train the way I do.
My prior workout was NTF and it will be my last of that type. Going into this past Saturday’s workout, I was cognizant of how much differently I felt. I approach my workouts with some trepidation and even a little mental angst as I view them as sort of a high level competition. I am, in fact, competing against myself to improve upon my previous performance. Knowing it will require even more extreme effort and focus really gets the adrenaline going. But it is something I look forward to. In the martial arts world this is referred to as “making friends with your fear.”
Going into the NTF workout, I did not have that nervous apprehension. It was almost akin to,(but not as bad as), the person who gets on a stationary bike and pedals for an hour while reading a novel. There is certainly nothing to get nervous about when doing that. When any true BBS practioner is into their workout, there is no way possible they can read a book, watch TV or converse with someone as the workout demands 100% focus.
30+ years ago, before I adopted HIT, I thought I was working out hard with my 5-6 day/week workouts. I now realize what Steve G alluded to in his post: that I can get my workout in during the time I rested between sets of benches.
W.O.W. 2/13/2010
Leg press
Inclines
Lat pull
Declines
Row
Lateral raise
Workout was done to positive failure. Workout was also done with 5 days rest so there were no substantial improvements except for the leg press and inclines. On a positive note, there was no regression. The next workout will be next Saturday and I expect to see improvement. I can feel the angst starting to build already.
Ed H
Ed Garbe, your post is good to read. I just turned 60 and I agree I don’t want the last third ( I hope it’s a third) of my life to be in a scooter. I see it all around me.
My wife and I enjoy life because we can still get around well, and we are frequently mistaken as younger only because we are not fat and sick. In a healthy world we would simply look normal.
WOW
Hammer LP 96 s.
chins bwX11 (5/5 candence)
Dips same as chins
Row machine 62 s.
Lateral raise machine 60 s.
Trying to increase TUL substantially before increasing weight. It’s very tough. I would like to make 120 sec on LP, just to see if I can.
Griff
Correction,
that’s 3/3 on the chins, not 5/5 for 11 reps! It seemed like about an hour, though.
Griff
I was sick all week with broncitis and did not think I would be able to workout. Docs hooked me up early with a Zpac and a shot so I was feeling better by Sat. Im Glad I went because I got to workout with Doug Holland. Our workouts were not the same movements, but suffering with him seemed to inspire me to dig deeper. He would preform a exercise then I would do mine. While we did have a short rest while the other was lifting it was brutal none the less. One of my best workouts to date.
WOW 02-13-10:
Nautilus Leverage Row- 1st time back on it in a while (PR for weight and reps)
Nautilus Leverage Dip- new weight and reps, deep fatgue in my tris and shoulders. My arms were numb when I finished!
Hammer Leg Press- more weight and reps, getting my form on this dialed in. With no Dead lift or Squats waiting on me, I think I was able to dig even deeper.
Nautilus pullover- best I have ever felt on this machine. top of my lats were on fire.
Nautilus Leverage Dip- finishing touch of my workout, half the weight but felt like a ton.
Great day!
@Al
<<>>
Al .. can you expand on this statement?
Thanks
John
@John,
Which statement?
Al
Griff,
Good for you and your wife!! You will become an anomalie in our society but enjoy it! Keep the bridge strong and you’ll watch the water drop quickly around you.
Norm up in Canada is 70 I believe and I worked him out last summer and the man is strong and looks fantastic. He now has his wife Dot on the program.
Check out page 240 of BBS. That lady has been a client for 3 years, almost never misses a workout, is going on 83, and pushes wheelchairs at the hospital 6 hours a day/5 days a week. My 84 year old great-grandfather client was working out with me this morning at 7:15. I have an entire lady’s golf team working out with the youngest being 72 and all I hear about is how far their “long ball” now goes. These are the people that will be dancing the wild fandango for a long time to come…and hopefully expire on the dance floor….requiring 3 undertakers to get the smile off their face.
Good luck to you and your wife Griff and if you’re ever in Seneca c’mon by please.
Lest I forget, if you haven’t read Doug’s article “Fountain of Youth”…it’s one of the best of the series. The older you are the better it reads!
I’m off my soapbox and will now fade into the sunset for a while…thanks for listening.
Norm and Dot Jones’ WOW’s were done on Feb 16th – an 11 day interval from our last visit to the gym as we had some house guests which affected our schedule. That wasn’t all bad as I felt “charged up and ready to go.” Moreover, Ed challenged me to step up the resistances as I was in a bit of a plateau.
