Tag: strength training

Tuesday PM: Strength

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Squat (could potentially go up in weight, but I think I will shift to Deadlifts for a couple weeks)
45 x10
135 x6
185 x6 x6 x7
Chin ups (pleased to squeeze out another rep unassisted, felt stronger)
unassisted x4
Red band x6 x4 x4
Cleans (new exercise, at 145, I couldn’t hold form, so I backed off.  Still felt the burn in my quads in the last set.  I need to tape myself doing these and make sure my back is right)
Bar x6
95 x6
145 fail
115 x6 x6 x6
Superset
AB rollouts x8 x8 x8  (holy moly these hurt a lot!)
Push-up x10 x10 x10 (my thumb joint has been hurting when I did pushups, so today I tried them on some twisty handle pad things.  The pushups felt harder because my hands could rotate, but it didn’t hurt my thumbs)
Tomorrow:  I think I will try to pack an sprinty workout into a HM.  I’m sick of all this slow stuff.  So, it will be a 5097m warmup, then 8 x 750 with 750 rest (12K) and a 4K cool down.

Friday AM: Quick Strength session

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I went to bed late last night.  I finished my workout around 10:30 and I was pretty jazzed up.  It wasn’t until 12:30 or so that I was settled into bed.

So, I slept in an extra hour to 6:15, and then fought the traffic to get to work.  Once I was there, I had a pretty short window to workout.

So the plan was:

  • 20 minute fletcher format warmup
  • Quick Strength workout
    • Squats
    • Standing Press
    • Chin Ups
    • Ab roll outs
    • Push ups

As it turned out, I ran out of time before the push ups.

myimage11-18a

Workout Summary - media/20161118-181034-concept2-result-27823043o.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|-Avg-|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|-Pwr-|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|05115|20:00.0|01:57.3|222.8|21.0|151.4|169.0|12.2
W-|05119|20:00.0|01:57.2|215.9|20.5|150.8|169.0|12.6
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|000.0|00.0|000.0|169.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|-Pwr-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|00991|04:00.0|02:01.1|185.3|17.9|129.6|139.0|13.9
02|01008|04:00.0|01:59.0|205.3|20.1|144.9|150.0|12.5
03|00777|03:00.0|01:55.8|222.5|21.9|152.7|155.0|11.8
04|00269|01:00.0|01:51.4|249.4|24.0|158.4|160.0|11.2
05|00141|00:30.0|01:46.4|285.2|25.8|161.8|164.0|10.9
06|00493|02:00.0|02:01.6|193.5|18.6|160.5|164.0|13.3
07|00299|01:00.0|01:40.5|336.0|28.0|162.4|167.0|10.7
08|00494|02:00.0|02:01.6|196.9|18.6|163.2|168.0|13.3
09|00157|00:30.0|01:35.7|393.4|31.2|163.5|168.0|10.1
10|00490|02:00.0|02:02.5|191.7|18.9|164.5|169.0|13.0

Then on to strength

Squats
135 x 6
185 x 6 x 3

Standing press
65 x 6
85 x 4  (too heavy)
80 x 5 x 2

Chin ups
3 unassisted (yay)
6 x 2 (red band on knee assisted)

Ab wheel roll out
8 (oh my lord did these hurt!  My abs were still smarting from doing 3 sets of 10 on Tuesday)

ran out of time here.

Tonight:  Another L4 HM

Tomorrow:  Last row on the lake in worcester

As I mentioned yesterday.  I had some fun changing a tire while all of my coworkers watched.  Turns out they took pictures too!

2016-11-18-12-59-26

 

Tuesday: 10K easy plus strength trainig

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At work in the fitness center.

First, some erging to warmup and keep the aerobic base.  Goal is to run this right at the top of the UT2 band.  I want enough training stimulus to maintain blood volume but not enough to take away from the strength work coming next.

