1/26/11

Alright, another cycle, another attempt at trying to keep an accurate record of my training. Lately my training has been significantly better, as I've got enough of my home gym revamped to the point that I can do most of what I want without having to go anywhere else or rely on anyone else, and the difference is amazing. My focus is better, my satisfaction with the quality of the training is better, and in due time I am sure that the results will be better. As it is, it hasn't even been a complete month, but I am already feeling pretty damn good. Getting out of the yoke of having to train while at work has saved me a lot of mental stress.

Anyway, onto today's training itself. Today is wednesday, which in the current training cycle is sort of a 'spare parts day' where I work on other forms of training not covered by monday and friday, the primary days. The hope is that this will help develop my stabilizer muscles, but to also give me specialized variety in my training.

So I started off with Overhead Squats performed in the power rack, starting from a 'dead' position. I started at 115 for 5 and worked up to 155 for 5, which was a 20 pound increase over last week. I really enjoy this exercise, as the feeling of tensing up underneath the bar in this position is really intriguing. That being said I feel the limitation right now is just my technique, flexibility, and coordination, but I feel it getting better and thats culminating in better poundages.

Up next was Good Mornings. For these I started at 145 for 5 and worked up to 190 for 5. I really enjoy this exercise and feel I derive a lot of good from it, and I try to go low enough while maintaining the bar in the groove on my upper back. For the most part though, I feel like the limiting factor for this lift is my technique, which is getting better (I think today was a 15 pound increase over last week).

Then I went on to my routine with the Fabled Cables. This is another new addition to my training regiment but I find I really like it as it seems to get at muscles I wouldn't otherwise be able to train. Currently I start with a few cables and focus on movements that I'm not as good at, and slowly add more cables as I transfer to the few pulls I can handle at that level of tension. So far it seems to be going well, though its still a rather new addition to my training and I've yet to make significant gains.

At this point, most of the primary stuff was over and it starts getting into left overs, which I do in pairs. The first pair was calf raises with 205 pounds for 10 reps, working up to 235 for 10 reps. This was super setted with 1 arm push ups, 5 on each side. I was thinking of scrapping the one arm push ups as my skill with this has gone down from lack of practice, however I noted today that I was bringing myself lower so I am going to stick with it as I suppose I am slowly gaining ground on it.

The last pair was Rolling Thunder holds, ranging from 95 pounds for 10 seconds a hand, to 120 pounds for 10 seconds a hand. The 120, while difficult, wasn't as outstandingly difficult as I recall and it makes me wonder just how much higher I can climb with it. Its been a while since I've made progress with the Rolling Thunder but thats because I never gave it the time it deserved. I supersetted these holds with Ab Wheel roll outs for sets of 5.

For the most part, I feel these days are valuable, as they are developing exotic skills in between my more serious lifting days, and since I am limited more by skill than I am by might, I am not taxing my body quite enough to ruin with my recuperation for monday and friday (or so I think). Looking forward to Friday.