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This week I’ve decided to pick a few email questions that
represent the perplexities of a wide range of us insistent airborne.
I’ll condense the note to save time and assure privacy, yet
give you a feel for the person and his or her dilemma. You may notice
me rambling from time to time to include a reasonably associated
point that I think might be interesting, or you might find me missing
the point entirely. Do not confuse this with senility.
Here we go:
Q) You've mentioned a few times about the three to four times per
month heavy training while your more frequent sessions are lighter.
I like this idea because it means you get to do that motivating,
goal-seeking lifting from time to time while saving the joints from
career-shortening wear and tear the rest of the time. 1. Have you
found that you can maintain and even progress in the closer-to-limit-strength
with this frequency? 2. Does one build to the maximum, PR heavies
over the course of the month(s) or really inside of each heavy workout?
A) My workouts last about two hours and they are always maximum
output sessions, pushing for last rep or near last rep sets. Pain
of injured or overstressed areas holds me back. I train to build
and not break or degenerate my structure. Every three weeks (give
or take a few days, when I get the urge) I see how I'm doing by
settling into a workout to approach my maximum single in the squat
or deadlift -- usually two different days several days apart. I
warm up and go for it through whatever series of sets and reps I
choose that day according to feel, whim or intelligence. Mental
notes are kept and I am careful not to force myself into a destructive
corner... you know, get the rep or jump off a cliff. Sometimes I
match my max or exceed it, sometimes I come close and there are
times I just give it a rest and retool my training for the future
attempts. The max rep days are risky but keep my power alive and
well, and assure systemic growth advantages, muscle density and
size.
This is the scheme I have followed since the dawn to effectively
coincide power building with muscle building. They assume equal
priority in my motivation and goals. The cooperative scheme has,
therefore, worked well for me. If I were seeking power only I would
no doubt choose a different approach. So the answers to your questions
are: number one, yes, and number two, as a hard-working muscle builder,
the ability to progress in my strength and maximum PR depend upon
the combination of the frequent volume workouts and the less frequent
low-rep workouts, the former for muscle building and conditioning,
and for the intelligent preparation of the latter, the quest for
power.
I apply a similar effort to curling and bentover rows and one-arm
rows, without isolating a single day to apply the low-rep power
scheme. When my head and body and mood are in mysterious sync, I
go.
I never felt more like singing the blues and ya’ll can join
in on the chorus… pressing for power is out of the picture.
Injury, the beast from the black lagoon, persuades me to achieve
maximum muscle intensity from lighter, more moderate weights. No
argument there. Insisting on pushing heavy weight when the signals
advise otherwise is disastrous... pain, anxiety, disappointment,
regret, workout apprehension, development of a grim attitude toward
our ever-loving training and body, further aggravation of the injury,
negation of its repair and generation of new injuries, extension
of our training limitation and, perhaps, termination of training
altogether. Oh, my aching elbows.
TV and couch, anyone? I don’t think so.
Q) I am a 50-year-old woman, 5' 9," weighing 127 pounds and
in really good shape. I exercised most of my life and recently started
weight lifting. I
have a terrible problem, though, with cellulite on the upper thighs
and backside. My trainer says this is fat and that if I diet correctly
and weight train it could go away. What do you think?
A) If you have not seriously weight trained in the past, it is a
strong possibility that you will build muscle density and size,
shape and tone without building over-large thigh or gluteus muscles.
Cellulite might very well diminish with training and/or take on
a more agreeable appearance. Cellulite is not fully understood and
is known to be resistant.
Weight training with care is important as we get older (I'm 60);
yet training with intensity is imperative. As you become conditioned,
train with passion and a grateful attitude. A healthy, thoughtful
degree of aggression is needed to build muscle and break through
cellulite barriers. One may say that passion or enthusiasm are not
in our control, we either have them or don’t. I say as we
keep our eye hopefully and energetically on our purpose and goals,
and with our hands held out against doubt and lethargy, passion
and enthusiasm will fill us. From them training intensity grows
and objectives are reached.
Don’t be afraid to blast it and don’t be afraid of squats.
Excessive criticism, on the other hand, can rob you.
I suggest you look into HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)
for your cardio training once you are comfortable and moving along
in your workouts.
127 at 5' 9" is quite slim. Keep the protein high, sugar low,
meals frequent, feed your muscles and fuel your training sessions.
Don't starve yourself to lose the fat or you will sacrifice vital,
attractive, fat-burning muscle. Persist. We desperately need more
fit and conscientious people on this dear planet.
