a lifter’s diary… Volume 9
Well, it has been a quick minute since I have BLOG’d about fitness and/or my personal fitness journey. I thought now would be a good time to say some stuff. I have not made any major changes in my routine in quite a while. Last time I did this I was coming out of retirement to do a powerlifting competition. I was doing well until my nervous system crashed out and my gains went in the opposite direction. Complications from my lack of treatment and care for my type 2 diabetes as well.
The List Now Continues:
• Type 2 diabetes
• Low testosterone
• The bad back
• Chronophobia
And now Persistent Depressive Disorder… I am also having digestive issues and insomnia pretty bad. I really haven’t worked a normal scheduled full-time job since fall of 2017 due to some of these issues. So after my body stopped responding, this was around fall of 2018, I went back to a 4 day, 3 muscle group, high volume, lighter weight per week approach. By spring I started taking my insulin again and I put on weight for the 1st time in 4 years, almost 10 lbs. My body did wind up adapting to the insulin and I have dropped weight again. I weighed at 139-140, fasted, the other morning. I do not feel small though.
I went back to basics…
I started doing “Maximizing Muscular Intensity.” Starting with a weight that was in the 10-12 rep range. I would start at Rep 1 moving forward with a medium paced positive and really working the negative and moving my rep speed faster with each rep. By rep 12 or so the negative is nearly impossible and my positives are getting shorter and shorter. I started attacking my sets like this. The only problem I was having was it was taking wayyyyyyyyy tooooooooooo long to get through my workouts. 2 weeks ago I made the choice to cap my sets per muscle group to 6-9, with no more than 9 sets and no less than 6 per muscle group. I also changed muscle group days. So now, Monday is Legs, Biceps, Triceps for a total of around 23 sets for the workout. I do not count dropsets or supersets as separate sets. It is just one Giant Set to me. Tuesday is Chest, Back/Lats and Shoulders. Again, same concepts.
After 2 weeks. I already feel like my all-round body shape is much more pronounced. I have also cut back on warm-up sets and changed from a massive stimulant preworkout to a non-stim preworkout. Again, my body seems to be responding nicely. I repeat Monday/Tuesday on Wednesday/Thursday and take Friday-Sunday off completely. I do different workouts, for Example on Tuesday when I hit chest I do all dumbbell and cable work, no bar work and Thursday’s chest is all bar work. So everything is getting hit here and there.
Instead of doing 4 sets of something I am doing 2 and that’s it. I know I just dumped a lot of stuff on here about me, my ailments and my training principals. To dummy it down even further, just slow down your reps. The negative is just as important as the positive movement. You do not have to muscle everything up or rep everything out.
What you see online with powerlifters and bodybuilders is for the cameras. In most cases, people do not train that way to get their results. Plus, they have a team of people there to guide them, tell them when, spot them, food prep, sponsorship aka get paid. I have none of that. I train alone… I no longer train others. My journey is a spiritual war. I am not gonna be a movie god or any of the sort. I just train so I can stay looking young and do not rip someone’s face apart when they give me shit.