It was Negatives week…and a lot of new or different exercises. You can tell Chris enjoys his week…he rubs his hands together and smiles a lot. He looks around at all of the different machines like “what can I torture Kevin with next?”…
This week was the hardest in recent memory. My heart rate was elevated from the first exercise until I was back at my desk. The new ‘Leg Curl’ left my legs weak and shaky - I had trouble putting my socks on after the workout. How drained I feel, even now, makes me think the Negative workouts are really effective. It’s just impossible to measure this workout the way the normal HIT workout is measured.
This is because much of the exercises are based on subjective negative weight added by the trainer pushing against you. Out of the list of exercises below, only the Arm Cross and Ts were performed without trainer-added resistance. I normally workout on the lower back machine with 382 lbs. Chris dropped it to 260 so that I could easily extend and then he could push against me on the way down. And I perform 4 reps with a 5 second rest in between rather than a measured time to failure, so no TUL to enter into the spreadsheet.
But that is why I alternate. Next week I will go back to the normal HIT – and if these negatives are effective – I should see some improvements since my last normal HIT workout. Actually next week the gym is closed, and the week after I am on vacation…3 weeks until the next workout! I will be fully recovered…
| HIT2 | This Week | Kevin J Smith | |
| 19-Aug | |||
| Exercise | Weight | Time (secs) | Comments |
| Lower Back | 260 | 4X | with negatives |
| Add Retrac (Ts) | 5 | 70 | 5 #s for 60 seconds, then 2.5 #s |
| Leg Extension | 400 | 4N | negatives only |
| Arm Cross | 380 | 4N | negatives only |
| Leg Curl | 70 | 4N | negatives only |
| Shoulder Lift | 150 | 4X | With negatives |
| SS Pull-Down | 95 | 4X | with negatives |
