End of My Heavy Training

Well it has been a while since I last posted on this blog, but not much has been going on.  I finished my low rep training phase over the past 8 weeks.  There were definitely some surprises in there.  

First off my review of the routine.  It was ok.  It took much longer obviously which meant I couldn't always finish the entire workout.  It was definitely hard on my body as well.  I was able to keep form much easier knowing I only had to do 6 reps compared to 15, but it was a lot of load on the body.  I was getting pretty tired of it by the end.  Plus some exercises really didn't work well with only 6 reps.  For example 6 reps of KB swings doesn't seem like it is really doing much.  

So I wasn't crazy about high reps and wasn't crazy about low reps.  Crossfit was just too random and too intense for me, so I am really excited about my next phase of training.  I put together an 8 week hybrid training program.  I will do high reps, low reps, and everything in between pretty much each workout and compare my results.  I am also in the process of writing my first book which will explain the entire program and why I think it works so well.  

Here are my results from my heavy training

Weight 178 - same as after high rep program

Body fat 9.1% -  down 2.7% after my high rep program

Power Clean - 195lbs up 5lbs

Squat - 315lbs - up 15lbs

Pull Ups - 16 reps - down 4 reps

Push Ups - 26 reps - down 4 reps

Mile Run - 6:49 - 1 sec slower

So some surprises and some expected results.  I stopped doing endurance work and my endurance got worse.  But I did more strength base work and all those numbers went up.  Even my power when up which was pretty cool even though I did not power training.  

The interesting thing is my weight stayed the same and I dropped almost 3% body fat.  So I think it is safe to say that high reps gets you ripped and low reps gets you big is just not true.  So what is better high reps or low reps?  Obviously it depends on your goals.  If you are trying to get stronger low reps makes more sense.  If you want better endurance then maybe high reps.

What if we did both?  When that is what hybrid training is all about.  I actually started the program a few days ago and I love it.  The other workouts were just getting too boring doing the same thing over and over. I'm really interested in seeing what my next set of numbers will be.  If my predictions are correct, I should see better strength, better power, better endurance, and better body composition   If I am right, this could just be the best program ever.

Mike

Results For High Rep Workouts

I know it has been a while since my last post but I wanted to make it to the end of the 8 weeks of high reps before I posted anything.  Here are my final results from these 8 weeks:

Weight 178lbs (lost 3lbs)
Body Fat 11.8% (gained 1.8%)
Neck-14.75 (down .5)
Chest-41.25 (up .25)
Waist-33 (down .25)
Hips-36.25 (down .75)
Arm-13.875 (down .125)
Thigh-22.25 (up .5)
Calf-14 (same)

Hang Clean 190lbs (same)
Squat 300lbs (down 20lbs)
Bench Press 245lbs (same)
Pull Up Max 20 (same)
Push Ups 50bpm 30 (up 3)
Mile Time 6:48 (down 14sec)

So overall, not much of a difference in the 8 weeks unfortunately.  My strength basically went down and my endurance got alittle bit better.  I ended up losing a few pounds, but unlike my crossfit experiment it looks like I lost some muscle in the process. 

My thoughts on the high rep challenge.  I wasn't a huge fan, which is no surprise.  I don't typically like doing more endurance activities.  Even though my weights were lighter I would get pretty fatigued at the end.  Mentally it was more exhausting as well.  It was much tougher to focus on form knowing I had a lot more reps to do. 

Now I am starting the same exact workout program I did over again but with 5 sets of 6 reps to see what the difference is.  I will let you know how it goes. 

Hip Extension Vs. Back Extension

A quick update about my latest workout war.  I am in phase 2 of my high rep workouts.  They have been going well so far.  I think I may be at my lightest weight I have been in a long time.  These are definitely tougher workouts for me.  I have never really loved high rep workouts but I'm hanging in there.  I'm really looking forward to my lower rep workouts. 

I have noticed the biggest issue is that I am not getting much muscular fatigue with each exercise.  I guess that makes sense though.  It can definitely be a challenge maintaining form through each set.  I'm trying not to focus on how much weight I am lifting and more just on solid form throughout the entire workout. 

Now for a quick topic I thought was worth posting.  I was recently on vacation in Florida and made a few trips to the gym.  I know I'm crazy for working out on vacation, but that's just me.  While working out I saw someone on the roman chair exercise or back extension.  I've noticed in the past if I have ever wanted to do this exercise it was always being used at the gym.  And unfortunately being used poorly. 

