OK, after battling pneomonia for 2 months, my bodyweight was 148, down from 158 two months earlier. My lungs were still reeling, but I wanted to workout. I had worked out 4 days ago, and had a very nice one with little trouble breathing and no congestion. I was eager to see how my second workout would be.
Keep in mind that I wanted to use light weights, and I didn’t want to do high reps or intesity, which might put me in respiratory distress.
I decided to limit my reps to 4, and my sets to 4 sets per exercise for core body lifts (squats, deads, bench). I would train calves, neck each day. Shoulders and Arms get their own day and I will train them differently, using a combination of higher reps and super slow contractions.
Workouts will be devided into two sessions: A (low rep session for core strength lifts like squats, stiff-leg deadlifts and bench press) and B (higher reps, for assistance exercises that strengthen arms and shoulders) Here is how it went:
05/18/06 Training Session 2A (core strength)
- Neck Raises 25 lbs x 20, 20, 8 (on neck and calves I did higher reps.) This represents a huge gain from the last workout. I did the same weight for sets of 15, 12, 10
- 1-Leg Calf Raise 75 lbs x 10, 6, 4
- Squats 155 lbs x 4, 4, 4, 4 (Rock bottom, with 2-3 second pauses)
- Stiff Leg Dead 155 lbs x 4, 4, 4, 4
- Bench Press 145 lbs x 4, 4, 4, 4
All of this took an hour. I waited 30 minutes and did some creatine and glutamine, followed by protein. All exercise was done with slow and controlled, deliberate movements. I loved the squats. Very little congestion and only mildly winded, which is what I wanted. What I like about this is that the rep and set scheme seems to produce results without creating a fight or flight response.
I feel stronger, but I didn’t get into a situation where I was sucking wind. Part of me thinks this is good. You want to be winded slightly, yes, but if you have asthma, or some other CPOD, do you really want to get into Oxygen Deprivation? I think you need to build up to this gradually. Let’s stay tuned!!
05/19/06 Training Session 2B (assistance and endurance)
12:30 PM. Train Neck, Shoulders and Arms today. The idea is to flush the muscles and joints with blood, using light weight, controlled reps and a high rep scheme. As follows:
- Neck Raises 35 lbs x 6, 6, static hold for 6 seconds (on neck, I increased weight 10 lbs.) This represents a another gain from the last workout. I 25 lbs the last 2 workouts. So this is 10 lbs more
- Upright Rows 45 lbs x 15 x 4 sets
- Curls 50 lbs x 15 x ; Followed by one set 7×7 superslow for 3 reps and a static hold of 6 seconds.
- Reverse Camber Curl 20 lbs x 5, 6
- Close Grip 100 lbs x 12, 12, 12 (these were partial reps to keep the tension tight and work the weak link)
- Standing French Press 20 lbs x 12, 15, 15
All of this took about 45 minutes. The reps were higher than normal and the weight was very light, so it was bit more cardiovascular; however these were not really core lifts, so it was not as taxing as would be the case if I were doing 15 – 20 rep squats, for example.
I got a reasonable pump, but I felt a bit dehydrated. Also, the French Presses were great. I have not done them in years, believe it or not. My triceps will respond quickly to them. In 15 minutes I will do some creatine and glutamine, followed by some protein.
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