Saturday's Leg Workout

Some days when I get to the gym I feel so alive it's really hard to contain myself. This past Saturday was one of those mornings. I had slept well, I was awake before the alarm sounded.

I watch people in the gym, and I know most of them are not lifting right. They may be swinging their weights around, using weights that are too light or too heavy, not performing the move correctly, you name it. Most people just go through the motions to get it over with. It is supposed to be difficult you know!


I am making an effort to time my sets, it's easy when I train with Roy because he can stand there with the stopwatch, it's harder by myself, but I did a good job this Saturday.


Roy said for hypertrophy I need to aim for sets with a time under tension of 40 to 70 seconds, and to do that I need to lift explosively and lower very, very slowly. It's exactly opposite of what most people do.


Try it. Take whatever exercise you are doing and do 8 to 10 reps, but make each set last a minimum of 40 seconds. It's freaking hard!


You do that with squats, with bench press, with military press, you name it. You may find that you have to lower the weight you are using. My weights went down when I started training with Roy, but I look a hell of a lot better!


Here's my morning:


Stretching
Seated leg Curl 5 sets of 8 @ 100 pounds (time under tension ~36 (I was trying) (60 second rest in between sets)
Unilateral Kneeling Leg Curl 5 sets of 8 @ 20 pounds (time under tension ~32) (60 second rest)
RDL's 4 sets of 6 @ 195 pounds (time under tension 32, 31, 32, 32) (90 second rest)
Front Squats 5 sets of 8 @ 95 pounds (time under tension 48,47,48,51,51) YAHOO! (90 second rest)
Walking Lunges with 20 pound dumbbells 3 sets on each leg (10 per leg) (30 second rest)
Glute Ham Raise 4 sets of 10 body weight (60 second rest)
20 minutes on the stairmill


Protein and carb shake afterward and coffee, coffee, coffee.

Hams from Hell

We are now working on my hamstrings once a week, Monday evenings is the selected day of torture.

I enjoy training hamstrings, but then there are some things that once I start, I decide they are really, really difficult.

SC always told me I was built to deadlift. I guess that's better than being told I am strong like a Russian tractor, he meant it as a compliment I am sure. 

Monday we did deadlifts, Romanian Dedalifts (RDL's). We started with my ending weight from last week- 155 and Roy just kept piling on the weight. He said as long as I could do 10 reps, I could do more weight.

He added more, then the chains. We were up to 195 I think, and I had done four sets. He wanted more. He added more weight, it couldn't have been much, maybe we were up to 200 or 205, and I did 5 reps and on the 5th, just let it drop it on the ground, I couldn't pull it up any longer. 

I was breathing hard, sweating, the kind of training I like, you see, my feet barely moved! ha ha

Then it was on to unilateral work on the extension bench, with a weight. This one is done very slowly, it hits the top of the glutes and my lower back begins to feel it.

We went longer than usual. Roy wanted to hit the calves too. I got home, had a ground beef patty, brown rice, mushrooms and zucchini. I thought I would be sore the following day.

I woke at 4:00 am, ate egg whites and off to the gym for shoulders, nothing was sore, nothing hurt, odd. I made sure I rolled and stretched my legs a little but concentrated on the shoulders more.

I emailed Roy and told him "nothing! no soreness!"

At lunch I changed and grabbed my jump rope, it was off to run the steps and jump. Jogging to the event center was fine, but as I took the first stairs (two at a time), I could feel the slowness in my legs, the muscles were still fatigued.

I managed to run my steps and jump rope, but it was slow going. I slowly jogged back to the office when I was done. By the time I got home from work at 5:30, my calves were killing me, my hamstrings were staring to feel tight, and I knew I was in for a long night of tossing and turning. I would have hamstrings from hell in the morning.

And Wednesday night Roy and I train Quads. Quads means squats. No way to rest the hams when doing squats.


Give me strength, I am going to need it Wednesday night!

Me and "The Doc"

Sunday morning, I think those extra calories yesterday actually did me good. I woke before the alarm went off, and had to go back to sleep, the club doesn't open till 6:00 a.m. on weekends.

It was shoulder day, my favorite and I trained hard. 

Although I profess to be a loner in the gym, people always talk to me and I am not quite sure why. I suppose I am a bit of an oddity, a novelty and maybe even a freak to some. I have my headphones in, I am concentrating intently, and I don't think I seem very friendly (to be honest), I am on a mission.

Still, I have a great number of friends and acquaintances I speak with everyday when I am there. 

One is "The Doc". I have written about him before, he is a plastic surgeon in town. I first met him several years ago when he came up to me and told me I should come see him to have work done, "Your face should be in the same century as your body" he said. (and no we do not have a professional relationship, I like my face just fine, there are no plans for plastic duck lips in my life!)

Over the years he has made a point of chatting with me at every opportunity, he is in his late 70's and comes in several times a week.

He wanted to get strong, he asked me how to improve his bench. He wanted me to help him learn to deadlift (I didn't train him, I had just broken my rib and I think he then forgot about it all).

One day he asks if I have ever heard of a guy named Pavel Tsatsouline, he is a kettlebell expert. "Of course" I told him, "I have read all his books".


He would tell me everyday what he was working on, if it was a "strength" day or a a"flexibility" day. He would balance on a bosu ball with little weights in his hands, pretty good for an old guy!


I always do a little plyometrics before lifting, just to get everything moving. He always made a point of watching me do my explosive step ups, sort of like a fast jump/step up on a bench, one foot at a time, marching in place with Guns n Roses on my iPod full blast! He told me he wanted to learn how to do it, and I cautioned him it was a very advanced move. He said he would go home and practice first before doing it at the gym, just in case he fell down. 

"The Doc" used to use the smith machine a lot. I use it once a week. Each time when he was done, no matter what day of the week, he would come find me and tell me "I warmed up Smitty for you!" I would thank him and continue lifting.

He would often just stand and watch me lift, usually deadlift or squat or perform RDL's. He always got a kick out of the weight I could push.

A month or so ago I decided I might move to another gym, mine is just way too expensive. I had been visiting them all so I could make an informed decision. He heard me talking to another member while we were stretching in the meditation room and he says to me: "You leave here and I am never coming back". I told him that I would stay, he could sponsor me, I will wear the name of his cosmetic surgery center on my butt.

He liked that, said he might buy me a pair of shorts. That was not my intention, I wanted him to pay my club fees.

A few days later he came up to me and asked me "how much do you need? So I can sponsor you?" I looked him in the eye and said "$289.00 a month"

He got a surprised look on his face and asked if I had a tennis membership. Nope, just a family one. We never discussed it again.

Recently he asked me what I know about Prednisone, "does it make you stronger or weaker?" I told him it was a heavy duty steroid that raises blood glucose levels and makes you swell, nothing you want to take unless you have to. 

Today he came up to me, I pulled my earbuds out of my ears and said "What's up Doc?" He looked at me and said:

"I want to thank you for helping me, for talking to me all the time, for listening to me. I know I bug you." 

"I come in and watch you and am so inspired, you are the one that keeps me coming in. Just to watch you is amazing, you are the most inspirational person I know".

I thanked him and he went on:

"I won't be back for a while, I have to have some procedures done. I wanted to say thanks and goodbye." I asked if I would see him in a few months maybe?

"I'm not sure" he said. "I have some health issues to deal with" and he held out his arms. I gave him a long hug and I wished him luck and watched him walk away. He stopped and turned around and said "thanks for the hug, it means a lot to me." He then turned and continued walking, I watched him disappear down the hallway.

Good luck Doc, I will keep Smitty warm for you.