Q) I’m a middle-age guy. Whenever I do leg curls, the next
day my lower back aches for about 24 hours. I have a full, top-quality
home gym setup, with a full reclining bench and leg attachments.
I've tried declining the bench so my butt's in the air, and I've
tried a straight horizontal bench too... same discomfort. The weight
being used allows a full ten reps.
A) Those leg curls can be troublesome and you don't want them interfering
with the health of your back.
Chances are the origin of the problem is the mechanics of the apparatus
as it is of a non-commercial variety. The best home setups often
fail in the leg-curl movement, as do many sophisticated professional
units. Try stuffing a pillow between your midsection and the bench
to raise you backside in an attempt to eliminate the stress directed
to the lower back during exertion. Or, settle for a lighter weight
and comfortable reps with hope that sufficient direct leg biceps
stimulation will be achieved as you seek overall thigh development
from other exercises (prepares the delicate region for future heavier
weight as you build and strengthen). Squats and true deadlifts are
winners for full thigh construction, the latter a blast on hamstrings
when counting out loaded reps.
Some people love lunges for the front and the back of the thighs.
Weighted walking lunges (bar across the back or hanging, hand-held
dumbbells) and bench step-ups have become popular lately, the accent
on the hamstrings and butt the main attraction.
Another approach: Strengthen the lower back with hyperextensions
and deadlifts for reps and occasional power. They are essential
exercises, which will add armor to your lower back, overall power
to the body and resistance to many injuries. The increased strength
and health might enable you to perform the curl without critical
stress or pain.
Meanwhile, keep the body, mind and spirit strong and alive. We are
here to keep the skies clear, blue and trouble-free.
Q) I am a female, 5' 6," weighing 125 lbs and have been at
this weight for years. I take in 2000 calories per day, broken down
into six meals -- each meal consists of 40% carbs, 30% protein and
30% fat. I train four days a week and I do two 30-minute sessions
of cardio per week since I have a fast metabolism. Once in a while
I will eat a nice bowl of ice cream or a few slices of pizza. I
then do extra cardio, but the problem is I can't seem to shed the
extra calories that I consumed. My body stores the extra calories
as fat. If I increase my cardio my body puts on fat. Am I supposed
to cut carbs for a while and then increase them again after I cheat
with my diet?
A) The occasional ice cream and pizza shouldn't present such a problem.
On those infrequent days that you indulge, plan a tough weight workout
later that day or on the following day to take advantage of the
carbohydrate load... pump, strength and endurance will be up and
ready for action. This mildly resembles, in fact, a popular training
technique put forth by highly regarded training experts: Carb up
and blast the weights, according to a methodical scheme. See page
152 of Your Body Revival, under the sub-title, “The secrets
lurk in dark dungeons.” Zig-Zag Training by Hatfield, The
Metabolic Diet by Di Pasquale, The Hormonal Replacement Diet by
Fagin or The Code of the Dungeon by the Bomber are described and
endorsed.
You're living a good life and following a good training (diet and
exercise) scheme. I'd raise the protein intake (up to 40 %) and
lower the carbs and wouldn't mind losing some less valuable fat
ingestion as well. You are at a fine edge according to your specs...
5' 6" and 125 are right in there.
Practice shorter, more intense and frequent cardio sessions (HIIT:
High Intensity Interval Training) to suit your training needs. Three
or four 12 to 15-minute HIIT workouts will outdo the thirty-minute
slugs for athleticism, fat burning and muscle sparing. Tough at
first, but invigorating and pleasing once you adapt.
The following thoughts might sound extreme or something might just
ring a bell: Have you considered sprints at a track to fight stubborn
fat? They can be a welcome diversion, healthy and fun, as they target
tough spots, including waistline, hips, glutes and hamstrings. You
might find stepping up your calorie consumption (go, protein) and
putting the increase to use with an aggressive approach to your
training. Are you stuck in a mold and need to break out or are you
content with your level of input? Risk sometimes matches our hidden
personality… a month of spirited change is always a step forward.
Look at your weight workouts for clues to your fat control and fat-burning,
muscle development. Do you weight train, muscle build hard enough?
Is it time to amp two of your four workouts, superset, add weight
or sets or effort per set? Robust training can be liberating, not
enslaving, as it at first appears.
Fishing expedition: Have you checked (via blood tests) the balance
of your hormonal system lately?
Sure can pile up the words when probing and attempting to solve
the everyday predicaments. Life and its quandaries have a way of
purifying, strengthening and humbling us... and sometimes making
us crazy. We are a nice bunch of nuts, though.
Next time the clouds fill the skies in your world, Bombers, throttle-up,
lean back and rise above them. The sun always shines.
Dave Draper
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