Document my Mesopsycho adventures

Chest:

1. Pushups
Set 1: With feet elevated on Stability Ball – 15 reps
Sets 2 and 3 On the floor – 12 reps

2. Incline Press at Smith Machine
Sets 1 to 3 – 12 reps – 15 kg
4th Back Off Set – 10 kg – 20 reps

3. Dumbbell Press
Sets 1 to 3 – 12 reps – 20#
4th Back Off Set – 18 reps – 15#

4. Cable Cross Over High Pulley
Set 1 – 10# – 16 reps
Set 2 – 20# – 12 reps

5. Bent Arm Pull Over on Stability Ball
2 Sets – 12 reps – 20#

Shoulder

6. Overhead Press
3 sets – 20# – 12 reps
Back Off Set – 15# – 16 reps

7. Side Lying Lateral Raise on Stability Ball
Set 1 – 3 kg – 8 reps
Set 2 – 2 kg – 16 reps

8. Lateral Raise with elbows bent
Set 1 – 3 kg – 16 res
Set 2 – 5 kg – 15 reps

9. Bent Over Rear Delt Fly
3 sets – 3 kg – 12 reps

Stretches

Good news and not so good news.

Good news – I squatted a bit more than my body weight today. So that isnt much by serious weight training standards. Particularly since
a. It was not a full squat (I only went down upto thighs parallel to floor)
b. It was in the Smith Machine (Real men Serious weight-trainees squat in squat racks)
Still. It was a first for me. Yay me!

Not so good news – I am fumbling with lifting for hypertrophy for the legs.
a. My legs are far stronger than my upper body. I need more upper body strength to support truly 70% of my 1-rep max for the legs in compound exercises like the squat, lunge or deadlift.
b. My gym does not have a squat rack and squatting more than 40 kg in a Smith machine puts pressure on my spine when I press upwards from the squat.
c. The weight increments available to me at the gym are too large for me to attempt techniques like wave loading.
d. I aimed for the 12 rep range on the starting set of each exercise, but found the weight I picked tended to underestimate my strength. Dang! I wish hadnt lost my 1 rep max sheet.

Venkat was not feeling well. I exercised solo with help from Rajesh, a trainer at the gym who spotted for me. Rajesh is in the pic accompanying this post.

Exercise 1: Smith Machine Squat
Set 1 : 20 reps – 40 kg
Set 2 : 12 reps – 60 kg
Set 3 : 8 reps – 65 kg

Exercise 2: Smith Machine Lunge
Set 1 : 15 reps – 40 kg
Set 2 : 12 reps – 50 kg
Set 3 : 10 reps – 55 kg

Exercise 3: Leg curl
Set 1 : 12 reps – 40 #
Set 2 : 10 reps – 50 #
Set 3 : 8 reps – 50 #

Exercise 4: Single Dumbbell Plie Squat
Set 1 : 16 reps – 30 #
Set 2 : 12 reps – 40 #
Set 3 : 12 reps – 40 #

Exercise 5: Leg extension
Set 1 : 15 reps – 50 #
Set 2 : 12 reps – 60 #
Set 3 : 8 reps – 70 #

Exercise 6: Leg Press
Set 1 : 15 reps – 140 #
Set 2 : 12 reps – 150 #
Set 3 : 12 reps – 160 #

Exercise 7: Seated Adduction
Set 1 : 12 reps – 40 #
Set 2 : 12 reps – 40 #

Exercise 8: Seated Abduction
Set 1 : 12 reps – 50 #
Set 2 : 12 reps – 50 #

Exercise 9: Weighted Standing Calf Raise on a Step at the Smith Machine
Set 1 : 12 reps – 40 kg
Set 2 : 12 reps – 40 kg
Set 3 : 12 reps each side – unweighted single leg.

Stretch

In Mesocycle 2 of STS, the focus is on building muscle (hypertrophy). All exercises for a body part are completed before moving to the next body part. The rep range is 8 to 12. The weight used is 70% to 80% of 1 rep max. Techniques Cathe is using are Wave Loading and Back Off Sets. I had no idea what that meant but I found out thanks to google and weight training sites.

Venkat is delighted with the performance gains he is seeing at running and yoga from Meso 1 and is now my enthusiastic partner for Meso 2.

I lost our one rep max calculations, but I sort of remember what I used in Meso 1 and should be able to manage to decipher how much to lift.

Today’s workout:

Exercise 1: Double Wave Loading with Lat Pull Down
Wave 1
Set 1: 16 reps with 40#
Set 2: 10 reps with 50#
Set 3: 8 reps with 60#
Wave 2
Set 1: 12 reps with 50#
Set 2: 10 reps with 50# + 2.2# barbell plate
Set 3: 8 reps with 60#

In wave loading, you do 3 to 4 sets of an exercise with progressively higher weight and lower reps. This is called a wave. Then you do another wave of the same number of sets. You increment the weight you use for each set slightly as compared to the corresponding set in the previous wave, but try to match the rep count.

