HIT 2 Workout - July 29th, 2010

The ‘forever’ work-out…9 exercises…ugh.  I was so dead by the time of the negative chin up machine, I was just hanging on to avoid dropping and hurting my ankle…

 

Tried a new machine today, an abdominal crunch type exercise – performed as all negatives.  Interesting, easy to cheat by using your quads and/or arms.  But it seemed effective when I observed the proper form.

 

HIT2	Last HIT2 Workout		This Week		Kevin J Smith
	9-Jul		29-Jul
Exercise	Weight	Time (s)	Weight	Time (s)	Comments
Lower Back	376	95	382	86	MedX: 72 degrees
Leg Extension	340	4X	350	4X	Negatives only
Add Retrac (Ts)	7.5	37	5	70	5 #s, then 2.5 #s for 15 s
Abdominals			10	5X	NEW! Negative only
I Scap (Is)	2.5	60	2.5	60	Superman exercise
Standing Lat PD			37.5	127	Too Light, over 2 mins
Shoulder Lift	130	75	150	4X	NEW! Negative only
Leg Press	680	2+, 3-, 5sec, 1-	700	89	With negatives
Chin Up	126	5X	285	6X	Ecentrix Machine

HIT Workout: July 21st, 2010

Back to the normal HIT workout this week…12 days since my last workout…I feel fully recovered.  I will work out fasted and then eat a salad about an hour after the workout is finished.

HIT1	Last HIT1 Workout		This Week		Increase	Kevin J Smith
	1-Jul		21-Jul		% since
Exercise	Weight	Time (secs)	Weight	Time (secs)	initial	Comments
Lower Back	374	100	378	99	80%	MedX: 80 degrees
SS Pull down	156.5	100	156.5	86	57%	Super Slow
Overhead Press	294	100	296	92	85%	MedX
Leg Press	846	85	848	99	57%	MedX
Chest Press	192.5	60	193.5	62	84%	MedX
Pull-Over	208	55	170	76	55%	MedX

HIT with Negatives: July 9th

I’ve decided to change the name from Trainer’s choice week to HIT/Negatives…that’s basically what it amounts to.  “Chris Negative” of Pulse Gym believes strongly in negatives.  He says the negative portion of the exercise promotes far more micro-tearing in the muscle.  I can vouch that it is brutal and causes a much higher metabolic response than my normal HIT workouts.  It’s impossible to quantify the amount of improvement from week to week as we do reps instead of measuring time and the amount of negative force Chris adds is subjective, but that’s why I go back to normal HIT every other week.

 

For example in the Chin Up exercise I wear a belt around my waist. It’s attached by a chain and hook to a bar which is hinged from the base of the machine to about 5 ft behind me.  Chris lifts that as I step up to the chin up bar.  He then proceeds to push down on the bar, which pulls me down.  I fight to stay up…but eventually lose.  We play this game 4 or 5 times until I can’t put up a fight anymore.  Not fun, but the workout is great.

 

BIG metabolic effect on the leg extension exercise!  Chris Negative (not his real name) helps me lift the bar up and then stands on it, asking me to fight him and lower it slowly.  Overall, great workout.  I felt really shaky and wiped at the end.

 

HIT2	Last Workout		This Week		Increase	Kevin J Smith
	22-Jun		9-Jul		% since
Exercise	Weight	Time (secs)	Weight	Time (secs)	initial	Comments
Lower Back	372	87	376	95	2%	MedX: 72 degrees
I Scap	2.5	60	2.5	60	0%
Add Retrac	5	60	7.5	37	50%
Chin Up	257	6X	126	5X	-65%	Ecentrix Machine
Leg Extension	270	4X	340	4X	13%	negatives only
Shoulder Lift	0	0	130	75		NEW! Negative only
Leg Press	800	82	680	2+, 3-, 5sec, 1-	-11%	with negatives
Chest Press	0	0	120	4x	0%	with negatives

 

HIT Workout - July 1st

I have my good friends Jeff and Karen staying in my house this week…Jeff Erno, http://ernoj.blogspot.com/, is the guy who originally got me into HIT and Paleo…and Objectivism...  I invited Jeff along to my HIT session this week… you can see his impressions at his blog site.

 

We pushed my HIT session from 11:30am until 4pm so we could go to dinner directly afterwards.   We both fasted until the workout, about 20 hours…boy were we hungry when we finally got to dinner after 7pm!  (Great restaurant in NYC, maloneyandporcelli.com, you have to try the crackling pork shank!)

 

This was my 1^st chance to try Drewe Baye’s method of rearranging the exercises based on the prior week’s performance – aka I started with the exercises I had improved the least in my last workout session.  As you might expect, these are the exercises I typically do last when I am already wiped out…

 

Judging by how sore I am today and as you can see from the chart below, I think this was a great change-up.  I got a MUCH better workout on the pull down and overhead press.  From the chart below I will start next week with the pull-over and chest press… I like it – it adds a little variability to the routine, concentrates on different exercises each week, and prevents you from hyper-focusing on the results.

 

HIT1	Last Workout		This Week		Increase	Kevin J Smith
	11-Jun		1-Jul		% since
Exercise	Weight	Time (secs)	Weight	Time (secs)	initial	Comments
SS Pull down	156.5	74	156.5	100	57%	Super Slow
Overhead Press	294	63	294	100	84%	MedX
Lower Back	374	79	374	100	78%	MedX: 80 degrees
Pull-Over	206	83	208	55	89%	MedX
Leg Press	844	86	846	85	57%	MedX
Chest Press	192.5	81	192.5	60	83%	MedX