Christmas Eve Eve this year is on a Saturday, my biggest workout day. Since I am headed out of town later this morning I decide to get my workout in as early as possible.
Early as possible means 8:00 a. m. for that is when my gym opens. I am there just as the doors are unlocked. I like this time of day. The gym is not crowded and I can workout without having to wait. During the week I go later in the evening because the early people have finished and are now leaving.
Today I am doing a workout of my own design, which is a variation of the Tabata system. Tabata was developed for speed skaters and consists of doing 8 sets of all out sprints for 20 seconds and resting 10. I have adapted it to use for muscle gr oups. Today I'm headed for a full body workout.
It should be noted that I wouldn't wish this workout on anyone. It hurts! It's not for the faint of heart either. HIIT exercise is designed to create massive oxygen debt. My own version does this quite well, as you will soon see.
I am going into this ordeal completely 'cold'. Meaning I have eaten nothing since dinner last night. My blood sugar is already low, and the high energy work I'm going to do will, if the sports performance people are right, do great and cool things to my body.
So here goes:
I always start with upper back exercises for a couple of reasons. First, these muscles are huge and my general philosophy is to work from the biggest muscle groups to the smallest. Second, the back exercises I will be doing trigger biceps in a big way. Doing back first allows the biceps some recovery time while I work other muscle groups. I will hit biceps specifically last.
This morning I set up two lat machines for use. With the first, I will be pulling the handles almost straight down. The other machine pulls more from the front, like a seated row. These two should give my latissimus dorsi a run for the money. I put 6 plates on one (about 270lbs) and 4 on the other (about 180lbs). The reason I am doing this is based on an article I read a few weeks back, extolling the virtues of heavy, then light exercises. I've been testing that idea in my big workouts, and so far I like it.
I set my Tabata timer to exercise for 20 seconds and rest for another 20. The rest period will give me time to move from one machine to the next. The number of cycles is set to 6. I know the standard number is 8, which I do on cardio days, but not for when working muscles. Because I'll die.
I hit the 'go' button and it counts down 5 seconds before start. The first 20 seconds I'm using the heavier weight and I get 10 reps. After that I jump up and move to the other machine. I wait the last few seconds of rest before starting and I perform this weight 20 times in the 20 seconds. Now I move back to the heavy machine for the next start. I still do 10 reps this set, but it's much more difficult than the first. I finished here a scant 40 seconds ago! I stay on this machine for the entire rest period and do a second set here. Two heavy exercises in a row. Then I move over and do the last two sets light, but this time I can't quite get 20 reps in. I get around 15.
I originally did heavy-light for 3 rounds with this routine, but I messed up last week and ended up doing two heavy sets in a row, which I offset with two light. To be perfectly honest, it seemed to be more difficult that way, so I'm going to stick with it for a few more weeks.
At the end of my back routine 4 minutes has elapsed and I've lifted approximately 16,000 lbs. I set the timer on my phone for two minutes. That's my rest period between muscle groups.
Next up: Chest. This part of the workout will be a little different because I injured my right shoulder a few months back, and it's pretty bad. So I can no longer do bench press and certain shoulder moves. On the bright side I can do dumbbell and cable exercises without causing much pain. (The bad kind of pain, not the discomfort of effort). I head to the cable machine and set it up. I have no idea what the weight is, but I'm going to estimate it as equivalent to two 40lb dumbbells.
This machine is harder to adjust for heavier and lighter weights, so I will be using the same weight for all 6 rounds. I do change form, from more of a flye move to a pressing movement as fatigue sets in. For the duration of this exercise I stay in the 15 rep range. This means by the end of another 4 minutes I've pushed about 7,200lbs.
By now I'm really breathing hard, and my triceps and chest are trembling from the exertion. Feel the burn! I take off my warm up jacket and set another 2 minutes on the timer. On to the next exercise.
Now I'm ready for legs and my heaviest routine. Again, it's difficult the change weights around, so I'll stick with a single weight the whole time. I put 14 plates and 2 25's on the machine (680lbs) and get ready. It takes some extra time to gather all the plates for they are scattered around the area. I wind up taking about 3 minutes rest. No matter, this is going to be quite demanding. I modify the Tabata timer for this exercise. Instead of 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off, I set the rest period for only 10 seconds. That way I'm starting a new cycle every 30 seconds. I start and burn through 6 rounds of 20 reps each. It's not easy! My legs are hurting by round 3 and it gets worse every succeeding round. 120 reps in 3 minutes, a whopping 81,000lbs! Leg work is so much fun. But remember I'm pushing the weight at a 45 degree angle, so it's not like I'm lifting this as dead weight. It's actually about 70% of the total, in the 400lb range. Still, it looks impressive. Normally this would be my warm up weight. I've pushed over 1,000lbs on this machine. But it takes a lot of extra time and effort to load the plates! About 24 of them. And if anyone else is in the area I would be taking plates from them. I'd rather just do more reps.
By now I'm in serious oxygen debt, my legs are rubber and I'm walking funny. I'm glad they have a ramp and not steps back out to the main floor.
The next muscle group happens to be my least favorite, abs. However, I must do some token exercises for them and it keeps my heart rate up to burn more calories. I am headed to the lower back machine which is a cakewalk compared to what I just did. I set the machine for its heaviest weight (300) and crank out 20 reps. When I stand I get a major head rush. Everything goes dark for a few seconds and I have to just stand there until more oxygenated blood reaches my brain. It passes and I go upstairs to the Roman Chair. There I perform 15 knee lifts, set my timer again and gulp some water. Only one muscle group is left, biceps.
Here is another chance to do the heavy-light Tabata I started with. I set up an ez curl bar with 25lb plates and grab a pair of dumbbells. Then I reset the timer for 20 seconds work and 20 seconds rest. I begin with 10 reps on the bar, and 15 using the dumbbells. That takes care of the first 2 rounds. Next I go 2 heavy cycles in a row, and end with 2 light rounds. Compared to the other muscle groups it's a paltry 3,500lbs total. Not a lot but let's face it Biceps are the smallest muscle group I've worked today.
That finishes my workout. It lasts about 40 minutes and by the end of that time I've lifted over 100,000lbs, the majority of that being legs. If I remember my Physics correctly the definition of Power is Work divided by Time. That puts my average weight lifted per minute at around 2,500lbs. I'm feeling every bit of it.
Next up, nutrition therapy! A three egg omelet covered in cheese and my Saturday treat, coffee. Since it's winter I pour my coffee over powdered hot chocolate instead of cream or milk. I'm no nutritionist but I figure the caffeine and sugars will provide quick energy to my muscles to begin recovery so the protein can do its work. In the meantime my muscles are still trembling and I'm in such a state of oxygen debt that even scrambling the eggs causes me to gasp for air.
I'm going to feel this tomorrow for sure.
