Sassy69 2015: Good AZ New!

[Rocky3]

^^^I like me some high reps

[Sunnyday]

It's great to see you doing that DeFranco warmup again! How did that feel adding it back in?

[sassy69]

^^^I like me some high reps

Sometimes nothing feels better then burn out sets!

It's great to see you doing that DeFranco warmup again! How did that feel adding it back in?

Those are my go to at home or at the gym. Basically any time I feel like stuff isn't lined up or my back/ham tie-in is tight (which is pretty much all the time). The only time I don't get it in is when I'm tryign to time getting to the gym ahead of my scheduled training sessions - always seems to come up short and I only have 5-10 min to hit the arc trainer to get warmed up. Luckily my trainer also starts out w/ a lot of dynamic stuff before hitting the lifting.

[Rocky3]

Sometimes nothing feels better then burn out sets!

.

It's easier to squat or bench a big weight for a single or a double than going through the torture of 20+reps with a small weight

[sassy69]

It's easier to squat or bench a big weight for a single or a double than going through the torture of 20+reps with a small weight

"Easy" is a relative term - I think the thing is that "intensity" can be achieved thru a variety of ways - mass + reps + range + speed give you many ways to make it burn!

[sassy69]

4/22/15 - Wed

AM: 30 min stairmaster

PM: Training - upper body flush
15 min step mill HIIT warmup
super:
- neutral grip assisted pull-up: (-70)/15 x 4
- seated machine row (fixed -- so stupid we don't have an HS iso-row) - 70/15 x 4
BB row (rhomboid focus): 60/15 x 4
lat pull down: 80/15 x 2 70/15 x 2
seated fitball DB shoulder press: 20/15 x 3
super:
- supinated tri cable extension: 50/15 60/15 70/20 x 2
- pronated tri cable pressdown: 50/15 60/15 70/20 x 2

20 min HIIT stepmill
20 min foam rolling

[sassy69]

4/23/15 - Thurs

AM wt = 151.5

LOL 2.5 lb within my last competition weight. COMPLETELY different body comp tho LMAO!

PM: 30 min stairmaster cardio
Attempted a yoga class but started having some big foot pain so bailed, went home and foam rolled.

[Rocky3]

4/22/15 - Wed

AM: 30 min stairmaster

PM: Training - upper body flush
15 min step mill HIIT warmup
super:
- neutral grip assisted pull-up: (-70)/15 x 4
- seated machine row (fixed -- so stupid we don't have an HS iso-row) - 70/15 x 4
BB row (rhomboid focus): 60/15 x 4
lat pull down: 80/15 x 2 70/15 x 2
seated fitball DB shoulder press: 20/15 x 3
super:
- supinated tri cable extension: 50/15 60/15 70/20 x 2
- pronated tri cable pressdown: 50/15 60/15 70/20 x 2

20 min HIIT stepmill
20 min foam rolling

I really like the number of sets per exercise and rep range...For some reason when I do less sets tahn 4 and especially less reps than 15 I dont feel a thing. Lately I also found out that 20 reps get me in a physical and mental place where it seems that I can recruit even more muscle fibers and I can literally see in teh mirror my body change

[sassy69]

I really like the number of sets per exercise and rep range...For some reason when I do less sets tahn 4 and especially less reps than 15 I dont feel a thing. Lately I also found out that 20 reps get me in a physical and mental place where it seems that I can recruit even more muscle fibers and I can literally see in teh mirror my body change

My general guidance is:

- start at the weight I did at my last session
- if I can complete 15 reps, its time to increase weight
- if I can complete 12 reps w/o losing form, I'll stay at that weight for the next set.
- if I can complete 8 reps but not more, then I may drop weight for next set or keep at that weight, depending on how tight my form stayed

Generally I'll do 3 sets, but depends on the amount of weight I'm operating at - in the past it has all been relatively high weights & heavy lifting. I follow an informal load / deload cycle and will do a deload phase when I felt it was needed every 2-4 weeks and there would probably do 4-5 sets, lower weight, reps on order of 20.

These days I'm still very much still in what I consider physical therapy / rehab and simply ignoring any pursuit of higher weight and strictly focusing on strengthening long unused muscles and also re-establishing the correct neural paths as I've probably compromised my form dealing w/ the various injuries or pain points I've had in the last 5 yrs.

I'll be able to speak more about actual hypertrophy goals in another 6 weeks or so. I'm easily operating at 1/3-1/2 lighter than prior typical weight ranges. I already "proved" what I can lift and am well beyond feeling like I have to impress anyone. That can be really liberating sometimes

[sassy69]

4/24/15 - TGIFnF!

PM:
1 hr ART
20 min abs
30 min stairmaster

[sassy69]

4/25/15 - Sat

AM: lower flush

5 min arc trainer wu
lying leg curl (arms extended, locked) - 65/15 x 4
BB squat: bar/15 65/15 85/15 95/15 - felt great - haven't done squats in a couple months
seated leg curl: 85/15 90/15 95/15 105/15
alt leg curls: 10/15 x 2 15/15 x 2

LOTS of foam rolling

[Sunnyday]

Congrats on getting back into squats!

[Rocky3]

My general guidance is:

- start at the weight I did at my last session
- if I can complete 15 reps, its time to increase weight
- if I can complete 12 reps w/o losing form, I'll stay at that weight for the next set.
- if I can complete 8 reps but not more, then I may drop weight for next set or keep at that weight, depending on how tight my form stayed

Generally I'll do 3 sets, but depends on the amount of weight I'm operating at - in the past it has all been relatively high weights & heavy lifting. I follow an informal load / deload cycle and will do a deload phase when I felt it was needed every 2-4 weeks and there would probably do 4-5 sets, lower weight, reps on order of 20.

These days I'm still very much still in what I consider physical therapy / rehab and simply ignoring any pursuit of higher weight and strictly focusing on strengthening long unused muscles and also re-establishing the correct neural paths as I've probably compromised my form dealing w/ the various injuries or pain points I've had in the last 5 yrs.

I'll be able to speak more about actual hypertrophy goals in another 6 weeks or so. I'm easily operating at 1/3-1/2 lighter than prior typical weight ranges. I already "proved" what I can lift and am well beyond feeling like I have to impress anyone. That can be really liberating sometimes

sometimes I feel the target muscles getting more stimulation during my warmup sets than on my working sets...Is that normal? At times I am almost tempted to do all my sets with my warmup weights

[sassy69]

Congrats on getting back into squats!

These felt better than they've felt in years!

[sassy69]

sometimes I feel the target muscles getting more stimulation during my warmup sets than on my working sets...Is that normal? At times I am almost tempted to do all my sets with my warmup weights

I notice w/ lower weights I have more control over that muscle focus and can feel the specific activation I'm looking for. But I also notice that tends to disappear as I go heavier and I am guessing as things get heavier it becomes harder to truly isolate a movement & a muscle from the peripheral muscles. Also a lot of the stuff I'm doing is new, both in terms of the fact that I haven't done much of any lifting recently and what I have been doing over the last 5 - 7 years is definitely skewed in how I do it, relative to the soft tissue problems my body (peripheral muscles) has come up w/ "different" ways to execute the lifts. And not necessarily the correct ways.

I can say that when people feel like they have "peaked" or need drugs to "go to the next level", I can defintely tell you that after 34 years of lifting, I continue to find new ways to revisit, correct and hone my lifting ability, form and muscle-awareness. I continue to learn something new and get regular epiphanies when I can refine any given lift, it doesn't hurt, and in fact, it is activating such specific muscles / chains / groups of muscle that it is truly amazing!