Wednesday, August 22, 2007

5 Sets of 5

I decided to focus more on strength today instead of strength-endurance so I did 5 sets of 5 of four exercises. I also focused on my upper body as my legs are still fried from the 150 swings and 100 dragon walks Sunday. My right arm/chest is still weaker than my left because of the herniated disk in my neck so the chest exercises are very light. I need to build up the strength slowly.

My training looked like this:

Iron Cross - 16kg bells - 5 sets of 5 - 25 reps
KB Rows - 24kg bell - 5 sets of 5 - 25 reps
Swiss Ball Incline Press - 16kg bells - 25 reps
Hanging Pikes - 5 sets of 5 - 25 reps

I did the above in a circuit fashion. I rested a little (about 30 seconds) between each cycle of the circuit as I wanted to conserve strength and concentrate on good form. The one problem I see with a strength-endurance type circuit where you are condensing the volume and racing the clock is that there inevitably is a break down in form. A rep should not count unless it is done in good form otherwise it is like lying about your score on the golf course. You are only cheating yourself.

2 comments:

Royce said...

Good post. I agree on the form issue.
Also very good to see you training after that injury. How's it doing by the way?

Rob O'Brien said...

Thanks Royce! I appreciate your support and I am feeling much better but need to temper my intensity so I don't slide back down the hill. The disk is still herniated but I am training around it.

Best,
Rob

PS - I checked out your wife's blog...good stuff!