Beat it or Bust

Laree's lit up like a candle on fire at both ends, pushing hard to get us on the road and out of town sooner than later. We're a bit worn out and our perspective, our eye on life, is showing signs of fatigue. You stare at a thing too long and it becomes a blur. Our general destination is northeast. We'll take our gym gear with us as we always do and remark as we always do what comfortable pajamas it makes. A break from the scene entirely is a healthy idea. This does not include, of course, the discontinuance of our virtuous eating habits; they are more like pets or soothing music or a late night TV movie. I told you our perspectives are getting a little cloudy.

I plan, as every fanatic similarly plans, to massively overtrain this week to prepare the body for a long and productive period of repair and growth. A busy body allowed to rest, provided the proper ingredients, builds strong and lean muscles when you're not looking or thinking. This theory will be carefully determined in the upcoming Bomber Applied-Research Program and the results continuously and automatically recorded by the subject's system.

Phase One of the OTP (overtraining plan) went into effect today. However, after a quick review of my completed workout, I realized it was nothing more than my usual training fare. Fifty-five+ sets were the total workload to complement mid-section (rope tucks supersetted with hyper-extensions, 5 sets x 25 and 15 reps) and the sometimes-ailing rotator-cuff (rubber tube supine and propine rotations 5x25). Then the shoulder and back combination training: Smith press-behind-neck supersetted with wide-grip pulldown, 7x6-10, followed by steep dumbbell inclines tri-setted with dumbbell shrugs and seated lat rows, 5x 8-12, finishing with one-arm dumbbell rows and reverse pec dec, 5x 6-10. There were a few warm-up sets here and there, but who counts them?

I noted as I worked out that though I seek to train the major muscle groups twice a week this ambitious schedule can no longer be practiced a second time in a one-week period; too much for these bones these days. I love this routine once a week, day one of the seven-day cycle. I submerge myself for two hours and plow along, precisely wandering the gym floor with a varying tempo to match the changing exercise demands. I grunt just to be sociable. Water is my companion to pace my sets and reward my efforts.

The follow-up to this sortie later this week will be reduced in scope and workload. Perhaps I'll withdraw the one-arm rows, pec dec and ab work and lighten up on the PBN poundage (already an embarrassment, which is good for my ugly pride that overfloweth), bring in some playful cable-crossover work and employ some slo-mo reps here and about. The intensity will be there in form and pace and pump and time-under-load.

Tomorrow will come and I plan a hard forearm, biceps and triceps workout to catch up with the damage done on my delts and back. I see and feel the clear correspondence of the two workouts and think of the combination as a super split-routine performed over a forty-eight hour period... A nice rest in between.

Visions of tomorrow: I commence my workout with crunches and leg raises as abdominal builders and multi-muscle warm-ups. Wrist curls done with the Apollon's Axle, followed by reverse wrist curls, thumbs-up curls and pulley pushdowns concentrate on the forearms with a hint of bi and tri. Low thirty-degree incline dumbbell curls intertwined with thirty-degree decline bent bar triceps extensions entertain fully the bis and tris. Finally, standing barbell curls performed at a slight lean forward (and pulling the bar to the forehead) lighten up on the by-now-ragged biceps long head and, also, create a need to use less weight while increasing control without compromising intensity. Add to this cute movement—in superset fashion—the overhead triceps extension. The vision is complete.

All supersets are done five times with reps ranging from 6 to 10 (bis) and 12 to 15 (tris). See here: forty sets plus gut in 100 minutes. Dinky day.

Workout number three is leg day, squats and stuff, maybe light deadlifts. There is method in my madness. Considerable form is indicated in the above routines, yet you might observe my predilection to sniff and stray like a drooling hound dog. Time invested has given me the advantage to roam the gym floor and mercifully select my molding implements. You, too, may be applying a resembling mode of training. It takes familiarity, focus, logic and a plodding spirit. What you did last week determines what you do this week. What's ahead in the days to come is no less important. Freedom appears to be free but it is not. Intelligent directional training requires sensitively imposed boundaries; building handsome walls by choosing stone size, shape, tone and mortar density to define the strength and esthetics of the functioning construction.

Note: Helter-skelter, haphazard, aimless training without structure understood is nearly a waste of time. A few random, trial run-throughs may prove interesting and instructive for those who can get from one end of the gym to the other without tripping. Pick a spare day of play... twice a month. Give it a go. Not recommended for flakes, ding-a-lings, nitwits, the lazy, the under-fed or the bewildered. Bombers only.

Rest, recuperate, restore, repair, rejuvenate, revive, refresh, renew, and reap...

Brother Iron, Dave

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BEAT IT OR BUST