ME squats,8-04-03

[jack]

I made up for the fast workout today. I just couldn't seem to get my knees wrapped correctly on the last three reps. No matter how I wrapped the left knee,I couldn't duplicate it on on the right one,to long,to short,to much wrap hanging out,not enough wrap to pull tight. I could really use some practice on the art of knee wrapping.

Box squats(13.5" box,suit/no straps,belt,wraps @ 385)--warmup sets; 1x3x135,185,225; 1x1x275,315,350,385,415***,420(F);

GHR(2" elv.)--2x10x pause(what do you call these Pam?),1x15xBW(the first two sets were tough and I could really feel these in my hams);

Rev. hypers--4x8x140;

Kneeling ab pulldowns--1x8x90,100,100,100,100;

Hammer curls--1x6x30,35,40,45; 1x4x50; 1x6x45;

Tri pushdowns(minibands)--4x25.

I was able to get 3 lifts at 90% or better. That's my new goal on max effort day.

Thought for the day---"have you noticed since everyone has camcorders these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to."

[Pam]

I can never get my knees wrapped right... thats probably why I dont wrap them as often as I should.

The GHR with the pause is called GHR with a Pause. ;D Jack I believe it was call Yielding GHR.

Nice job kiddo! You really hit it didnt you? I'm impressed, 415 @ 13.5" is incredible. You really are an inspiration Jack.

I didnt get my workout in today, I just got home about 15 minutes ago...got busy with mom and dad and rather than stress out over it I got mellow. I did find some shoes but will wear them around the house tomorrow to make sure they fit ok. I still have a 50/50 change at returning them. But believe it or not I got the first pair I tried on.

[jackguest]

I couldn't for the life of me think of "yielding GHR". I don't even know if I did them correctly,only a pause 1/2 up but these are harder than Chineese arithmetic. I'll try them again and then go back to weighted ghr's.

It would be nice to have someone wrap your knees. It's really time consuming and hard to get them just right but for three reps they're worth the effort. It took me nearly 50 minutes to do this core lift. Next time I've got to get a 15# gain to stay on your schedule.

Ooops,I forgot to log in.

[Pam]

You're getting up there in age Jack, dont be too hard on yourself for not being able to think of the name.

You almost did them right. You are supposed to hold the starting position for 10 seconds, go half way up, hold another 10 seconds, then all the way up and again hold for 10 seconds. I'm glad to hear they werent just hard for me.

I was reading an article on cortisol (getting armed for when the doctor calls ) and it was saying that you really should try to keep your workouts short and sweet. The longer they are the more cortisol you release and the more catabolic it is on your muscle. Basically making your workout less effective. I know ME day is an all out effort day for us but you said something once about going lighter on the assistance work on ME days because your core lift takes so much out of you..ok us. Normally my ME day is just that...I take everything heavy and hard and on my speed day I am zipping through everything. I am wondering if we should change things up a bit to shorten our ME days and possibly add more time to our (or at least my) DE days. What are your thoughts on that?

I know I can take a good 45 to 60 minutes to get my core lift done on an ME day and another 30 minutes for the rest and add that to the 15-30 minutes of warming up I do. I'm wondering if that just isnt too darn long.

Let me know what you think. I think I may give it a try and see how it goes. Not sure how fast I'll be able to move after my core lift on an ME day but I could always take about 5-10 minutes to get rested up and then get my butt in gear.

[jack]

You've got to be kidding on the YGHR's. I used only a discernable pause at the halfway point and liked to have died just doing that. I'll have to work up to your way .

No comment on the age thing. Remember my age can only be used by me and only when it's to my advantage .

You've really opened up a good question on the time and intensity factors. Dave on Louie(especially Louie) seem to be all over the page on the intensity factor and I've just started doing it by feel. If I feel like I've got anything left after the core lift,I'll go heavier on the assistance work but I'll try to change the rep,set and weight scheme around enough that there is some variety. I'm going to do what I feel like doing and at a weight that the last one or two reps are starting to get difficult.