Back Extension or Hip Extension?

The biggest mistake people make with this exercise is not realize what it is actually working.  Many people think of this as a backwards crunch or sit up.  They are trying to work the lower back like you work your abs in a crunching exercise.  The problem is the lower back does not work very well with flexion/extension exercises.  It is like bending a wire coat hanger back and forth.  Eventually it will snap.  This particular exercise can put around 4000N or more a force on the back.  For anyone with low back issues this is a huge mistake. 

If you have a healthier back this can be a great exercise.  But do not think of this as a back extension exercise.  It is more of a hip extension exercise.  The muscles of the back are still working but isometrically.  Their job is to hold the spine in place while you complete hip extension.  So in actuality this is more of a glute exercise.  When you lean forward think about hinging at the hip instead of rolling or rounding forward.  As you raise push your hips forward and squeeze the glutes to finish the exercise. 

By doing this you will increase glute work and decrease the load placed on the back.  The back musculature will still work to stabilize the spine, which it is much better at. 

The Next Challenge

Ok so after a few weeks off to recover from my crossfit experiment I am just getting started with my new testing.  For the next 16 weeks I am going to compare high rep workouts with low rep workouts.  It is often debated and controversial which works better.  Again I am doing this workout just to see what happens.  I am not trying to gain weight, lose weight, get stronger....I will perform the workouts and see what happens.  I will use my finishing assessment from the last challenge as my starting point since it most likely did not change much. 

For this program I created two phases.  Weeks 1-4 I will perform the workouts using 2 sets of 15 reps, alternating workouts, for 3 days a week.  Then I will progress to tougher workouts for weeks 5-8.  Then I will repeat the same exact program performing 5 sets of 6 reps.  This way I will still perform 30 reps total for each exercises.

I am a week in and I already hate the high reps.  I'm just not use to doing it and I am struggling a bit.  I'm sure it will get easier once I get going.  If you would like to follow along with me you can see the exact workouts I will be doing through the link below.  You will have to sign up for a free account on the site to get access to the pages. 

http://www.myworkoutcreator.com/premade-workouts/mikes-workout/

Let me know how it goes.

Mike

My final thoughts on crossfit

Overall I had some pretty good results with my crossfit program.  For someone who works out regularly to see a 5lb loss in fat and 1lb gain in muscle in 8 weeks, the results are not too bad.  In terms of my strength gains they were mediocre for me.  Mainly because I was just not feeling it that day.  I was pretty run down from the program, which really isn't a big surprise.  The was pedal to the metal for the last 8 weeks on this program and I am pretty excited it is over. 

Initially I was really digging the workouts and thought I was going to miss it once it was over.  I think I really just enjoyed having someone else write a workout for me so I didn't have to think about it.  The workouts just beat me down and eventually it just wasn't fun anymore. 

Some of my complaints about crossfit are still the same as when I started the program.  It is just too random and not enough balance to the program.  I remember one week I think I did some version of a squat press exercise just about every workout.  I just had no time to recover from it.  Whether it was a push press, thruster, wall ball, or some other variation it was just too much of the same movements with high intensity. 

I can't remember doing one horizontal pulling exercise through the whole program.  Pretty much the only pulling exercise is pull ups or high pulls.  And all movements were in the saggital plane.  I like the simplicity of the program that it is made up of just a few exercises, but it would have been nice to repeat workouts more often so I could see more improvement.  It was really just all over the place. 

My recommendation for this program would mainly just be in the programming.  It would be nice to see some model of periodization attached to it.  It just isn't a good idea to train all out intensity all the time.  I think in the future I would like to do more crossfit programs but only for a portion of my own program mixed in.  I just don't want to hurt myself trying to keep up with some of these workouts. 

One great thing about the program though is that it exposed my weaknesses.  I have a long way to go improving my mobility.  I saw some great progress over 8 weeks but need much more work.  I wish I took a video of my first workout with an overhead squat vs my last one.  It was night and day.  I definitely learned what I need to work on.  I am just a terrible squatter and need to keep working on it. 

The best and the worse:

My top two favorite workouts were:

3 rounds for time:
400m run
21 KB Swings
12 Pull Ups

This was probably the only workout I made it through unbroken.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Deadlift 1.5xbodyweight
Bench Press bodyweight
Cleans .75xbodyweight

This workout killed me but actually really liked it.  So sore afterwords. 

