Warm-up -
200 stab crunches
30 OH BB push press 45/65
30 front squats 45/65
200 KB swings 25/35
Workout -
10-9-8-7-6 reps per set of:
thrusters AHAP
Post weights used to comments.
Daily Extras - Only if you HATE yourself and your hands are OK :).
50 deadlifts 95/135
Workout Notes:
- We are a little off our regular Tuesday rotation. We are supposed to be doing some hard core pulling today, but hands will be a little roughed up from pullups yesterday. Switching to legs instead.
- You don't want to start with the KB swings. Wait to do them until after the crunches. In fact, it'll be best if you perform the warm-up exercises in the order written.
- Thrusters are notorious for making your back twinge if you get out of whack a bit (poor form). Be careful with the weight you select.
- Thrusters are also notorious soremakers. This is redundant, but BE CAREFUL.
- Remember, thrusters are about generating drive from your hips to drive the bar OH.
- If your hams and glutes are roughed up tomorrow, give us a "HELL YEAH!" in comments.
Musings:
Being Busy is NOT the Same as Being Productive
I watch her almost everyday. Not that I'm looking for her, it's just that I can't help but notice how slow she moves. She catches my eye because, after nearly a decade of coaching folks to use high intensity workouts to nearly triple their benefits in less than half the time, it just looks weird to see someone meandering through a gym without clear purpose. It's especially weird to see a 30 something y/o mamma trying to get her pre-baby body back while strolling aimlessly through the equipment. I'm just guessing on the "getting her pre-baby body back" thing, but her sex/age and exhausted look/posture don't represent the typical bodybuilder demographic.
I also notice how little she is doing compared to how long she's at the gym. No less than an hour and a half in most cases. I counted her sets once. I know how sick this makes me sound. I'm sorry, I can't help it. I'm weird that way. I just don't feel like I can be an effective trainer if I don't have all the info I need. And I NEEDED to know how many sets she was doing.
It was about 10 sets. She did 5 slow/light/easy sets for 2 different body parts (biceps and chest). Each set took her about :45 seconds to complete all 15 reps. She took about 5 min rest between each of the 10 sets. She also did a thorough (read: damned near excessive) warm-up and cool down consisting of light cardio, abs and stretching. The warm-up and cool down took her, at least 15 mins each, totaling half an hour. I'm not saying this type of workout doesn't have it's place. It does for a very small % of people. But, it's not right for most of us. Most of us need a little more heavy breathing and sweating to gain the full benefits of exercise.
I never see her break a sweat or breathe heavily. EVER.
Let's just add it up. Doing the math, she did roughly 10 mins of earnest but light work in 90 minutes of gym time, or about 150 total reps of exercise. But even that gives her too much credit because the sets weren't consecutive. Each set was spaced out by, at least, 5 min of rest.
Compare that to our GPP Standard + workout from yesterday. Most of our veteran clients will perform 10-12 rounds of all 4 sets of exercises (pullups, pushups, squats, situps) at 50 reps per round. In 20 mins they will perform over 500 reps of consecutive, balanced, full-body, multi-joint, multi-system, highly intense work.
Being busy is not the same as being productive. The "90 mins of daily gym time" that many people wear as a badge of honor, has no real meaning in-and-of itself. Meaning only comes from purposeful, goal oriented, balanced, full-body, multi-system work. The problem is, without meaning your workouts have no purpose. Without purpose you'll be productive - no matter how many minutes you apply.
I've been fascinated by Stoicism lately. Even been reading some Seneca. I'm not super good at it, but am aspiring to become a better Stoic.