Norm’s Big 5 0n Feb 16:
Overhead Press 80 lbs (+5) 1 min 25 secs (+10)
Seated Row 110 (+5) 1min 25 secs (+5)
Leg Press 310 (+10) 1min 25 secs (-25)
Chest Press 125 (+5) 1min 25 secs (-5)
Pulldown 110 (+5) 1min 25 secs (-20)
Resistances were all up, but tul’s for the late exercises sagged, showing a clear relationship between loads and times.
For Dot:
Leg Press 30 lbs (N/C) 3min (+40)
Chest Press 25 (N/C) 2min 20 sec (N/C)
Seated Row 20 (N/C) 2min 35 sec (+10)
Al … for some reason when I copy and paste the words get removed when it appears on the site. The statement was …. This varies from person to person, but without a doubt the closer someone makes the training an end in itself, the better everything else plays out.
John
Hey John,
What I was trying to say was that my long term folks are the ones who at some point get really into the ins and outs of what I’m instructing and make the training an end in itself. The workout itself becomes a set of skills that they try to master.
The ones who don’t stick around are the ones who always view the workout as a means to an end. I think the reason for this is simple: most folks don’t really know what they want. When life gets in the way and their goal of ‘losing weight’;or whatever, falls by the wayside they start viewing training as a negative stress they’d rather not deal with. That or they figure if they aren’t going to diet then they aren’t going to train.
All my long term folks train BECAUSE they can. The training itself becomes a “Flow” activity that forms a consistency in their week.
I think this is a different animal then recreation. It is almost a ‘war’ like instinctual drive that needs to be released……for those of us who wish to better the gene pool anyway
Al
Thanks AL … I agree with you 100%.
@ Dr. McGuff
Doug
When will you be doing that article/video on the lower back in regards to the MedX Lower back machine and the lower back exercise on the SuperSlow Systems pulldown.
Thanks
John
John,
I got a video camera for Christmas. I will shoot it soon and send it to John (who then edits and ads the cool intro).
Doug
@Dr. McGuff …. good news Doug … any news on the Tony Robbins TV show airing soon?
John
Hi Doug,
You wrote: “I really do believe there is joy to be had in doing hard things, and that this is one of the major intangible benefits of high intensity exercise.”
This is something I commented on before when I noticed the difference between my workouts and my dh’s. I really enjoy pushing myself, I have a lot of determination and I think that is so important to a successful workout. I find that with my workouts I slowly and surely increase the load or TUL…but my dh he gets nowhere ! He doesn’t like to push himself, he doesn’t feel any joy in the challenge of increasing the weights or TUL and so he doesn’t, he stays on the same weights and finds it a chore and boring. I love my dh dearly but I wish I could get him to experience this joy as I’m sure he will not continue working out for much longer.
Anne
The joy in doing hard things comes at the “conclusion” of a task accomplished. Every summer I peak bag a mountain that is 11,000+ ft. My wife doesn’t understand why. Our niece travels a thousand miles during the summer to join me.
On another note, having read through “Good Calories Bad Calories” and “Carbohydrates Can Kill” I ‘re-dedicated’ myself to cutting out carbs, sodas, etc. Have pretty much gone on a steak and salad diet (one of the original names for the Atkins’ diet). Have lost six pounds the first week. People ask how I do it, I tell them, and then they don’t believe me…
@John,
NBC got bought by another company and the show got moved to Summer of 2010. Tony Robbins just tweeted about BBS on his website and our Amazon ranking has dropped to 1500 and we are number 1 in quick workouts.
@Anne,
Your husband probably just requires qualified supervision to push through to the point where he experiences the sense of accomplishment that BBS can bring. Unfortunately spousal supervision rarely works unless the spouse being supervised is “already drinking the cool-aid” so to speak. If there is no-one that can fill this role, perhaps an interested third party who is willing to enforce the protocol might be the ticket.
@Jon,
Congrats on the weight loss. Done properly, it really is easy.
Doug McGuff
Some great posts, I whole heartedly agree while HIT workouts are not fun in the normal sense, they do leave you with a real sense of achievement and the fun part is seeing how hard you can push yourself and then do to all over again the next workout…
After some thinking and suggestions from Doug (McGuff) and my good friend Al Coleman, I decided to reduce my big five workout to a big three, which was as follows:
Cybex Chest Press (went up by 1 rep)
Hammer Strength Pulldown, up in weight and kept reps and tul the same…
Single Leg Leg Press
Cybex Seated Leg Curl
What I am finding though is the handles of the chest press and pulldowns are placing a large degree of compression on my palms, I believe Doug touched upon something like this on the ultimate exercise site, in the Grist for the Mill article…
In simple terms the resistance I’m using is heavy enough that my body goes into a sense of shock and shuts down, inhibiting progress….
Workout # 2.