By the strict definition of wave loading, I should have lifted heavier on the last set of Wave 2. As this was my first try, I did not know how to pace myself.

Exercise 2: One Arm dumbbell Row
Set 1: 25# – 16 reps (found this was too low a weight)
Set 2: 30# – 12 reps
Set 3: 30# – 12 reps
Set 4 (back off set): – 20# – 25 reps
In a back off set, you strip off 40% of the weight used in the preceding sets and lift to failure. Because your muscle fibres have been stimulated by lifting heavy, you are supposed to find that you can do more reps than usual with the lighter weight.

Exercise 3: Close Grip Lat Pull Down
Set 1: 50# – 12 reps
Set 2: 50# – 12 reps
Set 3: 50# – 12 reps

Exercise 4: Bar Press Down with straight arms at the Cable machine
Set 1: 20# – 12 reps
Set 2: 20# – 12 reps

Exercise 5: Barbell curl Double wave load
Wave 1
Set 1: 12 reps with 3.5 kg plates X 2
Set 2: 10 reps with 5 kg plates X 2
Set 3: 8 reps with 6 kg plates X 2 (needed spotting)
Wave 2
Set 1: 12 reps with 3.5 kg plates X 2
Set 2: 10 reps with 5 kg plates X 2 (needed spotting)
Set 3: 8 reps with 6 kg plates X 2 (needed spotting)I could not increment weight in the second wave as we dont have increments that are light enough at the gym.

Exercise 6: Barbell Preacher Curl
Set 1: 25# – 10 reps with 3.5 kg plates X 2
Set 2: 30# – 10 reps with 3.5 kg plates X 2
Set 3: 30# – 10 reps with 3.5 kg plates X 2
Set 4 (back off set) – 15 reps with 5 kg plates X 2
Needed spotting on first 3 sets

Exercise 7 – Alternating Dumbbell Curl with forearm twist
Set 1: 10# – 10 reps
Set 2: 10# – 10 reps
Set 3: 10# – 10 reps

Stretch

Started my workout …and Balaji came home…and then Ashok. I had a great time, but I did not get around to the workout.

Elliptical – 30 minutes with iClimb from iTrain

My plantar fascitis (if my self diagnosis is right) did not like the short run a few days ago. I’ve decided to take a few more days off from any cardio that entails weight bearing until it clears up.

I found an article on the Internet about 29 things I could do in a corner using a barbell. Very creative. I couldnt remember all of them at the gym, but did as many single arm ones as I could remember.

I’ve also been bitten by the kettlebell bug thanks to the folks at videofitness. Unfortunately the kettlebell bug hasnt bitten India yet so there are no kettlebells in gyms or stores. Armed with youtube clips from memory and advice from VF forum members, I set out to the gym to do a few basic moves. I picked a 15# dumbbell as this was my first try and I wanted to focus on technique.

Finally, I did stability ball work.

That made today’s training functional. I did mainly moves that were multi-joint that mimic real-life movements where the body usually works as an integrated unit, rather than individual muscles in isolation. It was a whole lot of fun. I must do a rotation like this once I finish STS-like.

Today’s workout was largely unilateral movements. I realized my left/right strength imbalance has become worse since Meso 1. My left is lagging very appreciably. Almost every exercise I picked for Meso 1 was bilateral. In Meso 2, I must remember to include more single side exercises.

Kettlebell inspired training:
1. One Arm Dumbbell Swing – 15 reps
2. One Arm Clean and Press – 15 reps
3. Alternating Swing and One Arm Clean & Press – 8 reps (both in succession counted as a rep)
4. High Windmill – 12 reps

Barbell in a corner training:
1. Hammer Jammer (lunge with overhead extension while rising) – 15 reps
2. Lumberjack Squat – 16 reps
3. High Pull – 15 reps
4. Bent Over Row – 15 reps
5. Floor Press – 16 reps
6. Stiff Leg Deadlift – 15 reps
7. Suitcase Deadlift – 15 reps
8. Seated Overhead Press – 15 reps
9. Single Arm Barbell Fly – 15 reps
10. Single Arm Rear Delt Raise – 15 reps

Stability Ball Training
1. Prone Tucks – 2 sets of 8
2. Side Lying Raises – 1 set of 20
3. Prone Lying Low Back Extensions – 1 set of 20
4. Prone Lying Low Back Extension with twist – 1 set of 10
5. Wall on the feet Crunches – 1 set of 40

I could certainly afford some yoga later this evening.

Rest day

Yin Yoga – Hips Series with Paul Grilley. Aaaah Bliss

Cardio: 40 minutes incline walking/lunges followed by 30 minutes of running. Distance 10 km. Stretch

This was a not so active recovery day. No workout.