Blastin' the CNS

[NKT]

How are you able to recover from lifting so frequently, especially all that pressing? Maybe I should be hitting the weights more often, I get fried from 5x in 2 weeks. I see your daily log and am not sure whether or not to question your sanity or my own testicular fortitude.

I started out with light training every day to recover from this pesky little rib injury; now I'm transitioning into a "Power to the People" style of training: brief, frequent training, heavy-ish but not to failure. The 5-3-2 rep scheme is intended to provide "strength practice" while keeping each set away from failure. Each of these training sessions only takes about 25 minutes, including warmups.

I also discovered during my 3-week "russian bear" routine that my press responds very well to a lot of volume - there's really not that much muscle involved compared to the "big" lifts so systemic overtraining doesn't seem to be an issue. If anything, the press seems undertrained on the SS template.

Another thing to consider is that I work at a desk most of the day, and training is my only real physical exertion. If you think about it that way, 25 minutes of hard work each day doen't sound too bad.

[NKT]

9/17/10
squat - 270 x 5,3,2
press - 180 x 3, 165 x 5

Press is stuck again... I'll try a small reset, more food, and a couple of higher-volume sessions per week. More food might be the key; I'm down about eight pounds and one notch on the belt since I tweaked my back.

[NKT]

9/20/10
squat - 260 x 3,5,2
press - 175 x 5,3,2

Really busy day today and I didn't have time to eat properly... and it showed. It's time to make some more batches of funk.

Missed the fourth rep on the first set of squats - let my knees slip foreword at the bottom and decided to bail rather than trash my IT bands and hip flexors by forcing a bad rep. I think I might be learning. Slowly. Went to five reps on the second set to hit all of the prescribed numbers.

[NKT]

9/21/10
press - 175 x 4, 160 x 5
deadlift - 365 x 5,3,2

Deadlifts felt great today - just a hint of soreness at the injury location after I released the force on the bar at the end of each rep.

[NKT]

9/23/10
squat - 275 x 1,3,2
deadlift - 405 x 3
press - 180 x 3

Squats felt like shit; like I was lifting the entire weight with my IT bands.

Weighed in at 238lb today. I've just about maintained strength while losing 12lb over four weeks and recovering from an injury, so I guess that's sort of a success. Don't feel too successful though, just grumpy. The ribs feel pretty well healed up now; maybe some food and strength gains will cheer me up a little. I'm just a ray of fucking sunshine right now.

[NKT]

9/25/10
squat
255 x 5
225 x 5
205 x 5 x 12 sets
press
165 x 5
155 x 5
135 x 5 x 10 sets

Squats were actually starting to feel better by the end of the workout. I'll see if I still feel that way tomorrow...

[MEbigUsmall]

Thats crazy volume, I dunno how you do it. Why is the deadlift so much harder on the CNS than squats? How much bigger is your upper body looking since you have been getting your press up so high?

[NKT]

Thats crazy volume, I dunno how you do it. Why is the deadlift so much harder on the CNS than squats? How much bigger is your upper body looking since you have been getting your press up so high?

The volume sets are heavy-ish but most are nowhere near failure; the workout is over when the form starts to slip so the very last set could be considered "to failure". This "not to failure" approach and plenty of food make the volume manageable.

I'm no expert, but I'll engage in a bit of speculation on why the deadlift is hard on the CNS:

1. It uses more muscle than any other exercise that I can think of.
2. The body's strength is pretty much uniform throughout the movement, so you're exerting a near-maximum effort through a very long range of motion. In other words, it doesn't have a really distinct sticking point that makes the rest of the movement relatively easy, like most other lifts. You can quarter-squat a LOT more than you can full-squat, and you can board-press a LOT more than you can bench press, but the discrepancy between the rack pull and the full deadlift isn't nearly as great.
3. There is no use of elastic rebound in a true deadlift; you have to fire off a lot of nerve and muscle to get the weight moving.

I've been thrilled with the effects focusing on the press. For one thing, I feel that the strength translates very well to real-world activities. Throwing and splitting firewood, tossing toddlers up in the air, and working the heavy bag are all notably improved. As far as looks go, focusing on the press (and deadlift) has added the kind of size that makes people who I haven't seen for a few months do a double-take, even when I'm wearing a heavy sweatshirt. Delts, triceps, and yoke have all grown like crazy.

[NKT]

I've been following the Mobility WOD blog and doing the mobility workout each evening, along with some foam rolling and ball work. I've been hanging onto the most worthwhile-for-me elements and building up a daily routine of mobility and tissue work.

I'm gradually upgrading my self-tissue-work implements to more masochistic versions. I replaced the tennis ball with a 3" quartz sphere a couple of weeks ago; it's been really great for digging into the hip muscles and thighs. I find myself laughing maniacally and sometimes crying as I do this. My wife looks at me like I'm a fucking nut. Today I got a three-foot piece of 4" ABS pipe, wrapped it in a layer of athletic tape, and retired the 6" foam roller. I'm discovering entirely new levels of pain with this stuff, but the results are definitely worth it.

[NKT]

9/27/10
deadlift
385 x 5
345 x 5
305 x 5 x 10 sets
press
170 x 5
155 x 5
140 x 5 x 12 sets

Just the faintest hint of injury-style pain left when I deadlift; that's a relief. It wasn't affecting the presses at all today. It will feel good to be making progress again.