Twitch, my friend has advised me today that maybe my intensity is not high enough considering the fact that the fat on my target zones is not reducing from exercise. He did agree that I must be doing something right if my weight is just stabilized at 154 lbs for the past 2 months of just home exercise. He had suggested that maybe the concept of “working out until failure” may be something to consider as it challenges the body to push harder and basically “raise the bar”. He inquired about my ab attack plan that I have been using and he felt that I could probably push a lot harder to seek the gains I want. So I have taken the advice and put it to practice tonight.
I took Twitch’s example and tweaked it to his suggestion. I would take the crunch, the bicycle crunch, and cross crunch; do all of them in a straight cycle for 2 sets of each; take a 2 minute break and do another set. So, if you want a more visual form:
20 reps of crunches
20 reps of bicycle crunches
20 reps of cross crunches
20 reps of crunches
20 reps of bicycle crunches
20 reps of cross crunches
2 minute break
20 reps of crunches
20 reps of bicycle crunches
20 reps of cross crunches
20 reps of crunches
20 reps of bicycle crunches
20 reps of cross crunches
A grand total of 240 crunches and my abs felt the wonderful burn. It was a burn that after the last cross crunch… I felt the pain of my abs going “Have mercy on us!” I won’t be doing the “working out to failure” routine too much as it is a tad rough. I may keep that principle on my “off-days” when I wake late or just feel more apt to doing cardio at the gym and double up on the gut-buster routine.
Unfortunately, I will have to delicately plan for the Easter holiday… The office has me doing “on-call” for Saturday from 10:30am – 6pm, but my gym is open from 8am – 7pm. Due to Easter Sunday, the gym is totally closed. I will probably make those 2 days my “failure” days and work hard on the abs to make up for the gym being closed.
For scaling back up to my hard workout from backing down to home workouts, I am surprised I performed well. My heart rate is just as strong as I had it last at the gym, dare I say possibly even stronger? I did take it easy on myself and I am really surprised at my results! My intensity is still there as well as my drive to push. It is really inspiring to see myself being able to keep a pretty good pace without exhausting the hell out of myself.
Crossramp Machine
Duration: 25 minutes + 5 minute cooldown
Crossramp level 6
Resistance (workout/cooldown): 6/5
Total caloric burn: 313 calories
Distance: 2.67 miles
Average heart rate: 165 beats per minute
Maximum heart rate: 185 beats per minute.
Torso Rotation
8 reps
2 sets
30 lbs resistance
Butterfly Machine – Rear Deltoid form
10 reps
2 sets
60 lbs resistance
Abdominal Machine
15 reps
3 sets
50 lbs resistance
Ab Crunch Bench
105 degree angle
15 reps
3 sets
On top of that all… I have also decided to hit up Vitamin Shoppe in West Plano to pick up some of my supplements and begin my hardcore regimen. I ended up picking up a 16oz jar of L-Glutamine powder and a 2 lbs Crea-Tech Extreme from Vitamin Shoppe’s BodyTech brand. My protein powder jar is running a bit low, so I will have to pick up a new jar soon. I have called up Ultimate Sports Nutrition out in Frisco about getting in some Activate Xtreme so I may swing by and get a bottle and watch myself amp up again. I am still in debate about the nitric oxide and a thermogenic, but probably may not go that route… Due to the loading dose recommendation on the Crea-Tech Xtreme, I will wait until next week when I can go seriously hardcore with the 5 day loading dosage and from there do my maintenance dosing.
To add a mix to things… I will also be logging my meals and snacks just so I can keep rough track of how many calories I take in for accountability . This is so I can try to stick with my goal intake of about 1,500 – 1,750 calories, as some of the BMI calculators online seem to say that 133 lbs is where I need to be for lean muscle. If there are fitness junkies or fellow “deathbeasts” out there who could better advise me, it would be appreciated.
I took it easy on myself today. A short run on the stride machine, then a brisk set of strength training and that was it. I had did work on my arms, chest and lower back today to give my upper back and abs a break from Tuesday’s routine. Today wrung me out pretty good from the stride machine as my average heart rate is now about 165 beats a minute. It seems I am slowly strengthening my heart with my workouts and the higher rate of oxygen intake is definitely a big help. Proper breathing can do such wonders if used properly.
I am really impressed with tonight’s progress. It was a quick 1 hour session but it worked me through the ringer. I was glad to have taken in about 38 grams of protein from a Clif Builders Bar and a protein shake made with soy milk for snacks for today. Tore up my biceps, abs, and legs tonight so I feel great. Stretching before doing my routine has been great despite the “macho myth” that it does nothing… It just helps me unlock my blood flow and gets the blood a little warmed up before I do my run. My average heart rate is going up apparently… I was averaging at 170 beats per minute during my run after 5 minutes of warming up on the total body crossramp machine. That’s really amazing for me, considering that on the intense portions of my work out I was topping out at 177 beats per minute. I think I am finally reaching the stage of where I wish to be at and damn does it feel great!
My leg is still acting up, but it is recovering nicely. Today, I could feel some pain from walking or running, almost as if it felt like it was dislocated. So I just need to back off and let my body heal properly. My body is slowly returning to how I was at age 19, but with much more strength from properly feeding myself rather than the undernourishment business I was doing to myself. It’s amazing what proper eating and rest can do. Tomorrow, I should be hitting it the gym with another session. It should be more running for me, provided things go right with work at the office letting me out on a timely fashion.
Today’s regimen was more of a recovery set as my leg has not felt well for the past few days. It felt like I had dislocated my leg and it made the one essential maneuver for driving a painful experience. This session was brisk but powering to boot. Though the good bit of progress is that my body fat percentage is going down, meaning that there is muscle growth happening. I imagine that the majority of my muscular growth is from my legs due to how cardio centric my workout is. My heart rate is averaging at 160 beats per minute after the warm up phase of my running. That’s a good sign as the workouts are putting me at my ideal heart rate to strengthen the heart muscle tissue.
So my hard session of cardio was great! I just didn’t feel the repercussions until now… My leg muscles are in a bit of uncomfortable pain. Tasks like doing pedal work to throw gears in my car or simply walking just felt a bit agonizing. I haven’t pin-pointed the pain, but my money is on probably my quads or hamstrings. I just need to let my body heal with proper nutrition that’s high in protein and also more sleep. I may just take a break and resume on Monday for the sake of taking care of my body.
UPDATE @ 9:47am: So sleep really revealed that I am actually a little banged up. My legs feel like they did a marathon run and would like not to do any more walking for the next few days. I can say I’ll definitely be taking a break until Monday to facilitate recovery and healing procedures. I haven’t felt this sort of “burn” for a while, it almost takes me back to my old marching band days when my director would say “Feel the burn and love the burn!!!” during our training. I am thankful for the support you all have given me, because it keeps me smiling even if I am a tad banged up.
