When I woke this morning, I knew I had performed well in the gym the past few days, as my body was unusually sore, which on one side was good sign that I was on the right track for the competition which was now 10 weeks away today, but on the other side, I really felt like I could have done with a few more hours in bed. Although, had I off done that, I would not have only missed out on my morning cardio/abs blast, but it would have also pushed my whole days nutrition into chaos, so with my eyes still only half open, and my body feeling like what I can only imagine it being like after being hit by a car, my auto pilot kicked in, and somehow managed to get to from my bed to the gym, all before the clock hit 7 am.
I had already taken my usual stack of fat-burning and muscle-protecting supplements, which can all be found on my fitness website: www.robrichesfitness.com along with all my competition prep and forth coming projects.
Once at the gym, I decided that I wouldn't - or rather couldn't, manage intervale sprints on the bike, but also didn't want to do steady pace for 40-minutes plus, as then by the time I got through Abs, and got back home, it would be pushing for 9 am and would have caused me to have to compact all my daily meals closer together, or consume more in fewer meals - either I don't like doing, as this will not only slow my metabolsim, but could also spike my insulin high enough to cause my body to start to hoard extra calories into fat cells for fear of a drop again as I go back to fewer calories in smaller meals the following day.
I decied to do shorter intervals which would only last for about 20 seconds each interval, and then allow an uncapped time for recovery, allowing as long as I felt I needed before cranking up the interval and going into another sprint.
Therefore my morning cardio today looked something like this:
3 min warm up on upright bike, level 5 at 65rpm.
Then I cranked up the intensity to level 9 (normally I am at level 12 for intervals), dropped my shoulders, and keeping my toes only on the pedals to allow for faster revolutions, I hit 20 seconds at 135 rpm (again, normally my rpm during intervals doesn't creep up much past 100). After just 20 seconds my HR was racing, and I could already start to feel the lactic acid build up in my legs.
My recovery took about 30 seconds, but after a few more of those, I found it took as long as 60 seconds to get back down to a point where I felt I could give it my all again for 20 - 25 seconds.
I was purely working on my phosphate energy system, and so 20 seconds was about all I could manage of all-out-effort sprints - Which is about the time it take for some of the fastest men on earth to complete the 200m. The longest distance that most can run at full energy!
I talk alot about the different energy systems, and which ones are best for fat-loss, dieting, and during competition when trying to preserve as much muscle as possible whilst also trying to burn those final few pounds, or by then, even just 1 pound, of body fat, that coud make the difference between placing first of second, in my competition DVD called Turning Pro, which you can order exclusively from my online store.
After 30 minutes, and I guess, somewhere of 12-15 x 20 second sprints with varying times of recovery, I was done. I mean I was really done. My heart rate was pounding, I was sweating from head to toe, and I really felt like I had had a great fat-burning cardio session.
Time to move on for Abs.
Even though I had a great cardio session, I was still feeling exhausted from my previous days training, but couldn't leave without doing at least some abs, so I decided to cut the final sets out of my usual 1000+ rep ab routine that I've been doing lately, and have been seeing some impressive results!
As usual, all exercises are performed as a superset, completing one exercise then moving straight on to the next with no rest, and then allwoing a minute for recovery before repeating the same super-setted exercise 2 more times, except today I would only do each superset twice.
Superset 1
Decline Fixed Leg Hip Raises: 50:50
Ab Crucnhes (Shoulders of ground with 25lb plate on chest): 50:50
Superset 2:
Hanging Knee Crunches (using Aboriginals): 50:50
Cable Crunches (45lbs on cable stack): 50:50
Superset 3 (Performed as Tri-Set):
Seated Bar Twists: 50:50
Single Arm Cable Crunches (45lbs on cable stack) 30:30
Hyper-Extensions (holding a 25lb plate to chest): 30:30
Total reps: 680
I actually left the gym feeling pretty good considering that just over an hour ago, I was debating whether I should even go to the gym or not. Proof that even if your not feeling 100% up for it (unless you actually are sick, in which I say rest, rest, rest!), modifying your workout by switching up the exercises, the intenisty, and/or the time training, can make the difference between benefiting from the workout, or just wasting your time at the gym.
Now I've got my weights workout to look forward to later today!!
God give me strength!
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