Stress and illness

Between the snow shoveling, family, work, and possibly the workouts I've been running out of energy more easily.   Several nights per week over the last three weeks I have developed a sore throat for a few hours.  Last night I was coughing enough in my sleep that I resorted to NyQuil.  

I am enforcing a week off from exercise.  I keep hoping that a two or three day break here or there would be adequate, but obviously it isn't.   I did week 4 day 1 with 55 pound dumbbells 2/26/10 and week 4 day 2 on 2/27/10.  No workouts until 3/6/10.  

Workout addition

I'm reviewing my workout logs here and older logs on paper. I have two problems related to workout logging. First and foremost, I did not pick a dedicated, consistent format and stick with it. So reviewing older workouts versus newer ones is more than a simple exercise in cross-referencing. Second, and more importantly, when I used more frequent, higher volume workouts I tended to skip on the logging entirely. I have consistent logs of infrequent workouts but inconsistent logs of frequent ones.

But three (edit, four) things stick out in my recollection.
1. In my first year of college (15 years ago), during winter break I did 5 sets of 20+ pushups three days or more per week, and when I returned to campus my maximum bench press was up from 135 to 155 for sets of ten repetitions. And I had worked very, very hard relative to my own strength in order to reach 135 before that. I kept working out less frequently, and by the end of the semester my maximum bench press was 135 again.
2. In spring of 2004 I was playing a video game with racing. Between races I would do 10-15 pushups. I did this many nights per week for months. My previous maximum bench press had been 175 pounds for one rep. When I tested it again, the maximum was 200 pounds for one rep.
Similarly, my best leg press for Super Slow had been stalled at 6 reps with 380 pounds or 4 reps with 400 for over a year. I went to the gym three times per week and worked leg press with faster repetitions and similar weights. When I tested my strength, I could handle ten repetitions (at a faster speed) with 480 pounds. When my Super Slow working weight was 380 pounds, I could not budge 480, period.
3. This past fall I was trying 3 sets of 5 or 6 repetitions on shoulder press several times per week, working near my maximum tolerance. I managed to inch up the working weight in shoulder press from 50 pounds to 57.5. Then I took a break, and it dropped to 55.
4. When I am doing higher volume gym workouts, the vascularity of my arms is improved and it's easier for me to donate blood. With my lower volume, high intensity, less frequent workouts medical professionals had problems drawing blood and my last attempt to donate blood failed.

Honestly, that's better progress than I have enjoyed with infrequent, super hard workouts. Plus when doing the infrequent, hard full body workouts I seem to have lost some of the strength I gained with more frequent work.

Henceforth, I am embarking on a new routine. 5 days per week I am going to do 4 sets of 5 reps with 5 minute breaks between of dumbbell squats and shoulder press. Each week I will increase the resistance 2.5 pounds per side. When I hit a progress wall, I will drop the resistance back down to the cycle start + 2.5 pounds and start the cycle over.

Let's see how far that carries me. I would like to use a barbell squat instead of a dumbbell squat and a pulldown/pullup exercise, but I don't have the right equipment.

This week I started with 47.5 pounds, which was far harder than I expected. Day 1 was today, 1/23/10. Unless something noteworthy happens like sickness or injury, I will just note the day and any changes to the resistance going forward. Day 2 1/24/10, Day 3 1/25/10, Day 4 1/26/10, Day 5 1/27/10. Day 1 1/30/10 w/50s, Day 2 1/31/10, Day 3 2/1/10 , Day 4 2/2/10, Day 5 2/3/10 - taking a week off, my right shoulder is starting to be just a little off. When I was younger, I would have ignored it. I still want to ignore it - but if I get hurt, I can't train! So this is a forced break.

As luck would have it, we got 18 inches of snow on 2/6/10 and another 18 inches on 2/10/10. I've done a minimum 8 hours of snow shoveling across the past 7 days. I thought I was good enough today to train, so I did Week 3 (52.5 pounds) day 1 - but take another three or four days off, minimum.  Day 2 2/18/10.  Day 3 2/19/10.  Day 4 2/20/10.  Day 5 2/21/10.

Workout 1/12/10

9 days since previous workout.  Leg press 21x210 per leg, seat 3, seat back 3 -> 215.  Leg extension 9x90.  Leg curl 7x75->50.  Calf raises 9x35 on the machine, go to just the pads on the machine.  Pulldown 11x145 -> the machine does not have intermediate weight increments, so work to 15 reps before trying 160 pounds.  Row 5x85.  Shoulder press 8x150.  Chest press 7x110.  Back extension 10x210.

I was nauseated and had to take a break part way through the workout.   Evidently my attempt at working extra hard has at least some success.  

Next workout is next Thursday, with another 9 day break.   I'll try that for three more workouts, and if progress continues I may use it indefinitely.  If not, I'll change the workout.   Really, the only exercises that matter to me are leg press, pulldown, and shoulder press.   I may experiment with dropping other exercises to focus on those, but I think I should spend more time with my current routine before trying that.

1/21/20 Leg press 16x215 per leg, seat 3, seat back 3 -> 215.  Leg extension 12x90.  Leg curl 12x50.  Calf raises 13x- on the machine.  Shoulder press 10x150->155.  Chest press 6x130.  Back extension 10x230. Pulldown 11x145.  Row 7x85.   Stomach 20x110.  Leg press was disappointing - I've done 12 with 230 and 21 with 210,  I was hoping for more than 16 with 215.  But any progress at all is good.  I was hoping for better with pulldown, since I only tied last time, but I am generally pleased with the rest.  And last time I did pulldown before chest and shoulders, this time it was after.  

Workout philosopy - still refining it

I worked out today, 1/3/10.   That's 19 days since the last full gym workout.   The good news is my strength did not deteriorate.   The bad news is, it did not improve.   Leg press was still 12x230 (1 leg at a time) with the seat and back in position 3.   Shoulder press was 5x175 (I may have done better previously, but I did some shoulder dumbbell presses on 12/31/10 so that may have weakened me for today).   Everything else was pretty standard, 8x160 on pulldowns.

I'm thinking of backing off some on the weight and targeting 20 repetitions on leg exercises before I increase the resistance and 10 repetitions on arm exercises before I increase the resistance.