  • 10km
  • 10W x stroke rate
  • HR cap at 145
Workout Summary - media/20161115-140421-sled_2016-11-15T06-49-38ZEST.strokes.csv
--|Total|-Total-|--Avg--|Avg-|-Avg-|-Max-|-Avg
--|Dist-|-Time--|-Pace--|SPM-|-HR--|-HR--|-DPS
--|10000|40:43.0|02:02.2|19.0|141.8|149.0|12.9
W-|10000|40:43.0|02:02.2|18.9|141.9|149.0|13.0
R-|00000|00:00.0|00:00.0|00.0|000.0|149.0|00.0
Workout Details
#-|SDist|-Split-|-SPace-|SPM-|AvgHR|MaxHR|DPS-
01|01000|04:00.2|02:00.1|19.1|124.0|134.0|13.1
02|01000|03:59.8|01:59.9|20.1|138.3|142.0|12.5
03|01000|04:01.6|02:00.8|19.8|143.1|145.0|12.6
04|01000|04:03.3|02:01.7|19.2|143.3|145.0|12.9
05|01000|04:03.9|02:02.0|19.1|144.5|146.0|12.9
06|01000|04:04.3|02:02.1|19.0|145.1|148.0|12.9
07|01000|04:07.0|02:03.5|18.4|145.1|148.0|13.2
08|01000|04:08.3|02:04.1|18.1|144.2|146.0|13.4
09|01000|04:08.1|02:04.1|17.9|145.1|147.0|13.5
10|01000|04:07.3|02:03.7|18.8|145.5|149.0|12.9

myimage11-15a

I started at 190w and it felt pretty easy, so I upped it to 200w and rowed until I hit the HR cap.  Then I backed off to 190(ish) and played with pace and rate to try to keep my HR between 144 and 146.  It was good sweaty, easy fun.

Then I took about 10 minutes, went and grabbed my exercise bands and ab wheel and changed my shirt.  Now it was time for some strength work.

(weight in pounds)
Squats
45 x5
135 x6
185 x5 x5 x5
185 was a good weight.  I could have probably squeezed out another rep in each set.  I think I’ll push this slowly up to 3×8 at 185, and then up the weight.
Chin ups (red band on knee)
3 x 5
Next time I will do the first set unassisted
Standing press
45 x5
65 x6
75 x5 x6 x5
I need to work on form for this exercise.  I think I am arching my back too much.  Surprisingly hard for such light weights.
AB wheel roll outs (from knees)
3 x8
Oh my.  These were hard!  My calves were cramping up.
Push-ups
3 x10
I was very disappointed with how weak I felt in the push ups.  Might have been from the standing press, but I felt like I had no “pop”
Tomorrow:  Early flight to Texas.  Probably a rest day.

Strength Training Thoughts

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I posted the following on the Rowing Illustrated forum.

Screen Shot 2016-11-09 at 11.15.07 AM.png

I got back a really great reply from a user SDSweep which I would like to share.

Screen Shot 2016-11-09 at 11.16.45 AM.png

So, my winter training plan will include:

  • 2 strength sessions a week.
  • These sessions will be tacked onto the end of a shortened endurance session (probably 40 minutes of endurance and 30 minutes of strength work)
  • The plan will be very simple including 4 exercises per session
    • A compound lift emphasizing the rowing muscle groups
      • squats
      • deadlifts,
      • power cleans
    • Something for upper body rowing muscles
      • Pull ups
      • Chin ups
      • Lat pull downs
    • Something for counter muscle groups
      • Push ups
      • Bench press
      • Standing press
      • Seated Press
    • Core
      • Ab roll outs
      • planks
      • leg lifts
  • In terms of reps and sets.  I will probably use some advice from some other folks to mix this up in blocks.  A couple weeks of lower reps, more sets.  Then a couple weeks of higher reps and less sets.  Generally, I will be going for 20 to 30 total reps.
  • Weight.  I will progressively increase weight, but follow the guideline that I will stop at least one rep before failure.

Wednesday: 40′ endurance and a little strength training

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In Agoura Hills, California.  At the Sheraton fitness center.

Seemed like today was as good a day as any to start doing a little bit of strength training.

Plan:

  • 20 minutes inclined march (15% grade, 3.5mph)
  • 20 minute jog (3% grade, 4.5 mph)
  • HR cap at 157
  • Easy start to strength training
    • Dumbell deadlifts (2x50lbs) – 3 sets of 10 reps
    • Lat pull down (110lbs) – 2 sets of 6 reps plus one set of 8
    • Push ups – 3 sets of 10 reps

Another bad workout after another bad night’s sleep.  The election debacle kept me tossing and turning even after I turned off the TV.

