I was pretty exhausted this morning but I thought I'd be able to push myself once I got going. Today was supposed to be an Olympic lifting day and I wanted to have a decent hang clean session. I started by warming up with the empty bar, then added 20lb to each side. I got through the first set of 3 reps at 110lb without any problems, so added 2.5lb to each side, making 115lb. I attempted and failed three times, so it was clear to me that it just wasn't going to happen for me today.
It's the first time in three years that I've bailed on a training session, but I knew my body was telling me that my muscles needed to rest. Instead of giving up completely I decided to do a few conditioning sessions instead, none of which required much upper body strength.
======
Cycle 1 mile
50 box jumps @ 24"
Cycle 1 mile
Time = 10:01
======
25 box jumps @ 24"
50 bench-supported lateral jumps @ 24"
25 box jumps
Time = 9:16
======
50 over the box jumps (8 risers + step)
Time = 5:25
This last routine was more about me building confidence at jumping over the box and I think it definitely helped. There were 8 risers, which is one more than I used last week. I tried a couple of reps before I started my stopwatch, but I stood staring at the set-up for what felt like ages before I attempted one jump.
I started by doing sets of 4 or six, but the last 10 were unbroken because I felt more comfortable with the height/depth.
My time would have been a bit better if I hadn't needed to move the steps because two young muppets decided to do push-ups and sit-ups where I was landing.
======
It was definitely frustrating not being able to complete the workout that I'd planned. I don't like feeling that I've given up or that my body isn't listening to what my mind is telling it. However, I'm not an athlete, so I don't feel like I need to push myself to the point of injury. Over the past few months I've set new standards for myself and - despite the fact I've been training for a few years - I still need to learn the signals my body is sending me. Yes, it's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world. I know with some rest might be necessary for my long-term goals.
Even before I stepped into the gym I felt physically drained. Yesterday's workout wasn't the best, but I pushed really hard to get through it. That probably took it's toll and now I think I need to take it easy with the weights for a few days.
I had planned on doing one leg session and another upper body workout this week, but I think I'll postpone them. I'll either do two more conditioning days or just one and take an extra rest day.
5 comments:
Never a bad idea to take some rest time, much better than having poor performances or injuries. Besides ya gotta make sure you're nice and rested for our session this Saturday.
I remember you took a week-long break at the start of the year. I did a week of conditioning before Christmas and I've been weight training four times a week since then, so yeah, I'm due a break! I'm going to rest today and then do some more conditioning on Thursday. Friday will be my usual rest day, so don't worry!
Do you think I need to change my workout schedule? I'm doing upper body work at least three days a week; for example:
Monday: Chest and traps
Tuesday: Olympic lifting
Wednesday: Shoulders and lats
Thursday: Legs
Saturday: (with you) Possibly chest and traps or shoulders and lats
Also, now that we're throwing conditioning into the mix on Saturdays, do you think it should be upper body/legs/upper body/conditioning? If I train legs with you I don't usually work them again until Thursday - allowing the most time for recovery - which only leaves me 48 hours until my conditioning session with you. As we both know, legs take longest to recover!
Its hard to say, sometimes a change does work best. In the past I have tried splits like this that have worked work
legs/upper body pushing/upper body pulling/conditioning
and
upper body/legs/upper body/conditioning
They both follow a monday through to thursday routine, with fridays and sundays off, Saturdays are obviously with me. The second one I did for a bit, conditioning was interesting 2 days after a leg day but no matter how sore I was always loosened up when I started.
Sorry, I meant upper body/legs/upper body/conditioning for my weekly sessions with you, so upper body/legs/upper body/conditioning would be four Saturdays.
If I know I'm doing, say, legs with you on Saturday I'll do leg training on my own the preceding Monday. That means I'm training the same body area twice in the same week, but I try to keep the longest time possible between the two sessions.
The pushing/pulling on consecutive days makes sense, although I sometimes still revert to chest/traps and shoulders/lats.
Do you still do Olympic lifting, or are the splits above what you're sticking to now?
Unfortunately no, as much as I'd want to go olympic lifting I'm at a point where I need bumper plates so I can drop thr weight if I fail. When I started it isn't a big deal if I failed a clean with say 135, I could simply catch the weight and it'd be ok as it's not crazy heavy. My cleans are over 200 now and if I fail trying to catch the weight (Chris wont like me letting it drop) would be a good way to injure myself. The few times I did use bumper plates, at the university gym I failed on more than one occasion when I got over 200 but simply let the weights fall.
Unless Chris gets bumper plates (Eric and I are trying) whenever I do cleans or jerks it'll be a lighter weight and probably in a metcon.
Post a Comment