After you train there is one thing you have to do in order to get stronger.
And that is RECOVER!
Without recovery you’ll only train yourself into the ground. You don’t have to recover 100% between workouts but you do need to get most of the way there.
In my workouts I’ve been doing five working sets for my main exercises. But as I progressed and the weights went up this became harder and harder. That’s to be expected.
However, I felt completely beat at the end of most workouts. It was too much and I felt a little rundown the next day. Sometimes this resulted in a less than optimal workout that day.
So this week I am starting an experiment. I’m cutting my working sets down from five to three sets. Just more than half the volume.
The thing is, in training, you have to do enough to trigger gains. From there it’s a matter of recovering than doing it again next time.
This experiment will mean less total work, though no less intensity. It should still be plenty to force myself to get stronger.
Plus, from less overall volume, the workout will take less time and less of my recovery ability.
If you’re not making gains like before perhaps doing less, not more is the ticket to breaking new ground.
I’ll report later on how this works out for me. I expect good things.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. I’ve upgraded the blog. It has a new look and more functionality than before. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
Filed under Recovery, Strength Training Concepts by on Jul 14th, 2009. Comment. 
Here’s one good thing about having an established workout routine besides consistency.
When you’ve been doing things the same way for a period of time it allows you to take one variable and change it up. By looking at your results now as compared to before you can find if your new experiment is helping or hindering your progress.
I mentioned in my last email how I’m reducing the number of work sets on certain exercises. As long as I keep the exercises and everything else consistent I can see if I make the same progress or more or less.
It’s hardly a scientific experiment with control groups in a double blind study but its better than nothing.
You can use this method to test new exercises or variations. You can test different rep or set schemes. You can test eating or not eating before a workout. Just about anything can be tried.
In order to do this you need to have a well-established routine. From there decide on one thing to change. Keep at your routine with the new change for a few weeks and then look at the results. If it’s a good change continue on, if its not go back to how you were doing it.
And then you can begin a new experiment.
Have you done this before? And if so what have you found out? Comment below
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Strength Training Concepts by on Jul 16th, 2009. Comment.
Its been awhile since I’ve added a new feat of strength to the site. Today that changes.
Check out the new page on chain breaking.
Filed under Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Oldtime Strongmen by on Jul 21st, 2009. Comment.
It was just over a week ago. I was doing single arm kettlebell presses. But I wasn’t just using one kettlebell. I was using two in one hand to increase the difficulty.
Everything was going great until the last rep of my last set.
I can’t tell you exactly what happened except I lost control at the top, both kettlebells came down and my fingers got smashed between the handles.
Haven’t felt that kind of pain in some time.
The end of the ring finger on my right hand swelled up and turned black and blue. I thought it was possibly broken at the time but now I think it’ll be all right.
And that brings me to two lessons.
First, be careful. Injuries do occur when lifting and exercising. Almost always its because of neglect or stupidity. Neglecting to keep correct and safe form. Using weights you really shouldn’t be handling (trying to show off or prove something among your buddies). Mostly just getting sloppy when you should be laser focused.
In this case when I lost control I should have just ditched the weights and moved away instead of trying to regain control. Never fight a falling weight!
And if you’re doing certain lifts or feats of strength realize the potential for injury may be increased. Just be aware of the facts if you choose to take certain risks.
This in no way means you shouldn’t lift or exercise. People get injured all the time from doing next to nothing. Be smart and safe and you can train completely injury free.
Sometimes you just need a reminder. Hopefully reading this serves you well so that you don’t have to crush your finger to get back on track.
And secondly, when you do have an injury, train around it. Do not take it as an excuse to layoff completely (of course if its really bad you should do just that). But with a minor injury to any part of the body you can still train other areas.
I was back training the next day. Have hit plenty of PR’s since then. Although some of my hand training had to be cut out I’m still going at it hard.
This doesn’t mean you should be stupid and not let the injury heal. But nothing can stop you when you are on the right track.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Health, Kettlebells, Recovery, Strength Training Concepts by on Jul 24th, 2009. Comment.
Life likes to get in the way.
For the past couple weeks I’ve had family visiting. While I’ve enjoyed hanging out with them, spending all that time is taking away from other things. Add to that everything else that’s going on and training had to take a backseat…almost.
Because I’ve made the choice that I’m the kind of person who doesn’t miss workouts (an yes it is just a choice), I’m still finding the time.
One of the great things about short workouts is that you can fit them in when and where you need to. If your workouts take an hour or more then maybe not. But when they take less than half an hour its easy to get in there and get it done.
And even if you can’t do your regularly scheduled training you can find ways to work around it.
Take yesterday, for example. I was suppose to do hill sprints but due to getting up late, having work I had to get do, and some other surprises I wasn’t able to make it to the hill.
But I went kayaking with my brothers. Having never been kayaking it was lots of fun. However I also used it as my opportunity to work on my conditioning.
If I can’t do hill sprints today I can at least row as fast as possible in many short bursts. And let me tell you kayaking can be very winding.
In a similar instance is one of my friends who works construction. If he knows he won’t be able to hit the gym later that day he’ll turn his work into a workout. Carrying bags of concrete or rocks at an intense pace or something similar.
Life will challenge you in many different ways. But if you’re committed you’ll succeed.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Conditioning, Strength Training Concepts by on Jul 30th, 2009. Comment.