Tomorrow:  No workout.  Flying back home.

 

Monday: 40′ elliptical, a little strength training

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Back in the fitness center at the JW Marriott in Seoul.  I slept well, and a long time too, maybe 8 hours.  But I woke up sore and tired.  Looking back over the past week, I’m not too surprised.  My volume is a lot higher than normal.  I think it’s OK to push a bit past normal for these two weeks to try to get a little bit of supercompensation when I taper back for the HOCR.  I’ll be forced into a rest day when I travel back over Wednesday/Thursday.

Today, I thought it would be good to do a little strength work, especially for rowing related moves.  But I wanted to do a little aerobic work first.*  So, here is the plan

Plan:

  • 40′ elliptical (easy intervals)
  • Front Squats
  • seated rows

The work on the elliptical felt pretty damn hard, but my HR was pretty low.  I guess that is accumulated fatigue.

As for strength, I had no idea what to expect.  The fitness center was admirably equipped.  There was not one, but two, squat racks.  Not Smith machines, but actual squat racks.  So, I decided that doing some front squats would be a good idea.  Why Front Squats?  Well since I haven’t done any lifting for the longest time, I didn’t want to do back squats and be tempted to go too heavy and mess myself up.  By doing front squats, I was much more limited in what I could lift.

I warmed up with 12 reps of just the bar (20kg).  I was surprised that I was feeling it in my thighs just from the warm up set.  Then I loaded two 10kg plates and embarked on my first set.  I managed 8 reps with good form, but my thighs were complaining.  Wow!  I think I need to do some remedial strength work!  I did 2 more sets of 8 reps.

Then I went over to a cable pull station and got myself set up to be able to do seated rows.  I set it up so that I got tension with the bard over my toes, and I essentially did the body/arms part of the stroke with as much acceleration as I could.  I loaded the full stack (45kg) and managed 2 sets of 20 and 1 set of 15.

After that I thought about doing some more, but I was pretty torched, so I had a drik of water, and called it a day.

Tomorrow:  The fitness center triathlon (again).

Tuesday PM: Starting Strength

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I’m adding 2 strength training sessions per week to my OTW training plan.  From what I have read in a couple of places (Fast after Fifty by Joe Friel, and Rowing Stronger by Will Ruth), I am becoming more convinced that adding strength training is an important way to prevent injuries, and get faster, at least for sprints.  I have also spent some time reading the strength training chapter in Rowing Faster, authored by Ed McNeely.

Both the Daly book and the McNeely chapter divide strength training into 3 main phases.  Hypertrophy, Strength and Power.  Each one has a slightly different combination of volume, intensity, reps per set and number of sets.  The intensity for each exercise is set as a percentage of 1RM (1 Rep Max).  So the job yesterday was to figure out what that number is for the main lifts.

So, the main lifts I will be doing are Squats, Front Squats, Deadlifts, Power Cleans, Good Mornings, Bench Press, Strict press, and either seated or bench rows.  In addition, I will be doing pull ups, chin ups and some core work.  Each session will include 2 main lifts, plus either pull ups or chin ups, and core work.

Instead of pushing all the way to a “real” 1 rep max test, I decided to play it a bit safer and use a calculated method where you try to get to a weight where you can do somewhere between 1 and 10 reps.  It’s more accurate if you have less than 5 reps.

Then you use this formula to estimate your 1RM.  (Source: wikipedia)

Screen Shot 2016-03-22 at 11.08.09 AM

Here’s my results from yesterday.

3-23

So, I haven’t done the exercise for Good Mornings, strict press or the rows.  I will probably just wing it with them when they come up in rotation.

The basic plan is 2 sessions per week.  One on Monday or Tuesday and the other on Thursday or Friday.  Each session will have 2 major lifts plus assistance exercises.  Some example workouts…

  • Back Squat, Power Cleans, Pull ups, ab roll outs
  • Deadlift, Front Squat, chin ups, planks
  • Back Squat, Bench press, seated rows, ab rolls outs
  • Deadlift, Good mornings, Press, chin ups