German Volume Training

Today was my last day of German Volume Training quads.  Tuesday we will do our final GVT shoulder workout.  I am gonna miss it.


Let's back up to Friday though. I was training with Roy and told him I was going out to Henry's Hi-Life with the boys to celebrate Cooper's high school graduation. Henry's is a fun place, guys love it. It is as far from fancy as you can get, it is a dark, loud and crowded bar where everyone goes before Sharks and Sabercats games. Henry's is in a very old building, that was originally a hotel built in the 1900's.


Henry's is a meat eater's restaurant and I told Roy that I wasn't sure if I would have the ribs or the prime rib, I go there about 3 times a year and the last two times I  had ribs. I also said I was not going to drink wine. "If I am going to drink wine with dinner it won't be cheap wine!" which is about all they really have there (it's a great place, but the wine list is less than desirable).


We started with a martini as we waited in the bar...The fellow at the front called our number to take our order- it's on a board in the bar, you stand there and look, then tell them what you want. Here are the boys waiting in the bar.

I ordered prime rib, rare. "Can I have a vegetable, any vegetable instead of the potato please?" I asked. "The potato is the vegetable" was the answer I received. David and Cooper laughed at me and David bent over to shout into Tom's ear: "Kristy tried to order vegetables at Henry's!!! ha ha ha"


They had a good laugh at my expense.


I looked up at the very limited menu and asked for a side order of grilled onion and mushrooms, I will not eat a one pound baked potato!

My dinner. The meat was great, I didn't touch the potato. They brought my mushrooms but ran out of onions, but I was happy and I ended up drinking cheap red wine, but had a fabulous time.

Saturday I woke up at 5:15, feeling not quite a good as I usually do, I had that martini and wine, I was kicking myself a little. It is my last day with German Volume Training quads and I was going up in my weight, up to 135. That's 100 squats at more than my body weight, all the way down to the floor.


I took my time drinking my shake, I really didn't have a specific time I had to be there, but I like to arrive when they open, it's not very crowded. Plus, I would need a squat cage and would have it for about 30 minutes, so I had to make sure one was there for me. That's right a half hour of non stop squats. Well, I would actually rest for 90 seconds in between each set of 10.


I got there about 10 minutes after opening and four of the five cages were already taken! What is this now Squat Saturday??! I quickly got the last one and started warming up, this would be hard today.


I started with 95 pounds, then 115 pounds. Then I took off the plates and put on "the big wheels", the 45 pound plates. I had done 130 with Roy on Wednesday and he said to go for 135- "Use the big plates- it will look impressive!" 


I started in with my first set of 135 and got through 10 squats just pissed off that I had any alcohol the night before. There would be no way I could do 100 squats, I was mad, but at the same time, who the heck would even know if I didn't do 100.

I would know and I am the only one who matters.

I kept plugging along, wiping the sweat off my face with my little dirty towel, huffing and puffing, talking to myself, I am sure I looked like a crazed woman.

After five sets I got a bench and pulled it up behind the cage so I could sit for 90 seconds when I rested in between sets.

I made my hash marks in my training book. When I got to seven I knew I could do all ten sets, I started zoning out, shaking my head, moving to the music. I was listening to the Beastie Boys "So What'cha Want"....(Email readers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view the video)

I finished my squats, all 100, then I sat on the bench for 6 minutes, just looking around and feeling pretty pleased with myself, and glad that I didn't screw this up. I walked over to the leg extension and did four sets of 10 at 90 pounds, very slowly. I could lift more, but not after all those squats, this was just the last thing to totally exhaust my quads.


Home, I had another shake with banana, coffee and got ready for wine tasting up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was a beautiful day and we would take MyRedRocket with the top down and drive through the redwoods.


Of course, I brought my food, a great big salad with curried turkey breast, I enjoyed it with some fantastic Pinot Noir from Windy Oaks Winery. 


Sunday would be Back and Biceps, and I am going to bed early!