Tuesday 17 February 2009

Strength - 17 Feb 2009

This morning I continued my strength training. This week I have experimented slightly by doing my strength workout after my conditioning workout the day before to see what the affects are. I have to say I noticed a decrease in overall strength performance, not able to lift my usual mass. Bench was maximum of 97.5 kg @ 3 reps. A reduction by 1 rep and I had to drop the weight on subsequent sets. Chin-up was restricted to a mere 20kg and I really struggled with my 45kg dips.

Next week I will extend the experiment by hitting strength on Monday and doing two days of conditioning followed by a day of rest and finishing with a strength on Friday. This should give me plenty of time to recover from Monday.

The idea of the experiment is to find the optimal days to perform strength and conditioning routines in a 5 day period (only get access to gym equipment Monday - Friday). So in that five day period I have to cram in rest and strength in such a way that the strength gains are not forgotten by the following week and that I am not still fatigued from the previous strength workout. Thus far I have been following a simple 2 day routine:

Monday - Strength
Tuesday - Condition
Weds - Rest (swim, sauna).
Thursday - Strength
Friday - Condition

The problem with this is that Thursday sees a drop in strength, while the Monday recovers what was lost on the Thursday after the weekend rest period. Ironically, it seems the optimal period for rest is three days between strength. But fit that in around a 5 day rotation and things get a little awkward.

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