Time of workouts is an entirely another matter. In our case,solo lifters, it's a lot harder to get it all done in an hour or less due to the fact that we've got to keep changing weights and setups all by our lonesomes and keep everything stacked in a neat order . An ideal group would have around 4 people,plenty of spotters and people to throw the weights on so that you could cycle through and not lose any time for these tasks. A workout partner or partners will make you work faster and push you through a workout. It's a lot more difficult to work fast by yourself.

Now for the cortisol and take this for what it's worth but according to Dave it's a myth that was fabricated by a study done by some Ruskie researcher. It seems that a lot of the Soviet athletes used to train for 3-4 hours and then had a penchant for guzzling vodka and chasing pushkei( I have no idea if that's a word but you get the idea ). As the story goes the Russian trainers wanted some evidence(whether real or not) that would keep their atheletes in the gym and off the sauce and women. So a study was done(Dave claims it was biased)that showed the effects of cortisol after around an hours workout could be detrimental to strength gains. The Soviets used this information to keep their guys and gals in the gym all day,working for an hour and then resting for a prescribed period and then repeating the process until their was little time for the "potato juice and the lure of perfume or after shave. Dave claims that there are no other studies to support this finding and that it was/is taken for gospel. He challenged anyone to find supporting documentation of this research. Here is Dave's point on keeping your workouts to an hour or less.......bust your ass and get out and you'll get in better shape,a requirement that's essential in a long draining meet.

At one point Dave said that he counted his warmup time in his workout time and another time he said he didn't. Of course this could have something to do with the way he warmed up. I don't count my warmup time and at my age a lengthy warmup period is essential,especially on leg days.

So there you have it,I've really beaten around the bush on this one . I tend to go along with the benefits of increased GPP rather the cortisol theory. It would be interesting to research this question to find out what is fact and what is fiction.

As always you ask questions I cain't answer . When are going to toss me a softball .

[Pam]

Jack if I'm understanding what you said right Dave doesnt think cortisol is catabolic to muscles. I disagree with that and will tell you why tomorrow. I have to get out with the kids now.

[jack]

I'll be all ears. I need some education on this subject and it seems that you're really up on it. I'm anxious to hear your theory.

[Pam]

Jack, cortisol, amoung other things, monitors carbohydrate metabolism. When stored carbohydrate concentration are low cortisol increases to send a single to use another energy source such as protein or fat so it can make prudent use of the little glucose that is left. This in turn has a negative, or catabolic, effect on the muscles. That is why endurance athletes are usually so skinny, protein from the muscles is often "shed" due to increased levels of cortisol. The body does try to counter or offset this by sending out more testosterone but where runners are concerned the catabolic effect is usually too great. That's why its so important to lift...and isn't that what we've been saying all along? That's all your getting before my first cup of coffee.

Off to get that coffee. Oh, I am not responsible for missed words or typos before my first cup.

[jack]

Pam,my interpretation of what Dave was saying is that the cosrisol thing may have some merit but may be over rated. I have no way of knowing which is which.

I'm sure that there is some merit to the theory but whether cortisol is catabolic,diminshing returns sets in or it was a way to keep Ruskies from chasing Ruskiettes will make for an interesting discussion. I counting on you to enlighten me .

[PamToo Lazy to log in]

Well Jack when in doubt just believe what I say. You know that I'm usually right and very rarely ever am I w...wr....wro....mistaken.

[jack]

Or did you just forget to log in. Some of my memory problems may be rubbing off on you . I'll give you credit,you make a good case for the cortisol/catabolic debate. I told you should have been a lawyer .

[Pam]

I did not forget!!!! I was lazy! I just state the facts kid, just the facts. I dont think there is any doubt that cortisol is catabolic. How long it takes to reach that stage is what I think is debatable. So what do you think about that kiddo?

[jack]

I think you are in a debating mood .