Cybex Leg Ext
V Squat Machine (Super Set)
Cybex Low Row
Cybex Seated Press
Cybex Chest Fly
Standing Shrug
I recently weighed myself and I’m now 16 stone 12 lbs or in American terms 236lbs, I’m probably in the biggest and heaviest I’ve ever been!!
@Doug
“Your husband probably just requires qualified supervision to push through to the point where he experiences the sense of accomplishment that BBS can bring. Unfortunately spousal supervision rarely works unless the spouse being supervised is “already drinking the cool-aid” so to speak. If there is no-one that can fill this role, perhaps an interested third party who is willing to enforce the protocol might be the ticket.”
Hi Doug,
I don’t supervise my dh’s workouts. He goes to a regular gym where they don’t do BBS or SuperSlow. The gym where I go to, different from my dh’s, also doesn’t do BBS or SuperSlow (this is the UK where such gyms don’t exist), but I’ve always been keen on reading books on weight training and on looking at websites about it whereas dh doesn’t….maybe that’s why ?
Please will someone open a BBS or SuperSlow gym in London ?
Anne
Anne, I agree I wish someone would open a Nautilus or Superslow gym in the UK, even better here in Liverpool!!!, Total Fitness or Fitness First are just awful, I’m lucky that my gym is a real hardcore bodybuilding gym but still suffers from the usual myths that plagues most gyms….
London people …. open up your own … you’ll make lots of $$$$$
Paul,
Good work my man! You are a large dude.
Is there any Keiser training facilities in the UK?
Al
Al,
there’s a Kieser Training facility in London, I worked there for about about 4 years before I came to work for Kieser in Australia -Kieser bought the rights to manufacture Medx machines in Europe and have the full range of Medx machines in their facilities.
Haven’t posted in a while but here’s my last workout from 15th Feb
Row 480 x 35s/1.5 reps 10/10
Chest Press 609* x 40s/1.5 reps 10/10
Leg Ex 300 x 120s/12reps(not to fatigue) Neg Accentuated
Prone Leg Curls 170 x 95s/? reps Neg Accentuated
*pinned an extra 5kg to the weight stack
Dr. McGuff-I watched your diet seminar last night-excellent job! It’s worth $450, not $45. You have a gift for presentation and I very much respect those who, especially when conventionally trained, go against the grain (pun intended). It’s hard to make complex biochemistry understandable to the lay public but I think you did a great job. I especially loved your explanation on why being a vegan is not more ethical than being a meat eater. I’m going to use that one. I hope that poor lady was able to accept what you said. Thanks for the great presentation.
Dr. McGuff I have been following your training approach for about four months now. Before that I was lifting for about five years. I was using a HIT approach but not slow. I am 62 and have never been very muscular but have been athletic and involved in many different types of sports.
A few weeks ago you mentioned your increase in muscularity and felt it was most likely due to supplementation with D3. What dosage are you taking and what might you advise. Anyone else’s comments would also be appreciated. I am 6′3″ and 190lbs. I am trying to reduce my weight to about 180 and would very much like to increase muscularity.
Also does anyone have any comments about the use of creatine? Thanks
Thomas,
The vegan happened to be my neighbor’s daughter and accepted Doug’s logic very well…we agreed afterwards that she wouldn’t torch my house and I wouldn’t throw any meatballs at her.
Ed
Doug,
Off topic, but there’s a thread about BBS at http://paleohacks.com/questions/656/body-by-science-hype-hack-paleo
Thought you might be interested to know about it.
I teach and train clients at a commercial fitness facility. One of the key differences that I see between what we( as high intensity specialists) and those that use the most common misguided methods) -is effort.
I mean, our whole point is to continue to apply effort when our insticts are screaming run away ! Facing this makes for an experience that is very life affirming and satisfies something deep in me.It is the single most rewarding experience I have.Not pleasurable, but in some way during those final seconds of struggle maybe I’m facing the closest experience I have to death.Something about it lets me know that whatever comes my way I can handle it.In a flash I have an experience that is like nothing else in life and the normal gym goer misses this profound experience not to mention totally different results.
I am grateful to be part of the evolution of exercise.
Drog
Jamie,
I’d like to ask, which Kieser facility in Australia you are at, South Melbourne or Syndenham?
I spent 2 weeks in a Hamburg facility as a guest and got to train a few people in German and English. They were wonderful to be around. I have often thought, what it would be like to work abroad for a while. Thank you.
Hi Todd,
I’m at the South Melbourne branch. I’d definitely recommend Melbourne as a place to live and work, are you working for Kieser at the moment? I know there are opportunities to come over on a holiday visa. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, my email address is microserf1@hotmail.com
Jamie