Exercise cycling and frequency

Comment

Comment by JBF Mentor Tom Mortensen on November 6, 2011 at 10:46am

This talk reminds me about the one rule that always applies: Unless you train it, you won't gain it! Any specific exercise that you avoid, forget or simply ignore, will leave you inept in this area. Try not to do a pushup for a month or two, and then see how many you can do! Unless you're lucky or wise enough to do a substitute exercise, you will put on a poor show. I guess the message is: If you want to be able to do a lot of pushups, you must train regularly. If you want to be able to do a lot of pullups you must do a lot of them. Simple but true.

Comment by Markku Niilo-Rämä on November 6, 2011 at 7:01am

I think dropping you cardio for now is a very good choice.  Working out so much and with such intensity will keep most of your aerobic endurance intact.  

I firmly believe that to get most of the benefits you have to concentrate on one or the other; cardio or muscle strength and size , you can't do both of them efficiently at the same time just like it is very difficult to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.  Besides this approach keeps your body guessing and help to keep you mentally fresh and eager to train.  

It is great you are able to do your kettle bell training.  I have found that kettle bells are a great way to warm up besides the total body workout that they give you.

 

It took me quite a while to learn bench press technique but now I love to bench press.  One reason is that now I can do them in such a good form that I can reliably assess my progress.

 

Keep up with the good work, Tom 

Comment by JBF Mentor Tom Mortensen on November 5, 2011 at 4:28pm

Markku,

I forgot to mention cardio in my blog post, so thanks for reminding me! I dropped nearly all endurance cardio, mostly due to time pressure from working out between 70-90 minutes per day. When I had time to spare, I used the 9 minute GXP protocol on the treadmill to round off my training.

I did however try to maintain my kettle bell training on my non-workout days, but I did miss a session or two out  of sheer fatigue.

 

I intend to step up my cardio, getting back to 2-3 HIIT sessions per week, with KB being 1 or 2 out of these. This also means going back to using my bicycle to work, no more motorcycle this year, and in general trying to build a conditioning element into some of my training.

 

During my work with MYM, I have watched some of the video material that comes with the program, and its funny to see Vince Del Monte, gasping for air after a high rep set, which when done by yours truly hardly raised my pulse! Maybe exaggerating a bit, but its very easy to spot that Vince, quickly run out of breath when the going gets fast paced! :-) So I am definitly working on keeping my cardio conditioning up to a certain level.

 

Two sessions per day? I will try that when I have the time for it, I have heard others recommend it, so its definitely one to try.

 

On PRs my goals are centered around improving the classic exercises, like the pull up and chin up. I am doing really lousy in these, with pullups around 5-6 and chinups 8-10. That's observing strict form. Bench presses are not really a priority, maybe because I have always felt they don't work for me. No matter how many reps I do, they don't seem to change my physique. I could be doing something wrong, so maybe a future focal point.

 

Thanks for your comments, ideas and suggestions.

Comment by Markku Niilo-Rämä on November 5, 2011 at 10:08am

Great job Tom! I was wondering how you were doing lately.

I think the once every 3 days works very well if you train correctly and for a limited period.

You have  the advantage of having a very good cardio conditioning base.  I think this is what most fitness gurus overlook.  It is easy to say that very good endurance does not have a part in muscle developing program but have you noticed that since you have the endurance base you can adjust to the training better?

Have you reduced the cardio while you are doing mym program?

 

Have you tried splitting your workouts into two sessions a day? I have found that it helps me to get better workouts and better recovery

 

Do you have goals like improving your dead lift pr or chin up pr, etc.?

One way to predict your 1 rep max is to the calculator in http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html

 

Keep up with the great work, Tom! Keep us up to date how you are doing.