My least favorite workouts:

100 Thrusters with 95lbs

Really!?  I was just mad when I saw this workout.  So ridiculous

30 Snatches 135lbs for time

I hated it while doing it but I impressed myself I could even get through it.  I haven't snatched this heavy in a long time. 

Well those are my final thoughts.  I don't mean to be bashing crossfit if I sounded like that.  I loved the tough challenges and how they considered different energy systems with heavy lifting and endurance training.  It is not for the average person but it a fun way to challenge yourself.  I would only recommend it to someone with great mobility and strength going in.  I'm sure every crossfit gym is different and you will get completely different experiences from it. 

Please feel free to comment with your own experiences. 

Mike.

The Results Are In

Ok so I have been just terrible posting all my workouts, but I did complete my 8 weeks of crossfit training.  I have recording all of my after measurements and assessments and ready to report them.  This post will just have the numbers.  My next post will focus more on my final thoughts.

Before:
Weight-185lbs
Body Fat- 12.7%
Neck-15.5
Chest- 41.75
Waist- 34.5
Hips- 37
Bicep- 14
Thigh- 22.25
Calf- 14.25

1RM:
Hang Clean- 185lbs
Bench Press- 245lbs
Squat- 315lbs

Pull up Max- 16 reps
Push up test (set a metronome to 50bpm, down on first beep, up on second beep, and kept pace as long as I could)- 27 reps

Mile Run on Treadmill- 7:04

After
Weight-181lbs
Body Fat- 10%
Neck-15.25
Chest- 41
Waist- 33.25
Hips- 37
Bicep- 14
Thigh- 21.75
Calf- 14

1RM:
Hang Clean- 190lbs
Bench Press- 245lbs
Squat- 320lbs

Pull up Max- 20 reps
Push up test (set a metronome to 50bpm, down on first beep, up on second beep, and kept pace as long as I could)- 27 reps

Mile Run on Treadmill- 6:47

So decent numbers.  In terms of body comp I lost 5.4lbs of fat and gained 1.6lbs of muscle.  I definitely felt more lean.  Felt a little smaller than I like to but not too bad.  I was a little disappointed with some  of the strength and endurance measurements.  I just felt run down during the testing.  Normally I get really pumped to do 1RM testing.  This day I just wanted it to be over.  I think I was borderline overtraining with how hard I had been going with this program.  It was pretty much never a down time. 

I am currently taking 2 weeks to recover and work on mobility.  I will be posting some of those routines as well.  I was originally going to do P90X next but I honestly just don't think it is a good program and can't motivate myself to do it.  Instead I think I might put one of the biggest fitness myths to the test.  I will do basically the same program twice.  Once with lighter loads and higher reps and the other higher loads and less reps.  It should be fun to see what happens.

A New PR

I finally hit a new PR for power cleans.  This is one exercise that I have not been able to progress very well.  I had a huge mental block.  I remember in college when we would test our 1RM for the power clean.  I would always feel great until I hit 90kg.  For some reason I just could never get it.  The WOD was power cleans 1-1-1-1-1-1-1.  I did 155-165-175-185-195-200-205.  I finally broke through.  I think I could have gotten 210 if I had rubber weights and didn't feel bad if I dropped it.  

The next workout was the Tully.  Four rounds of 200m swim and Squat Cleans with 40lb DB for 23 reps.  This was a tricky one logistically speaking.  I did this workout at the gym and couldn't bring DB's into the pool area.  So I figured I would just do the squat cleans first then the swim.  The gym was closing down so I knew I wouldn't be able to finish this.  So I did 69 reps of the Squat Clean as fast as I could then changed and went to the pool and just swam as far as I could until the pool closed.  I got through 300m only.  I'm still just a terrible swimmer. 

The next WOD was 30 rounds of 30 second rowing with 30 seconds rest.  I did this at the studio and didn't have a rower so I just did KB swings.  I made it through 15 rounds before my client came in.  This wasn't that bad and I could have definitely finished if I had more time. 

And finally todays WOD was 10-8-6-4-2 Muscle Ups and Box Jumps on a 40" box.  My son is sick so I had to do this one at home.  I can't do muscle ups since my rings aren't high enough.  Instead I did Pull Ups, Ring Dips, and Hurdle Jumps since I don't have a box.  The hurdle was about 35".  This workout took me 9mins.  Mainly because everything was spread out and I had to walk from one station to the next.  Otherwise wasn't too difficult.