Muscle Gain Only
Friday, December 7, 2007
Seeing the "omens" from the previous entry, I think I'm going to run an experiment. Until the end of the year, the only workouts I am going to do are just "muscle building" ones. I will either do very little, or zero, "mindless cardio" workouts.
In fact, I could say I "started" doing just this last night. While working out, I could feel the heart racing, just like I was doing "mindless cardio". Pumping, pushing, pulling... I know any exertion done by the body will induce the heart to pump faster. Some health sites advocate these kind of "cardio workouts" over those "mindless" ones.
However, I think I might have goofed a little last night. While my chest and arms and abs might be feeling "tired" today, my shoulders and back have absolutely none of these feelings. Therefore, I didn't work them as hard as I should, even though the number of reps and sets I did was the same.
Maybe tonight I should just work on the shoulders and back, ie targetted workout. Or maybe not. Working the back and shoulders also involves working the arms, and my arms are tired, and tired means the body needs time to grow the muscles. Also, remembering that muscles typically need 48 hours to rest before you start stressing them again, I guess the ideal time to workout again is tomorrow, Saturday.
In fact, I could say I "started" doing just this last night. While working out, I could feel the heart racing, just like I was doing "mindless cardio". Pumping, pushing, pulling... I know any exertion done by the body will induce the heart to pump faster. Some health sites advocate these kind of "cardio workouts" over those "mindless" ones.
However, I think I might have goofed a little last night. While my chest and arms and abs might be feeling "tired" today, my shoulders and back have absolutely none of these feelings. Therefore, I didn't work them as hard as I should, even though the number of reps and sets I did was the same.
Maybe tonight I should just work on the shoulders and back, ie targetted workout. Or maybe not. Working the back and shoulders also involves working the arms, and my arms are tired, and tired means the body needs time to grow the muscles. Also, remembering that muscles typically need 48 hours to rest before you start stressing them again, I guess the ideal time to workout again is tomorrow, Saturday.
2 Comments:
commented by 
ByPassing, December 7, 2007 2:37 PM
ByPassing, December 7, 2007 2:37 PM
Yup I know about "plateau-ing", I just never thought it'd happen this soon.
As I said, for the next 3 weeks or so I'm just gonna do purely weights and see if I continue to "burn fat" :)
As I said, for the next 3 weeks or so I'm just gonna do purely weights and see if I continue to "burn fat" :)
Maybe u can try this out, i used to rest for 2 to 3 mins between sets, but recently i change to resting 30sec to a min in between sets and i also divide the area i train for different day. Eg, chest and legs(thi and calf) and abs, arms(tri and bi) and shoulder and abs, etc. Instead of clamping all areas into one day training.
I also keep my workout time between 1hr to 1hr 15mins.
P.S. I'm also experimenting with this routine.